Game: Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
Genre: Third-Person-Shooter
Platform: Playstation Portable

I enjoyed the first Star Wars: Battlefront game despite some of the problems it had. The concept was strong and the game was fun, and I had hopes at least that some of the successes would carry over to Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. Apparently those hopes were too high for what I have publicly said I hoped would be one of the few PSP games worth buying.

Some games just shouldn’t be made portable due to the constraints of the medium. This is a perfect example of that.

A game that is supposed to feature massive battles needs to be able to show them so that the player knows what is going on. Unfortunately, the PSP isn’t the powerhouse it tries to be, and this leads to a lackluster graphical presentation. The character models are low resolution and the screen only shows a few of them at a time. This is really less of a deterrent than a distraction, but again, if the system can't handle the game, why bother?

However, the character issue is negligent when compared to Battlefront's main problem: controls. Look at the PSP below:


Notice anything missing? How would one aim a weapon on a PSP game? They don’t. Developers of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron decided to give lock-on to every weapon in the game. This completely changes the gameplay mechanic, as any player can kill another without skill.

If the game's developers somehow had this in mind before developing the game it might have been salvageable – building around a control scheme to make it fit the game. But they didn’t do this, and what is left is trash, pure and utter trash. Flying works in a similar way except the computer autopilots while the player aims. Again, it doesn’t end up feeling right and the execution is just miserable.

And so after all this, it should come as no surprise that the AI in Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is terrible. Bots will still jump onto speeder bikes and smash into walls and Jedi are no more useful than your average Stormtrooper. Of course, this is nothing unusual and I suppose no one really expected the PSP to be the first system to break Battlefront of its horrible AI streak.

The single player game has all of the features of the previous ones including a campaign and a large scale risk-like mode. This mode allows the player to unlock hero characters from the movies to join their side but, again, the novelty is pushed aside due to controls that feel like cheating and horrendous AI that the Battlefront games are known for.

Multiplayer is much, much better. It still isn’t nearly as good as the Playstation 2 or PC Battlefront games but it tries its hardest. Plagued by all of the problems listed above this game falls far short. If the PSP is your chosen platform and you are in love with Star Wars this could be for you, but everyone else is best renting this puppy.