Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Review - PSP

7

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 7
Audio: 9
Multiplayer: 9
Innovation: 6

Introduction

You might think that you know the whole story of Star Wars after watching the films, but the people at LucasArts say differently. Renegade Squadron tells the previously untold story of the Renegade Squadron, a group of battle hardened soldiers organised into a squadron together by Han Solo. Together they take on some of the most secret and dangerous missions in the war against the Galactic Empire.

Gameplay

As you would expect, the first mission of the Campaign mode is basically a tutorial. You have to take out enemy troops and capture command points (circular nodes on the ground) which serve as respawn points and allow you to change your equipment when you are near them. They have two machines near to them which will either regenerate your health over time or refill your wepon ammunition depending on which one you stand near. The levels alternate between ground based and space based missions. It's nice to see that the developers have clearly structured the Campaign mode like this for variety since things can get somewhat monotonous at times.

The controls are reasonably well thought out and functional. You move using the analogue stick, run by holding in the L trigger and moving and press X to use whichever primary weapon/attack you have equipped. The square button uses your secondary weapon/attack, and the circle button performs a rolling dodge. The R trigger is used to lock onto enemies by holding it in. The triangle button is used to change to a first person view that is useful if you need to be very accurate with your shots. The downside is that you can’t move while this view is engaged, leaving you fairly open to attack. However, while these are the default controls, there is also an alternate control layout that you can choose from which is almost completely different. You use the R trigger to fire, the analogue stick to move forwards and backwards, and the square and circle buttons to move left and right respectively. The L trigger is still used to run, but the triangle button is now unused.

The range of weapons is reasonably varied, but a little too similar. Every one of them is a gun of some description, whether it be a blaster or a rocket launcher, no lightsabers here. While this is understandable considering that you're not playing as a Jedi (which means no force powers either), some melee weapons would have been nice. On that note, you can't even punch your enemies, so your only means of attack is to simply hammer the X button to fire. It makes the game a bit of a mindless experience at times, with the only real interest coming from switching weapons at times since some are stronger than others (and can serve different purposes) of course. There is an aiming reticule in the centre of the screen which shows where your weapon will is aimed at.

Some weapons have unlimited ammunition, while (continued next page)