(Editor’s Note: A�Not that long ago, in my newly minted and cleaned play room.)

Like most males my age that identify strongly as geeks, I am a fan of Star Wars. A�relax, Trekkers, I have gained an appreciation for that series as well. A�It’s just that I grew up while the movies were being released, then re-released, then remastered, then “ruined”, and finally saved. A�Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the last step is occurring as my own children are of age to accompany me. A�Hmm, it’s almost as if it was planned that way.

Last article, I confessed one of my nerd crimes of not having seen Inception. A�In spite of my claim to make that right, I have still not yet watched it. A�Well, I come before you to lay bare my soul again and confess perhaps my greatest sin against nerddom. A�I don’t remember the first time I saw Star Wars.

I know! A�Shocking! A�Everyone always talks about their first time viewing the movie as a historical event that they remember and will for all time. A�Well, I don’t. A�I remember seeing it with my wife when it was re-released. A�I remember Empire vaguely. A�I obviously remember Return and the Rancor pit scene.

But, there is a gap in my childhood memories where “first time seeing Star Wars” should be. A�Maybe I was too young. A�Like, I would have been 4 or 5 when it came out. A�I wonder if Quinn will remember seeing Episode 7 when they inevitably re-release it for his generation. A�Still, this is supposed to be a childhood defining event, right? A�People continually talk about their experiences with the movie and how it propelled them to a lifetime of love for science fiction, etc. A�Clearly, it had a similar effect on me, but still I’m bothered by missing memory.

Okay, sin purged and soul cleansed, let’s talk some Battlefront. A�Now, in spite of being such a huge fan, I never got much into Star Wars games. A�Sure, I played Kotor and that led to a beta test of The Old Repubilc MMORPG that lasted longer than most people because I had friends in the game. A�Other than those, and Lego games, I pretty much avoided Star Wars games. A�That included Battlefront. A�That changed last Christmas. A�The boys got some Sims games, so I had to reinstall the Origin client on the computer. A�On of the sales–and I’m a sucker for sales–included Battlefront, so I bought it because the deal was so good.

So far, I have made it through the tutorial mode and two of the training missions. A�I have not played any of the coop stuff yet as I don’t have any friends on Origin and I don’t want to noob it up with strangers. A�I think that Kevin might have Origin, but he forgot his password or something. A�Who knows? A�Maybe this will inspire us to bring back our long planned but often delayed or cancelled game night. A�Stranger things have happened.

Until that happens, I’m stuck in single player purgatory unless I get brave enough to expose strangers to my own particular brand of noobery. A�As I don’t anticpate that happening any time soon, I will be saving and/or ruling the galaxy alone for the foreseeable future. A�Only 2 Sith are there ever, but apparently Noobs are doomed to a life of solitude. That’s actually not so bad, except I do miss having a regular gaming buddy.

So, what can I say about what I’ve played in the game? A�Well, being a Star Wars fan, I was hyped. A�That hype only increased when the Lucasfilm logo appeared on the screen followed by the iconic theme song. A�I clicked through, though, so I don’t know f there’s a scroll or not. A�However, once the menu loaded, it started the Imperial march. A�And, so, I ended up humming the march on my way to dinner because that’s when my wife announced that it was done. A�And I spent all of dinner with the song running through my head and making me more excited to play the game.

After dinner, I rushed back upstairs to finally get my journey started. A�I figured I’d start with the tutorial because I’m not called Noob of All Trades for nothing. A�And this is…an FPS? A�Really? A�That’s not at all what I expected and more than a little disappointing. A�Well, the sooner I can get this done, the sooner I can play other and better games.

Oh, wait, what’s this? A�Princess Leia is going to talk me through the mission? A�Well, that’s…wait, I don’t think that’s Princess Leia. A�Is it? A�No, I’m pretty sure it’s not her voice. A�Oh well, I will still see it through to the end. A�If the rest of the missions are FPS, I’ve wasted my money. A�Damn you, sales! A�Wait, what was that? A�”Good job!” Fake Leia encourages me after jumping up a snow bank. A�Maybe this game will be worth it after all. A�The only thing that would make it better was if it was an achievement, too. A�Heck, I need that kind of support in real life.

“Way to go! A�You got out of bed this morning!”

“Super job on those groceries!”

But, I digress. A�The tutorial progresses as you’d expect. A�You walk to a place, shoot a droid, walk to the next place, shoot another droid, find a weapon upgrade, walk to the final place and obliterate a droid. A�Okay, that was damn cool, too. A�I’m still not sure about this whole FPS thing, but it ended up being a relatively fun tutorial level.

I also played through a training level where you dog fight tie fighters as an X-wing. A�That was so much fun and much more what I was expecting from the game. A�Quinn got a kick out of me crashing my X-wing into the mountain the first time I played the level and he kept saying to me, “Don’t crash, Daddy!” A�He was like my fake Leia voice of encouragement through this level. A�I only had one complaint about the level. A�It was too repetitive and about one wave too long in my opinion. A�By the end, I was done flying and wanted to try something else.

The something else was also a first person level, but it was the level where Darth Vader and the Emperor are attempting to take over the rebel Hoth base. A�This level was entirely too much fun. A�You could force choke, throw your lightsaber at the rebels and it gave you the feeling of being Darth Vader. A�I say that the Arkham A�games are the closest thing to being Batman. A�Well, this level was very similar as far as Darth Vader goes.

Overall, I recommend the game if you’ve somehow avoided playing it until now. A�The graphics are very good. A�The voices are not the actual voices, but they are close enough from what I could hear. A�The levels are actually varied. A�However, some of them are a bit too long, or maybe it was just my feeling about that X-wing level. A�I would have to play more to see if that thought persisted. A�Other than that, this is a great game and worth your time and money. A�Go, get it, now!