A cancelled LucasArts multiplayer Star Wars FPS game has not only been found, but revived by a group of talented fans. Star Wars: First Assault, a multiplayer game for the Xbox 360, is now playable for the first time ever on PC via the use of the Xenia emulator.
Killed just 24 hours before its planned announcement, according to designer Patrick Wren, the multiplayer FPS game was canned following Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars in 2012. This deal also killed a number of other projects, including the sought-after Star Wars 1313.
Running on a special version of the Xenia Xbox 360 emulator designed for multiplayer gaming, Star Wars: First Assault is now playable again. While still in a fairly rough state, a build of a technical test for the game has been found while fans worked to make it actually playable online.
Of course, the game is still in a rather rough state as it is very unfinished. However, the game is a basic-but-fun PvP multiplayer FPS where you can choose to play as either Imperial stormtroopers or Rebel soldiers with a selection of weapons and deployables at your disposal. While some have called the game a Battlefront 3 of sorts, that’s not really the case, and fans have already been working on restoring that Star Wars game for years.
If you want to try the game out for yourself, the modders behind the project are accepting players on their Discord server with links to a pre-packaged version of the game and the special version of the emulator all set up for you. (I have virus-scanned the package on the Discord server and played the game, and it all seems safe, but always be cautious when downloading anything from a Discord server.)
Additionally, this is not the end of the project with the team working on bringing more of the game’s functionality back over time as well as including brand-new custom maps for the game. While LucasArts never got to finish their dream game for players to enjoy, fans are taking what they have and continuing to build on it.
While there are long-form YouTube videos showing off more of the game, I also put a decent amount of time into the current build of Star Wars: First Assault. It’s a fun PvP game with decent gunplay, a Halo-style motion tracker, and some fun objective-based gameplay. It is definitely a bit ropey in its unfinished state, but that’s also to be expected.
What is most impressive, however, is the spectacle, especially for an unfinished multiplayer-only game in 2012 on the Xbox 360. Every respawn sees you and your teammates flying back into the arena, which also offers you a view of the battlefield below, allowing you to issue suppressing fire from above. It does feel a bit gimmicky – especially as it takes longer to get you back into the match – but it also gives those on the ground reason to quickly go prone behind cover or get off the objective for a second. It’s a very unique idea for an FPS game that pretty much died alongside the game.
Hopefully, as more and more dev builds of scrapped games are found, we’ll finally get our hands on some other cancelled Star Wars games. Hopefully, one day, we’ll be able to see just what was made for Star Wars 1313. Now, that would be a dream come true.
For more Star Wars gaming news, check out the latest development update on the Knights of the Old Republic remake. Additionally, read about the new art director working on KOTOR creator Casey Hudson’s unrelated Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic RPG that should be coming sometime before 2030.
