Star Wars Battlefront 3 Video Footage

For a long time now, fans of Star Wars: Battlefront have had to live in loathing with the fact that the next sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront 3, isn't marching through the door anytime soon.

After the release of Battlefront 2 back in 2005 for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2, developer Free Radical had begun laying the foundation for a current-gen sequel in Star Wars: Battlefront 3. However, circa some ugly financial disarray and an acquisition by German developer Crytek, the project was mysteriously axed by the overarching powers at LucasArts. It has remained in stasis mode ever since - subject only to intriguing but sparse rumors such as Spark Unlimited's possible interest and their subsequent shadowy job listings.

Somewhere in a parallel universe, though, Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was brought to fruition by Free Radical. (Although, George Lucas also decided not to prequel the original Star Wars film franchise, so who's laughing now? Wait, never mind.) It's impossible to tell how the final game would have turned out, but thanks to new (and old) leaks of the developer's unfinished work circulating around the Internet, we're getting some tantalizing new ideas.

Earlier leaked footage of the ill-fated project was posted to YouTube over two years ago; a blurry off-screen capture of what appears to be an official Free Radical montage of sorts cut between space and ground battles raging across some sprawling locales. But it wasn't until a longer, substantially higher-resolution video leaked recently that gamers were given a true first-hand account of how far along the game was back in 2008.

Have a look below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvqyG9GR7jg&list=UUCGXWYrMKnnQjHN8TfqsLWw&index=1&feature=plcp

The video alleges the game to be shown in its "pre-alpha" build; Luke Skywalker is slightly more inept at slicing through stormtroopers than you might remember. However, some of the upgrades made from Battlefront 2 are immediately apparent: player and vehicle models are rendered with greater detail, colors appear more vivid, menus are slick - and the Millennium Falcon is even a playable ship!

Keeping in mind that the build is also a half-decade old, it's almost staggering to imagine how Star Wars: Battlefront 3 would be packaged were it in development for a 2012 or 2013 release.

While concept art for Slant Six Games' failed 2010 sequel provided a more recent look, we wouldn't mind if LucasArts ponied up and debuted the game at this year's E3 - or even as a next-gen launch title. It's true that the publisher has had commitments on PCs and consoles between The Old Republic and Kinect Star Wars respectively - but even LucasArts will admit that the latter is hardly seeking a Battlefront-attuned audience.

Ranters, should LucasArts get to work on Star Wars: Battlefront 3? Would you like to see a game similar to that in the leaked footage or a complete overhaul of the series?

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Source: CVG