The force isn't strong with this one...

Okay so I'm going to fairly admit this is an article working off of a rumor on Battlefront, but upon just lightly hearing it I had to be one of those guys that just says "great work detective" quite sarcastically. Truth is though I am grateful for the supposed warning, but its just one of those rumors so intuitively true to your own predictions when you put 2 and 2 together. What is this rumor? Star Wars Battlefront is broken in its last tested state, and yet its coming up just around the corner. That's also funnily on the coat tails of an article warning us about how broken games are becoming more frequent around the holiday season. However this particular game, more so than say COD, Assassins Creed, Fallout 4, and whatever else is happening is nothing compared to the line-up of Battlefront. Lets review this shall we...

• EA & Dice are behind the game. They aren't working off of a clean record here.
• Dice is stretched a bit thin it would seem. A year after BF4 and they have this game, meanwhile they've also got Mirror's Edge, and they're most likely going to suddenly announce a new battlefield game knowing their routine.
• Dice has showed a weird lack of content/quality in the concerns surrounding Battlefront. Maybe this means they've got a tight focus and polish, but I can't help but see it more like they may just not care so much about getting the product under control for fans.
• Speaking of fans, isn't it funny this is a licensed product that could and will sell by brand, timing, and franchise name alone? Do you think they'd exploit that maybe a bit?
• Oh and its been developed from the start knowing they'd have to hit a movie release date. That also just so happens to be around the big holiday time. This is basically a double lock-down for standard publisher behavior, where they will simply laugh at people who beg them to give it more time over this bug that can be magically "patched" later. ...even if those bugs are things that may actually be really tough to patch, like say Battlefield 4's issues.

Yes I know I'm being all cynical about this game yet again, but its all a textbook setup for a game that flops hard on performance, and maybe even flops hard on reception given some of the mixed notes taken already. It wont be a true flop in market terms, but that's also why it will flop elsewhere; EA knows that this thing will sell by brand, they're egotistically boasting a 10 million seller prediction! They'll believe they can get away with glitches. Also I'd like to shoot one counter-argument down really fast here. The beta is coming up, and in nearly any other situation I would just stand by idly and tell you with confidence "see for yourself" and this article wouldn't happen. About that though, Dice is the specific developer that comes to mind when people wonder if the beta worked better than the full game. Battlefield 4 had a beta. Bad Company 2 had a beta. These did not fix the issues, be it netcode hiccups of BC2, or the outright crashes and broken status of BF4. Battlefield Hardline did fine as far as I'm told, but was made by a totally separate developer... one that has much less of an issue with gameplay stability.

Guys look, please just be warned. This isn't fact, and this may just look silly in the long run. Still it doesn't take a genius to figure this is a suspicious position, and with some shady people. These are guys promising you that the game is in great and complete shape while also promising people who pre-order early access to maps that will be two weeks late of the rest of the game (free to everyone at least, but still they're literally trying to use an unfinished design as a selling point). Don't pre-order this. Don't run in and buy it day one. You can wait, see if its working, hear what like-minded gamers (NOT THE PRESS! Professional reviews rarely give proper critique anymore) have to say, and then make an investment. Meanwhile, go watch the movie instead. Its more likely to live up to what its advertising... at the very least as a functional, enjoyable, sci-fi movie. This game on the other hand is in a highly questionable state.

I'm not saying all of this just to be mean-spirited, or cynical, but rather to look out for people and to say I'm kind of tired of this trend of trashed up games. This is both a warning to think with your head rather than by impulse to consumers, and to developers and publisher a challenge to prove me wrong and do the right thing. Make a great game, I'd love to see that. As I said when I last wrote about this game, its great that at least somebody picked up this franchise and core concept, but if its done poorly all they managed to do was steal it from out of the hands of somebody that could have done it better. I don't want to see that. I'd rather see a good battlefront game, even if I already went out of the way to say it wasn't for me. I'd like to know that kids are getting this for Christmas, fans are getting this expecting a new way to participate in their favorite lore, and that movie goers have a piece of the gaming medium to celebrate with, and the end result delivers. That wont happen if its all botched by a release now, patch later format which screws up the game and leaves all those mentioned with a frown and a gut-punched feeling. Heck it might even get some riled up so much that it pushed them away from the medium. That's not what I want, but the way things are lined up... I'm forced to worry that it just might happen.

...well at least they're still good at making great visuals