When I was young, custody weekends with my mother always guaranteed one thing: Unrestricted access to my PlayStation 2 and a partner to play with. The thing my little brother and I did almost exclusively during these visits was play Star Wars: Battlefront II head-to-head and play Galactic Conquest. It was always a fun time and one that I still remember fondly to this day. It’s safe to say that the game holds an important place in my heart thanks to the memories I have of playing it and the way it brought me closer to my brother.
If you’ll excuse me for opening up a bit there, readers, it is because I want to emphasize the excitement I felt when I noticed I would be reviewing the STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection. When I saw the email forwarded to me from my editors, I was immediately hit by a wave of nostalgia. Soon after, I lost nearly an entire day playing the game, reliving memories of a much simpler time.
STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection does exactly as the title suggests, collecting the two classic STAR WARS: Battlefront games of the PlayStation 2 era into a modern playable format. Not to be confused with the two EA remakes of the same names, the STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection presents the classic versions practically untouched, with hardly even a graphical update to modernize it.
Naturally, the very first thing I did when I got into the Classic Collection was rush over to Galactic Conquest. As I mentioned above, this game mode held a very important place in my memories and was always, by far, my favorite aspect of the Battlefront series. Needless to say, I was very disappointed when it didn’t make a return in the remakes.
My first Galactic Conquest campaign was about as unintentionally dramatic as I remember them all being back in the day. After a few easy victories against the droids, I led my Grand Army of the Republic into an ill-prepared invasion of Genonosis. We suffered major casualties in the opening of the fighting, saved only as I heroically kicked the AI out of our war machine and stole the hard-won victory against the Confederacy. Shortly after, we suffered a devastating defeat in a space battle over Naboo, and the tide of war quickly turned from there.
The unintentional dramatic nature of Galactic Conquest is due not only to capturing and defending planets but also to the cinematic nature of Star Wars’ grand battles. The scale always feels huge, with massive armies of Clones or Rebels and Droids or Stormtroopers battling across strange alien worlds. This movie-like nature is something the Battlefront series has always captured very well, and why a simple game of “widdle down their respawn tickets” can immerse you into a galactic battle for independence.
I encountered a few familiar bugs, or, arguably, features while playing the STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection. These included the AI flying off with and crashing my ship when boarding enemy flagships, friendly pilots crashing right into me in space battles, and AI friendlies tossing grenades at my feet. The classic collection seems to innovate with a couple of fresh, never-before-seen bugs as well.
Notably, I experienced two glaring issues while playing Galactic Conquest. Firstly, I was strangely unable to purchase upgrades. Even though I had the credits, things like Bacta Tanks, Hero spawns, extra reinforcements, etc. simply could not be purchased, forcing me to exit to the main menu and reload my game. Thankfully, because the game was made almost 20 years ago, this process was very, very fast on a modern machine.
Another issue in Galactic Conquest involved my ships disappearing from the map, making me unable to navigate the experience and forcing another hard restart. I wasn’t sure what caused this, as I couldn’t recreate it, but thankfully, these bugs aren’t too impactful with how quickly navigating to the menu and back is.
When I say the game is faithful to the original release, I mean it. It feels like an almost carbon copy repackaging of the classic PlayStation-era titles. There are, however, a few updates to improve the game’s quality of life.
The most notable of these updates is that you can now play Hero mode on any ground map. Previously restricted to only a few, the option to battle Jedi vs. Sith, iconic smugglers vs. bounty hunters, etc., opens up to all of your favorite maps. Said maps are also expanded with new additions: Jabba’s Palace, Bespin: Cloud City, Rhen Var: Harbor, Rhen Var: Citadel, and Yavin 4: Arena.
Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress, originally downloadable characters on the Xbox version of Battlefront 2, are also included. It was certainly a culture shock to see Asajj’s original design, with her nunchuck-lightsabers being a particularly stand-out feature.
I never really got to play Star Wars: Battlefront (the original) on the PlayStation, so I can’t tell you how well this collected version holds up compared to the original, as I can with Battlefront II. However, I will say that when playing it for the STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection, it certainly felt like an authentic experience. It was cool to see how the original Battlefront and Battlefront II were different and the surprising ways they were similar. I’m thankful to have both of them ready to play in my Steam library.
The Final Word
STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection brings two timeless, nostalgic games to modern platforms. While some old bugs slipped through along with what seems to be new ones, the experience is authentic, runs phenomenally on modern hardware, and is just as fun as it was back in the day. STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection brings the classic Battlefront experience back for nostalgic fans or a new generation of players.
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Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection is available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.