Star Wars Battlefront beta provides a delightfully unbalanced battle of Hoth

The fact that this walker isn't walking is nothing short of miraculous.

The death of a stormtrooper is a production. It's a common one, what with their plastic armor being about as good at stopping lasers as plastic dinnerware. But each passing is commemorated with a shower of sparks and a Wilhelm scream. It's an exit that feels more staged than gruesome, and Star Wars: Battlefront captures this micro-drama and more brilliantly in its open beta.

So far, though, it's mostly the do-gooder Rebel Alliance that does the dying. That's mostly thanks to "Walker Assault," one of three scenarios currently available to beta players. It's the showpiece of the lot, keeping in the tradition of countless Hoth missions in countless Star Wars games before this one. Rebel allies and Imperial stormtroopers vie for control in a very non-canonical version of The Empire Strikes Back's snowbound encounter.

But the conflict is decidedly asymmetrical. The Empire only needs to run out the clock while their iconic AT-AT walkers plow through the Alliance's all-important shield generator. The Rebels, on the other hand, play a very different game, where a very difficult mix of coordination and timing are key to success.

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