I am not ashamed to admit that I am excited to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opening in theaters in just a few days. I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in my excitement. The latest trailer on YouTube has been viewed over 68 million times.

It comes as no surprise that there is a lot of Star Wars branded merchandise being sold in connection with the movie. On the video game front, Star Wars Battlefront 2015 was released recently (November 17, 2015) on a number of different platforms. Extra downloadable content (DLC) was released on December 8, 2015 (or on December 1, 2015 for those with the Season Pass) that ties in with a portion of the movie (the Battle of Jakku). Price wise, the Standard edition of the game sells on EA’s website for $79.99. An additional Season Pass sells for $69.99 that promises to include 4 DLC packs over the next year.

Given how eagerly the game was anticipated, we thought it would be interesting to compare the latest installment in the Star Wars Battlefront franchise with it’s predecessor: Star Wars Battlefront II – released in November of 2005.

Platform Details

For this case study, we looked at people who were playing Star Wars Battlefront 2015 on PlayStation 4, XBox One, and PC. For Star Wars Battlefront II however, we have a slightly different set of platform users. At the time of its release in 2005, the PlayStation 4 and the XBox One did not exist. So, we looked at reviews left by gamers on Play Station 2, XBox and PC. This represents the same family of consoles, just different generations. We looked at reviews of the standard release only, not Deluxe editions or any editions that were bundled as console deals.

Overall Sentiment

Sentiment Radar is able to provide is an overall view of how people are responding to a product. Here’s what it looks like for Star Wars Battlefront 2015:

As you can see, the overall sentiment is 62.2% negative. The remainder of the pie chart shows 26.4% positive, and 11.4% neutral. It is still early into the game’s launch, so this sentiment may change over time. For example, new DLC or new game modes may trigger a shift in sentiment.

Here is the overall sentiment for Star Wars Battlefront II:

As you can see, it is 84.7% positive, with the remainder being 9.7% negative, and 5.6% neutral.

Automated Analysis

Like our previous case study on Fallout 4 vs Fallout 3, we started with an automated analysis. In this mode, Sentiment Radar discovers features on its own, and ranks the sentiment of each automatically. Here is what we discovered for Star Wars Battlefront 2015:

There are quite a few details being talked about, so let’s dive in:

• Free Content – Electronic Arts has already announced that there will be several DLC packs released over 2016. The first one – the Battle of Jakku – was released on December 1, 2015, and was free for everyone on December 8, 2015. However, subsequent DLC releases will require payment. Gamers felt that there should be more free content available.

• Space Battles – there is aerial combat in the game between X-Wings, A-Wings, Snow Speeders, Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors. However, all of this combat takes place in atmospheric settings, not in space. Additionally, combat does not involve capital ships, which gamers were hoping for. Single Player – gamers noted the lack of an in-depth single player campaign mode. Instead, the game supports short single player or co-op missions. Gamers were hoping for a longer single player campaign.

• Spawn Points – many gamers have written about experiences where they have re-spawned in bad locations (e.g. directly in the line of fire, or in front of an enemy unit). Spawn points have also put gamers far away from the action, leading to a delay when rejoining the main battle. Overall, gamers are unhappy with how character spawn points are located.

• Friends Join – gamers have noted that while it is possible to play with friends, the game lacks some controls when it comes to parties (e.g. unable to form a party team leader who can invite others). Heroes – the game features multiple heroes that the player can become. Heroes come in the form of hero tokens scattered on the map. If a player finds a token, they can activate it and become a very powerful hero character. Generally, gamers are happy with the hero selection and their abilities.

• Download – many gamers were unhappy with the size of the download required. Some versions being sold online did not come with any physical media, which gamers had hoped would cut down on download requirements.

• Game Modes – the game supports many different online and single player game modes. For example, Hero Hunt, Walker Assault, and Drop Zone, are all different modes and styles of gameplay. However, most modes of play require an online connection and are strictly multiplayer. Some gamers remarked that the game modes lack depth and become repetitive over time.

• Gameplay – relates to items such as map variety, heroes, and vehicle gameplay. Many gamers felt that the game lacked much depth outside of infantry gameplay.

• Experience – relates to how well the game reflects the overall Star Wars universe and how immersive the game is. Most gamers felt that the game provided a very authentic Star Wars experience.

• Completeness – gamers felt that the game was not complete on release. Many gamers felt that the variety of maps and available items was lacking, and that the additional cost of the Season Pass to purchase more maps and items was not worth it.

Next, we launched the automated analysis for Star Wars Battlefront II. Here are the results:

Overall, the reviews were quite favorable for most of the items being discussed. In more detail:

• Single Player – refers to the single player campaign. Players are split, with the overall sentiment leaning slightly positive. Some players felt that the campaign was just stitched together, without adding anything to the game.

• Heroes – the game features multiple heroes that the player can become in the game (Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, etc). Gamers were happy with the number of playable hero characters, as well as their abilities.

• Game Modes – like Star Wars Battlefront 2015, there are several different game modes such as Galactic Conquest, Capture the Flag, Hero Assault, and Campaign mode. Most gamers were happy with the number of modes available for gameplay. Overall, gamers felt the game had replayability.

• Weapons – refers to the in-game weapons available. The overall sentiment leans negative, with some gamers feeling like the weapons lacked impact and damage.

Adhoc Analysis

With the automated analysis complete, we looked at several key points that are similar across all video games, as well as some game (and franchise) specific points. For the standard set, we looked at graphics, sound, controls, gameplay, bugs, and price. For the Star Wars Battlefront specific items, we looked at heroes, weapons, game modes, space battles, and single player. Here are the results for Star Wars Battlefront 2015:

As you can see, when it comes to graphics, sound, controls, gameplay, and heroes, most gamers are satisfied. Surprisingly, few gamers have mentioned bugs, and if they do, it tends to be that they have not noticed many at all. On the flip side, the largest sources of negative sentiment comes from the price of the game. Again, gamers are noting that the extra cost of the Season Pass on top of the high cost of the base game is disappointing. As noted previously, the lack of the single player campaign and the limited space battles are also a source of negative sentiment.

Taking a look at Star Wars Battlefront II:

Again, there are no surprises based on the previous automated analysis. Generally speaking, most gamers are happy with the product.

Head-To-Head

The real interesting information comes when we compare Star Wars Battlefront 2015 to its predecessor. In this mode, Sentiment Radar is able to perform a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of each game in relation to one another. One view that is particularly handy is the head-to-head strength comparison. Here is the result of pitting Star Wars Battlefront 2015 against Star Wars Battlefront II:

There are several interesting comparisons to make note of:

• Bugs, Graphics, Game Modes, Sound, Heroes, and Gameplay – for all intents and purposes regarding these features, both games are received well by gamers. Again, the graphics feature is not surprising, since at the time of its release in 2005, Star Wars Battlefront II had cutting edge graphics.

• Controls – here, Star Wars Battlefront 2015 excels beyond its predecessor. Generally speaking, gamers are happier with the controls in the 2015 version of the game.

• Price, Weapons, Single Player and Space Battles – gamers are happier with these features in Star Wars Battlefront II. Again, this is not surprising, since Star Wars Battlefront 2015 lacks a single player campaign, as well as in-depth space battles. Price is also unsurprising, given the nature of the complaints around the high price tag of the Season Pass and the amount of content available at release. Perhaps most surprisingly is the weapons category, with gamers preferring those in Star Wars Battlefront II.

Conclusions

Our head-to-head showed that for most gameplay related items such as graphics and sound, gamers are equally satisfied with both games. When it comes to price, gamers stated that they were disappointed with the high cost of the base game, plus the high cost of additional DLC. Because Star Wars Battlefront 2015 lacked a single player campaign, Star Wars Battlefront II stands out as a clear winner in that category. Similarly, due to the lack of in-depth space battles, Star Wars Battlefront 2015 rates lower in the head-to-head comparison. Clearly there are opportunities here in the form of expansions or DLC that Star Wars Battlefront 2015 may introduce to improve upon this picture. We’ll check back in a few months to see whether this head-to-head comparison has changed.

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