3 things a new Star Wars Battlefront can take from the Battlefield and Call of Duty series

With the surge of players flooding the online servers for Star Wars Battlefront 2 recently, there's been a lot of chatter about where the series could go next. Many Star Wars fans love what the Battlefront games have done for the franchise and hoped that Electronic Arts would revisit the series for a brand-new entry. But while that might not happen anytime soon, it hasn't stopped fans from thinking about what could be done in a brand-new Star Wars Battlefront title made today. Looking at different parts of the Star Wars galaxy could inspire key aspects to a new game, but developers will want to look towards other popular shooters for inspiration when making the next entry in the Star Wars Battlefront series.

As of now, the two most successful online shooters that are most like Star Wars Battlefront are Call of Duty and Battlefield. Both have wide communities of players that spend a lot of time playing online, and both series have gameplay elements that have resonated with players to make them the successes they are. Rather than retreading ideas that made the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2 a rocky experience, a new Battlefront title should look at those two franchises for new ideas to adopt and take the series into new territory. Here are three things that a new Star Wars Battlefront game can take from the Call of Duty and Battlefield series.

3 Changing environments

Seeing the impact of battles

One aspect of the Battlefield series that players love is the destruction in the environments. Most of the games have buildings and structures that can be broken down by explosions and continuous damage from vehicles and ground units. While some Battlefield games have been lighter on this than others, it's a standout feature of the series that makes it different from Call of Duty games. You can actually see and feel the effects of the fighting going on, making what you and other players do seem relevant enough to the outcome of matches. Call of Duty games don't focus on this at all, leaving maps as they are, and instead go bigger with tools that are open to players when bringing firepower to opposing teams. They may not affect the environment, but they still look cool when engaging with enemies.

Star Wars Battlefront could benefit from the former greatly, even though many aspects of the series are flashy as is. Seeing the planets you visit in battles take on the aftereffects of the fighting would be very interesting, especially if it affects maps in ways that can change terrain and influence how players engage with one another. Currently, Star Wars Battlefront 2 has very little destructibility in its maps, with only panels and small trees that can be affected by blasters and explosions. As beautiful as the visuals are for the maps in the game, it's about time they saw some real damage from the galactic wars that are waged.

We should be able to blow out part of a building when fighting the Empire on Tatooine, or take out a row of trees when battling on the forest moon of Endor. The potential for interesting matches in unique game modes with an element of destructibility on Star Wars Battlefront maps is very high. How any developer can make this work in a smart way is anyone's guess, but that won't stop Star Wars fans from thinking about how crazy things could get with it.

2 Multiple vehicle options ready on maps

Truly all-out warfare on planets

Changing maps is one thing, but what about having maps that offer more vehicle options to use? Multiple Battlefield titles have a selection of flying and armored ground vehicles that players can jump into. This can be done to get around large maps faster, or bring extra firepower and allies with them to a point of interest. But the options were varied, as opposed to having one or two types of vehicles for both sides to use. This kind of layout benefited larger maps with all-out war going on, including many more players at a time to fill up the area. The multiple vehicles gave players more ways to get back into fights after being fragged, or gave them an opportunity to shift the momentum of battles.

Some Star Wars Battlefront games have included multiple types of vehicles for larger areas where battles take place, including a combination of air and ground vehicles to use. But these are far and few between, with Star Wars Battlefront 2 having ships as separate units that you need enough points to spend on. Earlier Battlefront titles would have the ships docked in certain areas of a map just waiting to be piloted, which was very similar to most Battlefield games that did the same thing. Even an enemy unit can steal a vehicle and change things if a team wasn't careful enough to prevent it. A new Star Wars Battlefront should follow a similar approach, especially with a large map that can let players get onto different kinds of ships and soar off into the distance.

This gives players choices about how to go about getting into the fight, while also providing more tools that aren't so restricted from the get-go. Although this mostly affects ground maps that don't take place in space, similar ideas can be tinkered with to adopt something similar to space battles in Star Wars Battlefront. This kind of approach also keeps things open as matches go on, so players aren't out of luck when wanting to get into a vehicle because they don't have enough player points to spend. Balancing things like this in a new game might be challenging for online multiplayer, but it's well worth risking and changing over time, so battles can be more exciting and dynamic.

1 Being open to a battle royale

Something very different for Star Wars

If there's one game type that took the Call of Duty series further into the stratosphere of success, it's the inclusion of Warzone in the series. This battle royale type of mode became popular in games like Fortnite, but was taken in interesting directions when adopted into Call of Duty. It's a style of online game that has resonated with a lot of people, especially those who aren't always up for playing a traditional team-based game. With Call of Duty: Warzone being as big as it's become, it makes total sense that most shooters would find ways to adopt this style in their own way. So how would something like this work for a Star Wars setting, and more specifically, how can it work for something like Star Wars Battlefront?

There are tons of planets within the Star Wars Battlefront series that could make for great maps for a battle royale game mode. Even the maps for Star Wars Battlefront 2 have enough room to move around and fight in a way that is similar to Call of Duty: Warzone and the type of maps it had. Of course, the maps in the most recent Star Wars Battlefront game aren't as big as what is found in Call of Duty, but they don't necessarily have to be on that scale to work well. The rule set and game type of battle royale can still be adopted into Star Wars Battlefront without much hassle, pitting multiple players against one another in Star Wars locations that everyone loves to visit. Dropping onto a map via something like an escape shuttle and traversing the area with a loadout could be the start of a good battle royale match.

Whether this also means giving players options for unit customization or boosting a player count up to 64, there's a foundation here to build upon. And seeing what a battle royale mode in a Star Wars setting might be could turn out very interesting. Even if it's not just limited to ground units for every faction and includes options for hero characters in different ways, people would really enjoy something like this. Once again, balancing how everything plays out is a big challenge, especially with how different units could have an advantage over others. But there's great potential here for something very different that the Star Wars Battlefront series can really shine with.

Unlearn what you have learned

A new Star Wars Battlefront game could be a ways off from what we know now. But fans have a strong desire to see the series continue, especially after the number of players that actively hopped onto the servers for Star Wars Battlefront 2 across multiple platforms. However, new ideas need to be brought to the series for where things are taken next. And the best places to borrow concepts and look for new things to explore with the Battlefront series could lie in the competition of shooters in a galaxy not so far, far away. Most Star Wars Battlefront players may be inclined to avoid games like Call of Duty and Battlefield most of the time, but it might be those games that have something that can invigorate a new kind of Star Wars Battlefront title we get in the future.