Rogue One: How it works with the current Battlefront
Last week, a new film arrived to the Star Wars universe in the form of Rogue One.
A war film, Rogue One contains a lot of elements that fit in nicely with the Battlefront franchise. With this in mind, this article takes a look at how the film pertains to the current Battlefront; I’ll look at Rogue One and how it might affect the Battlefront sequel tomorrow.
What’s below is simply my opinion and so I’d love to hear what you think, whether in the comments below, or via Twitter or Facebook.
[WARNING] Rogue One spoilers will be discussed below! Tread warily if you haven’t seen the movie yet!
The movie and how ties in with the Rogue One: Scarif DLC
After seeing Rogue One, DICE really nailed the Scarif environment in Battlefront (as they have will all the other locations to date). The trees and sand both look almost straight out of the movie. The water is gorgeous in the Frostbite engine, too. The Shield Gate map in space is also one of the most beautiful maps in Battlefront so far.
But how does the Infiltration mode fit into the movie, if at all? While producer Paul Keslin said during the reveal stream that the Scarif battles in Battlefront feature more of as “side-battles”, I’m not entirely sure this is the case.
To begin with, the first stage of Infiltration doesn’t seem to showcase the same space battle that the movie does. Instead, the battle in Battlefront appears to take place in the aftermath of a conflict with ship debris floating around the playable area. Additionally, the Rebel fleet is quite lacking in the game’s battle. It might be possible that this space battle is after the movie; however, then the Shield Gate would be destroyed.
Moving onto Scarif’s surface, the second stage actually fits nicely with the film. Here, the Rebels must place detonators on cargo ships in order to create a distraction. This is very similar to what the Rebels did in the movie and it works with the “side-battle” idea.
For the third stage, I’m not really sure how it might work within the movie. Considering that DICE hasn’t revealed what’s on the data tapes in Battlefront (they aren’t the Death Star plans), I’m not sure will ever know how this stage could relate to the movie. Ultimately, I think that DICE crafted this stage to fit within gameplay constructs and not to mesh with the actual movie.
With these considerations, I think that Infiltration acts similarly to Battle Station in the Death Star DLC: it takes place in some sort of alternate timeline. DICE’s goal is primarily to foster “that Star Wars feeling” and not to necessarily create a 1:1 movie experience. For instance, the third stage is meant to evoke the feeling of carrying the Death Star plans, even if you’re not actually carrying the Death Star plans. Especially considering the inconsistencies with the first stage, I’m dubious that Infiltration does actually take place alongside the movie (even as a “side-battle”).
And that’s okay. Battlefront does an amazing job at making you feel like you’re in a Star Wars battle. The locations, the sounds and the explosions in the game have been all very “Star Wars” so far. The Rogue One: Scarif expansion definitely continues this trend; we don’t need a 1:1 creation of the movie to capture “Star Wars” in a game.
How do you think Infiltration relates to the Rogue One movie? Leave a comment down below, or head on over to Twitter or Facebook.
(Top image by Cinematic Captures. Check out their Flickr page for more awesome Battlefront screenshots. Second image source. Third image source.)
