So, it’s come to this. We finally have the dates for the Star Wars Battlefront open beta. In a recent blog entry, EA have outlined exactly what we’re going to be able to trial from October 8 to 12.
The open beta will – as its name suggests – be open to everybody with a Playstation 4, Xbox One or a PC and serves as a technical test ahead of the game’s main release mid November. You’ll be playing as either the Rebel Alliance or the Imperials in three different game modes. These are:
Drop Zone
This mode will be completely new to the open beta, and hasn’t been shown anywhere. Playing on the volcanic planet of Sullust, teams of eight will fight it out to control pod drop zones. By successfully controlling and defending the drop zones, your team will earn certain battlefield perks, like armour or a rocket launcher. Handy.
Survival
In the game’s only offline mode, you can partner up with a mate in splitscreen or join another player online as you face off against waves of Stormtroopers on Tatooine. Each wave introduces more enemies, mixing in heavy troopers, AT-ST’s and the incredibly satisfying to kill jetpack troopers.
Walker Assault
This is the big one. You’ll be thrown into a 20 vs 20 battle royale as Imperial AT-AT’s attempt to knock out the rebel base on Hoth. As the Imperials, it’s your job to safely escort the AT-AT’s to their destination to wipe out the rebel scum. You’ll be doing this by basically slaughtering the opposing team and making sure they don’t activate various uplink stations around the map. If as the rebels you do get the uplinks online, you can call in a fleet of Y-wing bombers to rain hell down on the Imperials.
As well as the vanilla beta, EA are also pushing the Star Wars Battlefront Companion app that will run in conjunction with their other app, Star Wars Base Command. By using the companion, you can earn in-game credits and customise things like your loadout and character appearance. You can learn more about the companion on EA’s website.
EA also confirm that the beta will carry a level cap of level 5, and confirmed that any experience earned will not carry over to the main game.
Star Wars Battlefront will be released on all platforms on November 17, while the beta will go live on October 8 to 12 as a 7GB download on console, and 11GB on PC.
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.