izigame.me

I purchased this game with the sole intent of leaving a bad review before uninstalling and completing my refund speedrun.
Charging $35 for this Battlefront "collection" is as asinine as it is greedy considering that it's not a remaster, there are no updated graphics, and it does not include any additional content while the originals from 2004 and 2005 are still available for a combined total of $20 ($9.99 each). This trickles into another issue: file size. It's absolutely baffling to me how this requires 60-70GB of storage when it's a lazy copy/paste re-release of two games that have a combined size of 7GB. This is what happens when you hire people based on their political opinions over their technical qualifications, an increasing issue in the gaming industry. It's not the consumer's responsibility to offset the payroll deficits you can't justify and refuse to rectify.
The entire point of this release was the resurrection of online multiplayer. Upon release there are only 3 servers available, each with a player cap of 64, meaning there can only be a maximum of 192 players at any given time. There are third party programs that allow you to run multiplayer servers (albeit without matchmaking) for the classic 2004 and 2005 releases of Battlefront. This effectively negates any reason to purchase this "collection" since all Aspyr did was charge a $35 premium for a $20 experience most of us have already paid for.
Modders and memers have kept the Star Wars Battlefront community alive and relevant for two decades now. Had there been a modicum of effort on Aspyr Media's part they could have tapped into that limitless potential. Instead, they grifted us with this lazily contrived nostalgia cash grab, resulting in a missed opportunity to bring these beloved classics back to the forefront not only for Star Wars fans, but for gamers as a whole. Worse yet, it's been confirmed Aspyr utilized mod community content in their final commercial product and didn't even have the due diligence to use the most recent version (link to the original modder's Steam forum post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2446550/discussions/0/4347732779392154378/). What work did Aspyr even contribute to this "collection" outside of bumming an outdated mod for their copy/paste re-release of a Pandemic Studios game from two decades ago?
This level of corporate greed and incompetence is something I'd expect from an Electronic Arts release. Again, both original Battlefront releases from 2004 and 2005 cost a combined total of $20. Are we actually being charged a $15 premium for the "effort" that went into lazily Googling and installing an outdated version of a FREE mod into a copy/paste re-release of two games Aspyr had no part in developing? It's absolutely disgusting to see how comfortable Aspyr is charging $35 for this "collection" when it's nothing more than a testament to borrowed content with a premium price tag. Even with functional multiplayer this game should have never exceeded a retail price of $30.
It's no wonder Aspyr Media is no longer the lead developer on the Knights of the Old Republic remake. They shouldn't be involved in any project development larger than a mobile game.
The Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is a massive waste of time and money and should be removed from the Steam store. The gaming industry will never change until we lead with our wallets. Do not ever buy this product under any circumstances.
Not sure why it isn't saying so at the top but this product was successfully refunded the day I posted this review.