Gameplay
GameplayGalactic Conquest (GC) is a total conversion mod of one of the most popular multiplayer games in recent years, Battlefield 1942. I’m not talking about a absolute reworking of the original games code to make some entirely new and unique title, this is simply using the fundamentals of the original games engine to create a new setting in the Star Wars universe.
The installation of the mod is simple, using an auto-installer to pop the files in the right place. What’s more is that it doesn’t overwrite any original game files, which would usually mean you’d have to reinstall the game if you didn’t like the mod. You simply load up B1942, and click the custom game tab at the top and choose GC. Switching back to the original is by the same method. B1942 was made with modding in mind!
After seeing the fairly well made menu screen you select the only map available to you and proceed to the main game. GC includes a single map, based upon the famous battle on the ice planet Hoth seen in film the Empire Strikes Back. Other planets, such as the desert world of Tatootine and forest moon of Endor are being worked on by the mods designers as we speak.
Star wars… Battlefield 1942 style!
In typical Battlefield 1942 style you must work on your chosen team (Rebels or Empire) to take flags and territory from the enemy, this time using a host of classic Star Wars units and weaponry.
Instead of driving antiquated Spitfires and bombers you now have the opportunity to fly snow speeders, Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon! Instead of driving tanks you can use AT-ST’s! And instead of firing rifles you can now blast your opponents with a variety of laser weapons.
These new aspects of the game make the experience really fun. The new engineer class for the empire being my favourite, as his weapons includes the famous deployable heavy repeating blaster (the black gun on the tripod that wrecked havoc on Rebel troops). Another unique weapon is the Imperial probe droid, which you can control fully.
All of the new vehicles included need tweaking in some way whether it is in their overall animations, their graphics or their capabilities, but none of them are particularly bad or off-putting. Most look really well made, and are a joy to play with. Plus future patches will no doubt be heavily focused on smoothing over the rough edges here, so nothing much to worry about here in the long term.
Also, I hope in a future patch the four legged AT-AT will be introduced! We can only hope eh?
Welcome to Hoth
Galactic Conquest isn’t just some extensive skin’s mod though, using the same old Battlefield 1942 maps but simply having Star Wars units cut and pasted on top. GC includes a fully designed map set on the ice planet Hoth, complete with Rebel base, collapsed AT-AT, Rebel Shield generator and Imperial landing craft.
The map looks fine, with the mountain ranges looking particularly good. However I’m not sure that the mountain terrain textures used are lifted directly from the original games files, or created by the team, so I can’t really praise them for designing them without knowing the full facts of thier origins. Suffice to say they look nice!
The bases, and locations in the game are at times a bit iffy (especially on the texture front, more about this below) but the general layout is well enough designed. The map feels like Hoth from Episode 5, having the Rebels shield generator, fallen AT-AT’s (shame they aren’t drivable in game), plus workable anti-infantry laser batteries and anti-vehicle laser cannon’s that are all seen in the film.
More tweaking needed
Firstly, before I mention all the issues I have with this mod, I want to state what a good attempt Galactic Conquest is, and also that it’s still early days for the mod. The developers of GC (who can be found roaming their forums at Jolt.co.uk) have done an amazing amount of work so far. You must bear in mind this is only a first version of their mod that took 6 months to create with no outside funding. In fact it’s pretty impressive that they managed to bring out a working mod at all, seeing as most projects simply disappear as time goes on and new games interest players.
Problem is, despite all the great work that’s been made there are obviously issues with the Mod, which the developers will be the first to acknowledge. Some things are simply just nitpicks of things that just won’t feel right for avid fans of Star Wars, others are just game play issues that need tweaking, and a few are genuine bugs and problems experienced with the mod that do need sorting.
Perhaps the most noticeable problems that occur come right at the start when you choose your character class and begin. Looking at the array of weapons in your characters inventory and you start seeing some issues that immediately need sorting. Although it’s great that the developers have added working laser weapons, the blasts that come from your laser sometimes don’t match up to the gun. This is most apparent when you fire the blaster pistol only to see the muzzle flash appear three quarters down the guns barrel!
Rebel grenades, the deployable laser, and mines also have graphical flaws in them, in that the chosen weapon floats around the players hands instead of him actually holding it (screenshot included below to show this). Additionally, when you die you leave behind the old Battlefield 1942 equipment on the floor... oh dear.
You’ve got a laser blaster, I have my knife! BRING IT ON!
On top of the graphical issues the choice of weapons is at times a little unusual, an issue that the developers seem keen to fix at some point (they ask for suggestions from forum members). The biggest question being “What do we replace the Knife with?” Yes, in Galactic Conquest every rebel and imperial soldier is currently armed with a standard Battlefield 1942 knife!
Other dubious weapon options include a sniper rifle that fires bullets (instead of lasers), players having parachutes when they eject and a monkey wrench for engineers. Again, these are hardly classic Star Wars equipment.
Other evident issues surround the textures and backgrounds used in the mod. While the work done is great, especially on the vehicles, a lot of effort is needed to improve the textures of the Rebel base and the Imperial deployment area. As the screenshot above this paragraph shows the walls, ceiling and floor need a hell of a lot of graphical work. In saying all that the developers are only too aware of players reporting problems of system lag in these areas, with their forum members complaining of slow speeds whilst in these busy texture rich environments. So somehow improving the appearance of these areas without compromising system speed is going to be a difficult task.
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