EA DICE promises new Star Wars Battlefront maps and Star Cards for free
'Tis the Season Pass to be jolly.
We all know about the Star Wars Battlefront Season Pass - I even italicised it for effect. Forty bloody quid: that's a lot of dosh. No one has to buy it and the add-ons will be available separately, but that's not the point: the point is perception. Battlefront needs those extra maps and Heroes and modes and things, and even before launch we were being primed to pay again for it.
Which is why it's maybe out of character this morning to read on the Battlefront website that, "We will be adding more of what you love about the game, like new maps and Star Cards, for free in the coming months, in addition to all of the content we have coming with Season Pass."
Presumably this goes beyond the free Battle of Jakku downloadable content available 1st December to pre-orderers and 8th Dec to everyone else.
I wonder why, if this was always the plan, EA DICE didn't talk more about it before now. It would have certainly helped with the perception problem. Maybe, you know, EA DICE could have promised free DLC before trying to sell us a Season Pass - what a wacky idea!
Whether or not this warms any cynical hearts depends on what free content we get of course. The free Battle of Jakku DLC is quite meaty, featuring a whole new mode called Turning Point as well as two new maps, Graveyard of Giants and Goazan Badalands.
Turning Point, playable on big map Graveyard of Giants (along with Supremacy, Walker Assault and Fighter Squadron), puts Rebels on the attack and Imperials on defence. Rebels are against the clock and have to gain control of three capture points, and if they do, more time will be added and more capture points, too. The Rebel assault will end at the Empire base. Rebels get the T-47 Airspeeder, Imperials get AT-STs. No Heroes or other vehicles by the sound of it. Oh and a huge Star Destroyer spaceship crashes in the background while you play.
The Goazan Badalands map, on the other hand, is a playground for Battlefront's smaller modes: Blast, Drop Zone, Droid Run, Cargo, Hero Hunt and Heroes vs. Villains. Don't ignore those modes - they can be a lot of fun!
The Star Wars Battlefront Season Pass, meanwhile, consists of four lots of DLC that collectively introduce four new Heroes and Villains, four new game modes and 16 additional multiplayer maps. There will be more than 20 new items, made up of weapons, vehicles and Star Cards. The Season Pass also offers a two-week head-start on all associated DLC.
