Star Wars Battlefront helped me understand how the Empire lost on Endor

How could a formidable military power like the Empire lose to a dirty band of rebels and a few teddy bears? I think it’s because of the Empire’s dress code.

I’m playing the regular purchased version of Star Wars: Battlefront only since the day before yesterday, but I’ve played enough to fear the forest moon Endor. Each round played on the Ewoks’ planet is marked by the sounds of exploding grenades and seemingly indiscriminate laser fire – these are the shiny white Stormtroopers of the Empire, trudging through the forest, desperately trying to fight an enemy they can’t see.

Grenades fly in the approximate direction marked in red on the minimap, indicating the presence of enemies. Troopers fire their laser weapons at the origin of the red beams coming toward them, hoping to land a hit.

“Here comes the Empire!” shout the rebels. “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of her eyes… okay, shoot. Shoot as much as you can.”

Meanwhile there are people hiding in the trees who dress like this and are killing us all:

Combined with the light chosen for that level, this results in:

These lightning-like shots that seem to come out of nowhere and hit without fail cost my poor Stormtrooper his life. There’s a rebel hiding back there somewhere. Allegedly. I don’t know it.

These trees are filled with rebels.

Players on the good side of the battle of good versus evil that is taking place here are already very good at using the flora of the forest moon to their advantage. In the clip below, you can see someone enjoying their latest kill as their victim’s avenger emerges from the forest like a Predator.

But there are bastions of hope for the Imperial troops on Endor. Actual bastions, bases where the forest gives way to corridors of cold metal and piles of supplies.

Because they’re filled with Stormtroopers who huddle together to feel somewhat safe, these locations are perfect targets for grenades. The rebels are only too aware of this fact.

This was never a problem in older games set on the Forest Moon, which is a testament to the graphical prowess of today’s high-end computers and video game consoles. The virtual moon Endor once consisted only of brown and green polygons with scattered trees. Now it’s a lush green place filled with leaves, falling trees and an endless swarm of rebels.

So when I land on Endor and fight on the Imperial side, I’m a little scared. It’s almost as if the forest itself is rising against the Empire and trying to drive us from this sacred land. And we don’t even have to deal with tiny bear people. What a nightmare this place must be Return of the Jedi to have been for the empire. You can’t kill what you can’t see.