Star Wars: First Assault is test-bed for Battlefront 3, may not release - rumour
Star Wars: First Assault recently turned up among some XBLA files online, sparking rumours that LucasArts was working on a new game. The FPS game is real, and it is downloadable, a source has told Kotaku. It's said to be the studio's way of testing the water before committing to Battlefront 3. Don't get too excited though, as it might never see the light of day.
You can play catch-up on the Star Wars: First Assault saga here before reading on:
Now then, Kotaku's source has told the site that First Assault is a first-person shooter that was due to launch this Spring until problems hit the company.
It is said to be a first-person shooter that casts players as ordinary soldiers, instead of Jedi, Banthas or any other weird creature in George's out of control universe. The game allegedly supports 16-player skirmishes across recognisable locations such as Tatooine and Bespin, and doesn't include vehicles.
They've got an image of the Tatooine map here, and another I can't make out.
The source added that if First Assault performed well, it would have validated the development of Star Wars: Battlefront 3. LucasArts would have then created the game from scratch, ditching previous work by Free Radical which I have heavily documented in my interview with the studio's co-founder Steve Ellis here:
However, the game may not release at all, the source added, and that a closed beta is supposed to have already happened. The delay comes as new executives at Disney decide what to do with the Star Wars road map, since it acquired the brand last year, much to everyone's complete and utter amazement.
Kotaku's source closed in saying, "Fans should tell Disney/Lucas loud and clear they don't want shitty titles from random developers; they want games to be taken seriously, and they will only pay for quality. I believe that if Disney/Lucas lets LucasArts die, it means the death of Star Wars as a storied game franchise is right behind it."
Hmm. What do you think? Do you want to play this game? Let us know below.