Yesterday, November 30, 2015, a Star Wars Battlefront livestream took place live from London. We got a first glimpse of Jakku and the Turntable game mode during this live. Here is a summary of it.
We will start with a sort of summary of what there is to remember: a new trailer for the Battle of Jakku but in gameplay this time. What you see as a backdrop is the Graveyard of the Giants map (see our article about the two maps).
I could talk a little bit about the show itself now because EA hasn't seen it small, but I will address it at the end of the article to focus on the information to remember first.
About the map of Jakku cemetery of the Giants that we discovered yesterday:
- The landscape is made of sand dunes.
- There's heaps of debris all over the map, from the crashed TIE fighter to the fighter engine for the little ones, to the AT-AT hulks for the medium ones, to the capital ships for the bigger ones.
- There is notably a Corellian corvette CR-90 (similar to the Tantive IV) which is crushed at one end.
- In the end, we find an environment very different from Tatooine and its stone canyons.
- The menu offers regularly clear lines of sight as well as a large number of covers, something to delight all types of games.
- Small gallery of images of this environment:
About the Turntable mode:
- 20 vs 20 player mode.
- The mode is divided into four timed phases: three front lines then the main base. The user interface displays the current status of the game at the top.
- The Empire's goal is to defend a front line for the duration of the timer. To do this he must prevent the Rebellion from capturing specific points on the map. If he succeeds in defending a front line during the timer, the game ends and the Empire wins.
- The Rebellion must break the front lines by seizing only one of the points that constitute it. Time is limited. If successful, the Empire retreats to the next front line (or base at the end) and the Rebellion must break the next. The Rebellion must capture the base to win the game.
- To break a line, the Rebellion has / The Empire must defend a line during: six minutes for the first then three minutes for the following ones. The time for the base is currently unknown as the Rebels have not passed third in the two games shown during the livestream. Namely, the time remaining when capturing a row is added to the minutes for the next row. Example: the Rebellion breaks the first line after 4 minutes, it therefore had 2 minutes left on the clock: for the second line it will be entitled to 3 additional minutes for capture, i.e. a total of 2 + 3 = 5 minutes to capture the second line.
- The first line is made up of three points, the second and third of two points and finally the base of only one. This results in increasing capture difficulty for the Rebellion and increased defense capacity for the Imperials.
- Points are captured in the manner of Supremacy mode: by staying in an area. The more rebels there are in the area, the faster the point is captured. Capture speed no longer increases beyond five people even if the counter increases to indicate the exact number of players present.
- Unlike Supremacy mode, if a point has begun to be captured by the rebels, it remains partially captured. Example: I capture point A at 75%, even if I die, it will remain captured at 75% and when I return I will only have 25% of it left to capture.
- From the second line, the Empire can have an AT-ST (bipedal) which has a more defensive role here than usual. The Rebellion can for its part obtain up to two air-speeders that will have to be brought down quickly for the Empire, in particular to protect the AT-ST.
- The defense points are equipped with E-Web cannon in places.
- Super bonuses are available on the card.
- Heroes and ships other than the air-speeder are not present in this game mode. The absence of heroes is explained by the fact that the events of Jakku occur after episode VI, and the heroes are therefore dead or occupied elsewhere, as well as absent air support.
- Here is a map shown during the livestream and which perfectly sums up the flow of the game, front line by front line, the first being on the right:
I had promised a word about the show itself. I think it was pretty cool I must say. Already the publicity visible at Wembley stadium, just to heat people up, it does not hurt:
Lookin' good London #StarWarsBattlefrontLondon https://t.co/xmxvVbKysp pic.twitter.com/4W385Xlm8T
- EA UK (@electronicarts) November 30, 2015
Then the room itself: a square with consoles and players on each side and in the center a mini-stage fitted out with engine debris and other metal piles, in reference to Jakku. On stage a presenter and a presenter, while in a corner we find a commentator accompanied by Dennis Brännvall, Lead Level Designer and to whom we owe (and his team) the cards. In a short interview with the presenter, he said he had the cooperation of Lucasfilm / Disney to provide a setting in keeping with Episode VII, although ... he says he didn't have the 'opportunity to watch the film at the moment. There were also other guests, a boxing star and well-known streamers, as well as other streamers linked to EA.
In short, it was not the little trick again. There were two Turntable games on Jakku, the opportunity for each team to play each side, but each time the Rebels did not have to break the third line. In theory, there should have been some Walker Attacks on this map as well ... but the PlayStation 4s used decided otherwise with a network crash.
If you want to watch this stream again, head to the Twitch EA channel.
