‘Battlefront Classic Collection’ Multiplayer Review: It’s More Than Just Server Issues

Earlier this week, I gave a slightly positive review of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection. In my review, I likened the collection to a “historical artifact,” in that there are a lot of aspects about it that haven’t aged very well, but are cool to go back and look at because of how it influenced future projects. I had not been able to comment on the multiplayer side of the game.

At that time, servers weren’t available to the public, so it was tough to find matches online. Now that servers have been made public, more has come to light regarding the collection. You’ll most likely have seen numerous reports about the game’s server issues. But in my opinion, the game’s multiplayer has more problems than just its servers.

Note: My opinion is formed solely on my experience playing on the PlayStation 5 version.

In my review of the game’s single-player components, I pointed out some of the game’s more dated attributes. Things like hit detection, class balancing, and a lack of updated/standardized controls. While these were issues I pointed out earlier, I figured for those interested just solely in single-player, these can be forgiven. They are also representative of the era these games came out. However, in multiplayer, these issues are only expounded upon.

Hit detection is a big one. In matches, whether or not your shots connect often feels random. Even when my opponent is a few feet away and on target, the game won’t register the hit. Some of this can be chalked up to the barely functioning servers. But good luck if you’re playing with or against an enemy hero/villain. If you’re faced up against an opponent with a lightsaber, there’s a good chance you’ll get hit without the lightsaber visually connecting with you, and your shots aimed directly at them may not even register. It can be completely unfair.

Balancing and map design is another issue. Again, in the single-player component of Battlefront Classic Collection, this can be forgiven and could be chalked up to the game’s age, but in an online environment where you want a fair system against other players, it’s frustrating. Matches generally start with each player having access to four grenades. The maps also tend to have a lot of very small corridors and choke points. This means that these tight areas ultimately result in frag-fests, where each player is thoughtlessly chucking grenades at the enemy, and neither side barely advancing. Thoughtless grenade tossing isn’t my idea of fun.

And then finally, there are, of course, the server issues. While it appears Aspyr has added more servers and it is easier to get into a game now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other issues with the servers. As I mentioned before, hit detection suffers due to the subpar server stability. Another issue is that players will “rubber band” or teleport around the map, as the game’s servers attempt to track where each player is at the moment. One second, you might be trying to snipe a player across the map, the next, that same player could be 15 feet away from their previous position a second ago. And sometimes, when searching for servers to join, the game can crash and boot you out of the game entirely.

The bottom line is that Battlefront Classic Collection is in an unplayable state for those who are looking to play online. While most of these issues can be fixed in a week or two with other companies, I don’t have faith in Aspyr to be able to do that. And by that time, I wonder if there’ll be enough players still around by then who are still willing to play online. Aspyr has put out a statement, but it doesn’t give much reassurance. Either way, the damage has been done, and people’s hopes of playing Battlefront with large groups of people online again have at the moment been crushed.