A Pilot’s Guide to the Rides of Star Wars: Battlefront
Channeling your inner Jedi can only help you in this fantasy-fest of Star Wars speeders.
EA’s new blockbuster is a full-blown Nostalgiageddon, taking you back to a galaxy far, far away and putting you in the thick of iconic battles from the Star Wars universe. As much as we appreciate being able to take on the roles of Darth Vader or Han Solo, we’ll gladly be a stormtrooper on a speeder bike if it means more speed and more firepower. Being able to jump into all these fantasy vehicles in Star Wars Battlefront almost makes up for the fact that we can’t actually drive them in real life. Almost.
Millennium Falcon
Han’s signature ride is a behemoth in Battlefront’s Rogue Squadron dogfights. It’s a big target but it takes a beating unlike any other ship in the swarm and is shockingly agile to boot. If you’re the lucky one to pilot it in your match, try to stay on point when you switch to first person view and squeal with excitement.
TIE Fighter
One of the first experiences you’ll have in Battlefront is making your peace with fighting for the Empire. Then you’ll get behind the sticks of a TIE fighter. Then you’ll realize that there’s a reason those TIE fighters were constantly getting blown up in the movies. Then you’ll think fondly about the TIE fighter when you abandon in for the far superior TIE Interceptor.
TIE Interceptor
See Above. It’s a TIE fighter with teeth. The Interceptor, while still prone to blowing up in an extravagant way, has a bit more shield and packs a bigger punch. It doesn’t have that legendary bodystyle to it but this is war, son, and looks have to come second.
Speeder Bike
You probably won’t find any Ewoks getting into hilarious shenanigans on a speeder bike in the game (Ewoks are actually up in tree houses and you can’t kill them. Trust us, we’ve tried.) but when you snag a speeder of your own you can zip balls-out quick across the map and straight into the action. Bonus: Riding the speeder bike is a reminder that life would be infinitely better if we could ride rocket-propelled hover bikes to work every day.
AT-AT
Conversely, driving an AT-AT (or All Terrain Armored Transport) actually feels like work. That’s not to say it’s boring to drive, we just hope you don’t mind being the focal point of an Rebel legion’s attack. Behind the sticks of an AT-AT walker you’ll be a lumbering bullseye but you’ll also be a powerhouse of cannons and lasers—and an MVP of the game if you play your cards right.
X-Wing
The signature dogfighter of the Rebel Alliance is a beefy option for squadron fighting and there’s a distinct joy that comes from cruising in the same kind of ship that Luke used to sharpshoot that seemingly innocuous exhaust chute and take down the Deathstar. Still, if you used to bullseye womp rats in your T-16 back home, keep it to yourself. Nobody wants to hear that shit.
A-Wing
The X-Wing’s slighter sibling is a great option for flying under the radar, literally. The diminutive ship packs a punch, zips through valleys and, in our opinion, is the best strategic option for fighting on the Rebel’s side. At least our Kill/Death Ratio while piloting it led us to that conclusion.
AT-ST
If you wanna drive a walker but don’t feel like being a sitting duck, the AT-ST is the happy medium between armored assault, agility and firepower. It’s a deceiving beast, one that lulls opponents in and then obliterates them in one fell swoop. We could only imagine it’s Admiral Ackbar’s favorite ride because… wait for it… it’s a trap!
