Star Wars Battlefront Adds Emperor, Princess Leia and Han Solo

The Star Wars Battlefront playable hero/villain character roster has doubled in an announcement from EA Games timed to coincide with the new Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens trailer release during ESPN Monday Night Football.

Joining Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight), Darth Vader and Boba Fett as unique playable characters are Emperor Palpatine, Princess Leia (Hoth) and Han Solo (Bespin). That brings the total number of playable characters to six and pretty much covers all the main characters we’d expect to see as playable from the Original Trilogy.

Per the PS Blog, Han Solo is “similar to a Rebel trooper, but with a greatly boosted arsenal.” He has three attack moves that will momentarily give characters controlling him an edge. They are Rapid Fire, which fires a quick burst of shots from his blaster as fast as you can pull the trigger; Lucky Shot, a “build up and release” shot that if used correctly can take on vehicles or even get past Vader’s hand block; and Shoulder Charge, based on Han’s Death Star suicide run through the corridors that can be used both for offense and defense.

Princess Leia is all about “support play, buffing team members, and holding positions” given her position of authority in the films and lack of a signature weapons other than a tiny little blaster. Anyone who spawns close to Leia will appear as an Alderaan Honor Guard, which EA hasn’t release a picture of yet. Her three abilities are Trooper Bane, a quick burst of shots that can quickly take down a stormtrooper; Enhanced Squad Shield, which Leia can shoot out of with Trooper Bane and it can deflect lightsaber attacks; and Supply Drop, which literally drops power ups and health for her troops.

Last but not least is Emperor Palpatine and you know he’s packing Force Lightning. As an evolved version of Force Lightning the Emperor can use Chain Lightning, which shoots out in all directions. Palpatine has Force Dash that allows him to quickly move in front of an enemy and catch them off guard. Like Leia, Palpatine is the support character for the Empire that can provide supply drops.

Here’s a gallery of all six Star Wars Battlefront hero and villain characters, coming to PS4, Xbox One and the PC on November 17.