Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars Battlefront revived the multiplayer shooter series set in the classic Star Wars trilogy, this time emphasizing cinematic audiovisual presentation over depth of game systems. On familiar planets like Hoth, Endor, or Tatooine, players clashed in infantry and vehicle battles between the Empire and the Alliance, with the option to temporarily take control of iconic heroes such as Darth Vader or Han Solo at the moments when it mattered most on the battlefield.

The game lacked a traditional single-player campaign and focused purely on online multiplayer across various game modes, from large battles for dozens of players to smaller skirmishes on more enclosed maps. On Xbox One the game featured an exceptionally faithful visual reconstruction of the environments from the Star Wars films, accompanied by John Williams's iconic score and authentic blaster and starship sound effects, which made the game feel like an interactive gateway into the film universe rather than an ordinary military shooter.

Star Wars Battlefront received a mixed reception at launch — the visual and audio presentation was praised almost universally, while criticism pointed to a lack of content and the absence of a campaign, which Electronic Arts partly addressed with a subsequent paid expansion adding new maps and heroes. Despite these reservations, the game's atmosphere earned it a substantial player base and paved the way for a more ambitious, content-richer sequel two years later that tried to learn from the first game's shortcomings. For many players, it's still the first installment they remember most fondly, thanks to the immediate feeling of finally holding a real cinematic battle in their hands. The Battle of Hoth, with its giant AT-ATs striding through the snow, remains to this day one of the most memorable moments in the entire multiplayer series, and it's often the first scene many players picture when the game's name comes up.

Why play it: Thanks to its atmosphere and the Battle of Hoth with its giant AT-ATs striding through the snow, it remains the installment many players remember most fondly, despite the missing campaign and thinner content.