Electronic Arts said last week that Lando Calrissian and the notorious bounty hunter Dengar is coming to Star Wars Battlefront in a Bespin-themed digital expansion starting June 21. This expansion pack will be dished out to Season Pass owners first for a period of two weeks, followed by the rest of the consuming public. The company only briefly talked about the expansion in a short news post, but plans to reveal more details at a later date.
If you’re not familiar with Bespin, it is an enormous gas giant planet playing host to Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back, and is the home of “legendary” smuggler and long-time friend of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian. As seen in the movie, Lando essentially hands over Solo to the Empire, but later has a change of heart and sides with the Rebel Alliance. As for Dengar, he was one of the bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader himself to capture Solo alive. Boba Fett was in that small group too.
According to Electronic Arts, gamers will have full access to Cloud City including the Administrator’s Palace, the Bioniip Laboratories, and the carbon-freezing chambers. They’ll even get to pilot the cloud-car vehicle, aka the Storm IV Twin-Pod flown by Bespin’s Wing Guard. Typically, this two-person craft requires one pilot (left) and one gunner (right), with the latter firing the ship’s blaster cannons. These ships are manufactured on Cloud City.
In addition to a new vehicle, the DLC will provide two new guns: the X-8 Night Sniper and the EE-4 blaster. The former was once used by Calrissian when he was still a smuggler, and is a blaster pistol manufactured by BlastTech Industries packed with a silent mode operation and a computerized scope. The EE-4 blaster seems new, and may be based on the EE-3 carbine rifle manufactured by BlasTech Industries. Bounty Hunters Boba Fett and Sugi used this weapon.
Dengar will actually wield the DLT-19 in the expansion pack, the first Hero to use a heavy blaster in Star Wars Battlefront. As for Lando, the company doesn’t say what he will use as a weapon (the X-8 Night Sniper?), but does indicate that his greatest talent, outside his skillful use of a blaster, is “knowing the odds and using tricks against his enemies.”
That said, both Lando and Dengar will exhibit new traits that will make them unique in the Star Wars Battlefront universe, and undoubtedly a big thrill to play later this month.
As previously reported, Electronic Arts said that two more digital expansion packs will hit Star Wars Battlefront by the end of the year: one based on the Death Star (finally!), and one slated for December that the company is especially excited about but currently is not discussing. The company is also working with Criterion on an exclusive Star Wars Battlefront mission for PlayStation VR that will be released later this year.
Finally, Electronic Arts confirmed that DICE is currently working on the next Star Wars Battlefront installment in collaboration with Motive Studios in Montreal. Based on the news, the game will presumably arrive in 2017 (we’re thinking Q4), and will be based on all the feedback the company received regarding the current game along with “innovative” new ideas.
We can’t wait.
