E3 2015: Warding off Stormtroopers in Star Wars Battlefront's co-op Missions

While Star Wars Battlefront will have its share of multiplayer madness, with 20-on-20 battles set to take center stage, the game will also pack in its share of single-player and co-op content. DICE first hinted at Missions during the game's initial reveal, but EA went into more detail during E3 2015. Not only that, Shacknews had a chance to try this mode out.

For our hands-on with one of Battlefront's Survival missions, the scene was Tatooine, the desert home planet of the Skywalkers. With Stormtroopers on the way, the idea was simply to survive. A tall task for myself, I grabbed a controller along with Show Important's Joe Tirado to ward off the incoming Imperial squadrons. For this demo, there were two different layouts, each with three different gadgets for defense, armor rounds, and more. Primary weapon selection also had its share of blasters, each with their own different stats. Upon selecting a standard assault blaster, it was time to fight off the Imperials.

Tatooine is a wide-open space, filled with cliffs, crags, and rocks. With high ground available, Joe and I attempted using our jet packs to traverse the area. While Joe was able to gracefully reach the high ground, it took me some getting used to, since the jet pack operates in bursts. Those that aren't careful will get caught off-guard by the sudden boost.

Blasters were able to reach long range and while some Stormtrooper varieties were tougher than others, taking out the ground troops wasn't too difficult a task. That's when the walkers started coming. The fourth wave saw us warding off Stormtroopers, as well as AT-ST walkers. At this point, the armor rounds tied to the left bumper are required, but since the anti-armor weapon needs to recharge after a single shot, taking out a walker can be trickier than it looks.

The numbers overwhelmed us after about six waves, but this horde-based mode offered an idea of how these Survival missions will go. There isn't a lot of cover, so prevailing will require better aim than an average Stormtrooper. With a wide open area, players will also need to be on the move frequently, though not so much that they wind up losing one another.

This is just a sample of the Missions that are available in Star Wars Battlefront. DICE is indicating that there will be several other Mission types available, all designed for replayability and all playable in online and local co-op.

Star Wars Battlefront will arrive on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on November 17.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?