Another neat addition is the ability to call in wingmen or deploy B-Wing bombers in Fighter Squadron, which introduces a much-needed new wrinkle into the mode. By the time you're soaring through the trenches of the Death Star in the final phase, where all of DICE's artistry and technical excellence comes together in one brilliant whole, you start to think maybe this is the Battlefront we've all been looking for after all.

It's an enjoyably frenetic map, where players are funnelled into small rooms and sliding doors help add an air of unpredictability to it all. Make your way to the second phase and the interior of the Death Star - a map that is also slightly repurposed for Blast, Battlefront's take on Team Deathmatch - and the ludicrously tight confines 24 players are forced into help get your heart racing again. Introducing objectives into aerial combat helps, but it doesn't address how insipid the TIE Fighters and X-Wings can feel. As a spectacle, it's breathtaking - the magic found in the searing vector lines of Atari's 1983 arcade game fleshed out with DICE's incredible photogrammetry that brings Star Wars icons to life - yet as a game it's edges have been dulled to the point of blandness. It's up in the skies that this Battlefront's own peculiar character is exaggerated.

The emphasis on aerial combat in the Death Star DLC - following Outer Rim's close quarters focus and the bigger skirmishes of the Bespin pack - might also frustrate. That'll change over time - a little rebalancing here, and a little more acquaintance on the player's behalf - but it's a frustratingly stilted start for one of Battlefront's most promising new additions. In practice, Battle Station tends to end during the first stage as Rebel pilots struggle to get to grip with Battlefront's aerial combat - always something of an acquired taste - while refusing to play the objective, the big Imperial Star Destroyers that must be brought down going frustratingly untouched.

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