E3 '07: Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Impressions

One thing you can always count on at E3, whether it's at the LA Convention Center or an airplane hanger in Santa Monica, is the appearance of at least one Star Wars game. This year is no exception, as Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron for the PSP was being demonstrated by LucasArts.

Not much has changed since our first look at the game, but we did get the opportunity to see a new level called Korriban, a rocky planet sacred to the Sith. But before jumping into the level, we saw the character-customization system. Here you're able to use credits to customize your character's main weapon, secondary weapon, explosive, special, power-up, health, and capture speed. You'll earn more credits as you progress through the game.

After our rebel soldier (clad in camo and pink) entered the level, we were quickly faced with nearly a dozen stormtroopers charging down a ramp. After making short work of the bad guys, LucasArts demonstrated how you can return to your base mid-fight and adjust your character's abilities and weapons. This means that if you started off with a slow soldier with heavy weapons and you find that you need to capture a base quickly, you can simply switch your abilities up and head back to battle.

After a short battle on the ground, the demo shifted focus to the sky, where we witnessed an intense battle and an assault on a star destroyer. Fighting high above a planet won't be anything new to anyone who played the previous game, but the ability to engage autopilot and land your craft will be. LucasArts listened to feedback from the fans and made the process much easier--the X-Wing we were watching landed without a hitch.

The other thing we noticed from our time with Renegade Squadron was that the graphics are shaping up quite nicely. The frame rate was solid, even when there was a lot of weapon-fire onscreen, which was happening pretty much constantly. Not only were there lots of effects to be seen, but the lasers and explosions that we saw looked quite nice.

Though what we were shown was very polished for a work-in-progress, you'll still have to wait until October 9th before Renegade Squadron makes it to store shelves.