The Rise And Fall Of Star Wars: Battlefront III

A Cancelled Game With A Difference

Of all the ways the industry has shifted over the last decade, the loss of LucasArts has to be one of the worst. Their Star Wars titles, among other seminal works like Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, and even a few Indiana Jones games, were almost always enjoyable and inventive. And while the Battlefront series was handled by studios working under their watch, its eventual decline was emblematic of the problems that afflicted LucasArts as a whole.

And that's perhaps why Battlefront III still manages to pique everyone's interest. Stories of its developmental problems emerged as the studio wound down its releases, with only The Force Unleashed, a Clone Wars tie-in and a release for the Kinect comprising the company's last ventures in a galaxy far, far away. It left a whole the studio never cared to fill.

More important, however, is how the franchise has evolved since all the leaks, stories and rumours surrounding Free Radical's doomed project first surfaced. The Battlefront of today might be a fine game, packing polish, visual fidelity and compelling gameplay, but it's a different beast to the franchise of old. The lack of any single player in the first reboot as well as the microtransactions of its sequel have only worked to the series' detriment, encouraging fans to look to the past and contemplate what could've been.

Cancelled titles always tend to occupy a special place in gaming discourse, with most - more often than not - having shown a great deal of promise before their demise. None, however, have been eulogised quite like Free Radical's Battlefront III. Given how good it looked, to say that's surprising would just be dishonest.

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And thus ends the Ballad of Battlefront III. Does its cancellation still manage to pack a punch? Let us know in the comments below and, before you do, be sure to check out WhatCulture Gaming on YouTube too!