Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron

"The game with a lot to live up to..."

Ah, the sequel to possibly the best Star Wars game ever made. Does it live up to it? That is for you to decide. This is my humble opinion to a game with a lot to live up to. Star Wars Renegade Squadron.


Introduction
Star Wars Renegade Squadron (STRS), is the sequel to one of the best Star Wars games ever made, Star wars battlefront I and II. It is the story of a secret squadron of the Rebellion formed by Han Solo shortly after he joined the Alliance. The story is told by the leader of said squadron to the Governmental librarian after the war. It is the story of a group of smugglers who changed the war against the Empire, but never got the praise it deserved…


Game Play : 8.5/10
For a PSP it has fairly good controls for a shooter game, though not as good as on the PS2 or Xbox. You have to rely on the auto-aim a lot, and turning it off is suicide for all but the absolute best. Sniping is difficult but do-able. Running is fine until you want to turn in which it then it is sluggish. The battlefields are good for the most part, and there are several new ones, and Endor is adapted to the new game. Now, were the game really shines is in the customability of your team/character. You can select between several weapons, different abilities (jet pack, jump pack, invisibility, etc), and powerups. Now how do they prevent you from having a character that is vastly overpowered? Credits. You get 100 total credits to customize your character. You can buy things for different amounts until you run out of credits. If you don't like it, then you can sell it back to the bought price, so you never “lose” credits. You can also change your uniforms color (battle droids included) to multi different combos.

-Campaign: This is were you fight through the story mode.

-Free battle: You can select a field, battle style, and then duke it out against the enemy team. A new battle style is making its debut, hero CTF.

-Galactic Conquest: This is my personal favorite battle option. In this you are placed in the star wars galaxy on one team (Rebellion or Empire (No CIS or Republic)), and you compete for dominancy. You can build up your army, save your money, buy upgrades, and, if you control an entire sector, you can purchase a hero to give you even better bonuses. The downfall of this mode is that it is incredibly easy. I have to go far out of my way to lose on the hardest setting, and even then it is easy to pull around.


Graphics: 9/10
For the PSP it has surprisingly good graphics. Albeit not as good as the PS2's, it has some of the better graphics for the PSP. The characters look great, and the explosions decent. One cool feature is that now you can blacken the landscape with attacks. Speaking of the landscape, it is very good for most of the levels, but not so good on others. Over all though I give it a 9/10.


Audio: 7.5/10
Same old songs as ever. The voices sound realistic, but not enough variety. The explosions all sound pretty similar.


Replay Value: 8/10
Between free play and galactic conquest this game has kept me busy for a good while…


Rent or Buy?
If you really liked the other Battlefront games, or want a good shooter for the PSP, I would recommend buying it. If you don't like shooters, then you most likely wont like it at all, but otherwise it is worth at least a rent.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/08

Game Release: Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (US, 10/09/07)