Star Wars: Battlefront/Bespin: Platforms


 * 1) One of your command posts with vehicle spawns, giving you access to X-wings and Y-wings.
 * 2) Another of your CPs with vehicle spawns.  If enemy units capture these command posts, you're better off restarting the level.
 * 3) This CP is inside a tower, and there is a distinct possibility that it will be taken.  You have to get it back, though.
 * 4) This command post starts neutral, and whoever controls it will be on the offensive for the entire game.
 * 5) The front command post for the enemy.  It's extremely difficult to take this command post while the enemy still has 16 units on the map.
 * 6) The source of enemy aircraft on this level, you can capture this command post if you fly a vehicle to this platform.
 * 7) Pretty much the same as CP 6.  If you're flying aircraft on this level, look out for the turrets at these CPs.

Overview

 * Your faction: Rebels
 * Easy reinforcements: 200
 * Opposing army: Empire
 * Easy reinforcements: 250
 * Vehicles on map: Rebels: X-Wing, Y-Wing, Bespin combat speeder; Empire: TIE fighter, TIE bomber
 * Jedi hero: none

Walkthrough
This level is the grittiest, nastiest, most in-your-face level of Battlefront. The map is small, and except for the few units that fly aircraft, everyone is fighting in one place. This is where you can show your mettle and prove that you can beat the game. You can't escape the hack-and-sack point-blank fighting on this level, which is why it's a favorite of many players.

Move quickly when you start this level: spawn as a grunt soldier at your forward command post (3). Run to CP 4 and hold off the opposition that's also trying to take it; if you get there quickly enough, they shouldn't be a problem. Once you have captured the neutral CP, make sure there are no enemy units on that platform, and move to top of the corridor. There will be a ton of enemies pouring in the other end of the "hallway": throw at least one grenade to slow them down and just start firing at somebody in a stormtrooper outfit. The main thing to watch out for in this section is enemy grenades. Just keep gunning down enemies from the middle of the corridor until you feel the momentum of the battle swinging your way (a good indicator is your allies moving up to the platform). Be careful to not get within range of the anti-aircraft gun sitting atop the tower; it works just as well on infantry. As you move out of the corridor, look both ways to ensure that you won't get pounded from behind when you turn to take out a few units. You can also hop into a friendly starfighter and fly to a CP behind enemy lines to cut off the flow of reinforcements to the main battle, although if your'e shot down, you will be at a disadvantage in the fighting that follows. Your soldiers will often be too stupid to hold CP 4 in your absence.

However, if you're feeling particularly gutsy, move past the fighting towards CP 5, preferably with a Rebel Vanguard to take out pesky turrets, and capture the Imperial command posts. This may take a few tries, but once you do capture them you cripple their air fighting and are able to squash any further resistance in CP 4.

There's a certain rhythm to this type of fighting. Once you feel that pulse, the rise and fall of the battle, the gut instinct to lob a grenade around a corner - then you are using this incredible new gameplay style to its full potential. With practice, it is possible to rack up more than 100 kills on this level, using nothing but a blaster rifle and grenades.

On the other hand, if you really like dogfighting, this is the level for you. Hop into an X-wing and aim for the TIE bombers with your proton torpedoes, they are the easiest to destroy.

One of the trickier strategies begins by spawning at command post 2. Most often there will be the Y-Wing available. Quickly board it and speed to the top of CP 5 and jump out as your vehicle flies away and crashes below. While you are on top of the tower, move to the edge where the side begin to slope. Carefully move backwards down the slope until you fall off, press forward, and you will land on the landing where the rear gun turret is placed. Be sure not to 'slide' onto the platform where a pillar is placed, as that is usually an almost immediate death.

Usually, once you are on the platform you should immediately roll away from the turret as a bomber is aiming for you. Assuming you survive that, you will have to shoot the turret gunner from his seat by aiming at his head. He is likely to be rotating fast, so be patient. Once the gun is empty, mount it and you now have access to destroy virtually all of the enemy vehicles as they spawn (there is only one enemy vehicle that is totally out of bounds while it is sitting on a platform, though you can blast it apart easily enough as it slowly departs, and one other vehicle spawn point that is completely out of consideration), take out the turrets on the platforms, and slaughter stormtroopers. Take out missile launching 'troopers as they occasionally get lucky.

Taking control of the rear turret is a good way to add to the body count and really puts a crimp in the enemy's plan. You'll find that it's even better timing-wise to die early then fight your way to the turret as the enemy tends to spawn en masse by then. Your kill 'score' will soar and lose fewer of your own men.

While fighting your way through the corridor towards CP 5, the forward turret will only kill you if you are on the right as you're heading up the last ramp. Stay on the left and you will be all right.

While it can be fun, jumping onto the roof of the platform and running towards the end isn't usually a good strategy. The turret will only fire at you up to a certain distance, and it's simply a trial and error system of finding where that boundary is on the roof. Still, you're likely to be fired upon by two sides, so keep dancing around. Running around on the roof is only moderately effective when there are no 'troopers flooding into the corridor.