More than a few people were disappointed with EA's recent Star Wars Battlefront. Whether it was the lack of planets, single-player or depth, it just didn't hold up under extensive play time. It made many wish for the long-cancelled Star Wars Battlefront III from Free Radical, a game ambitious in size and scope that never saw the light of day.
The game's long development and eventual cancellation in 2008 is a story in and of itself, but now Star Wars Battlefront III has been given new life. An Xbox 360 prototype build of the game has leaked online via Reddit, allowing fans to finally get a taste of what could have been.
"Hi all, first and foremost I am not much of a Star Wars fan, but I do take interest in prototype games and this is no exception I want to apologize for my name, as it was the name given to me from 4chan to ensure they know who I am when I post this," reads the original Reddit post. "After a lot of work I managed to get my hands on Star Wars Battlefront III and wanted to share the infamous cancelled game that I'm sure many of you wanted to play. I know not everyone will get the chance to play this immediately, but over time I expect the modding community to be able to change that."
While download links for the prototype have been removed from the post, it can still be readily found online. The only catch is that the prototype build doesn't run on normal Xbox 360s, but rather Xbox 360 test and development kits, which are given out by Microsoft to developers and, sometimes, press. If you don't already have one on hand, snagging one can cost a pretty penny.
Give it a few years and perhaps modders will have crafted a fully playable version of the Star Wars Battlefront fans have been dreaming about for close to a decade. In the meantime, you can check out some images of the prototype below.
