Star Wars Battlefront

Visually stunning and arguably the best-looking and best-sounding game of its year, nailing the feel of Star Wars battles with gorgeous maps, lighting, and movie-perfect audio. But it is shallow: weak voice work, disappointingly safe customization, no real space battles, clumsy vehicles, and artificial map restrictions. The magic shines brilliantly yet fades fast, giving little reason to return.

A damning verdict: the single-player campaign is dreadful and mind-numbingly easy with trivial puzzles, and the multiplayer is blatantly pay-to-win, with Star Card progression that lets paying players level up and outgun everyone else for the first 25-30 hours. A few maps and the space and ground combat can be genuinely fun, and several classes are enjoyable, but the predatory loot-crate economy and grind ruin any sense of progression. Not worth buying.

Before You Buy: after years of improvements the game is now worth the cost and time; strong recommendation at current price.

ZP: asshole recruitment drive; no meaningful progression.

Bare-bones content, aggressive monetization via $50 season pass, no single-player campaign, and balance issues; graphics and sound design are excellent but value is poor.