The Star Wars Battlefront series was well received in its console and PC variants, however when Star Wars Battlefront II hit the PSP, the lack of infrastructure-based multiplayer games was a major thorn in the side of an otherwise impressive title. This time around, the PSP-exclusive Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron comes complete with 16 player multiplayer games on dedicated servers.

How well does the epic multiplayer experience of Battlefront translate to the PSP? Read on for the full review.

Of course, when a game starts its life on the PC and ends up on the PSP, there’s bound to be issues with the controls. Renegade Squadron offers two control schemes - essentially, one with lock-on using the R button, and one with “free” (albeit assisted) aiming using the Square, Triangle, Circle and X buttons. The choice is still available for multiplayer battles, but with a vast majority of your opponents using lock-on, those who opt for free aiming are going to get smashed - especially since the only way to stop an opponent locking on is to perform a roll, and the free aiming control scheme offers no way to perform one.

As is par for the course with multiplayer-centric titles, the single-player campaign is short - and we’re talking breeze-through-in-one-sitting short. The levels are all based on multiplayer game types, as a result, serve as little more than a primer for the multiplayer action. It’s fun enough the first time through, but achievement-like medals and a harder difficulty level aren’t enough to warrant subsequent play-throughs.

The story is told using voiceovers set to some truly gorgeous still artwork that builds you up for a fair disappointment once the game starts. The in-game graphics are decidedly average - although the relatively chunky 3D models, clunky animation and low-resolution textures would have been passable had the framerate been able to keep up.

Renegade Squadron uses a point-based system rather than the class system you might expect from a Battlefront game. You can choose up to 100 points worth of gear to carry at any time - there’s 17 weapons, a range of explosives, and power-ups such as increased health, each with their own number of points.

Sound is a strong point of the title - as you would expect with the vast library of sound effects and music that developers of a Star Wars game would have access to. It sounds exactly like a Star Wars game should - all the sounds are faithful to what fans are expecting.

Multiplayer

Renegade Squadron supports 8 players ad-hoc and 16 with infrastructure. There’s a bunch of dedicated servers across the US, UK, Europe and Australia, however I’ve never seen more than one full server and a couple more in use at any time. There’s no magical netcode that will save you from cross-country lag here - you’ll want to stick to servers in your own country. A shame, given the fact after no less than ten times online at varying times in the day, the most Australians I’d found online was four.

There’s three game types, Conquest, Capture the Flag and Space Assault. Conquest is a team deathmatch arrangement, with “control points” - essentially spawn points that can be captured by a team and used to change weapons, stock up on ammunition and, you guessed it, spawn from. While Capture the Flag needs no explanation there’s a slight twist in that one member of each team controls a “hero” like Darth Vader or Han Solo. Space Assault takes place mainly in the air and requires you to take out key targets on the enemies battleship like shield generators and engines, using X-Wings, Tie Fighters or whatever you can get your hands on.

Strangely, voice chat is absent from the game entirely - which means there’s absolutely no strategy to be found, in a game that just cries out for it. As a result, everyone just stocks up on their gear and runs around on their own. There’s no way to organise an attack, determine what weapons and skills your teammates are stocking up on, or tell someone to watch their back - a great shame.

Renegade Squadron is perhaps the most impressive multiplayer title ever to grace a handheld system - but still far from perfect. While the ambitious goal of sixteen players online was a success, the game ends up showcasing the shortcomings of the PSP system as much as anything else - with dated graphics, awkward controls, and a lack of voice chat spoiling the games undeniable potential.

While Star Wars fans and people who only have access to a PSP are going to love this - anyone with access to a PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 will have fun with it for a while, but will end up getting their “big game” multiplayer fix elsewhere.

Score: 70/100

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This entry was posted by Tim Hanlon on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 2:47 am and is filed under Reviews, PSP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.