If the ability to play as a Stomtrooper in EA's Star Wars Battlefront bothered you, you weren't the only one. After almost a year of fan complaints about the subject, DICE has at long last removed the feature in a patch that released alongside the game's newly-released Death Star DLC.
It's not often fans rejoice about a game removing a feature, but that's exactly what is happening. Fans on the game's subreddit are cheering, with one user writing that the Empire probably had all the helmet-less troopers executed, to which one fan responded by writing, "As they should be. If they wanted to let their hair out they should have joined the scum in the rebellion."
Prior to the release of the Death Star DLC, players could spend credits to unlock various helmet-less appearances for characters in the game, including Stormtroopers. Stormtroopers could be old women, young men and everything in between via the game's unlock system (though they couldn't be aliens, as that's reserved for the Rebels). Here's how EA justified the removal of the feature in the game's patch notes:
"Appearance: With the arrival of the Imperial Officers, the certification for Stormtroopers to remove their helmets in combat has been withdrawn."
Many fans felt the ability to run around as a helmet-less Stormtrooper ruined the Star Wars fantasy the game was attempting to convey. After all, how many times have you seen a Stormtrooper without their helmet in the Star Wars saga? Exactly once, as Finn can be seen wearing Stormtrooper armor without a helmet early on in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. To many, being a Stormtrooper is all about being a faceless grunt, and being able to not wear a helmet or see others not wearing one messed with that.
Of course, it should be noted that Star Wars Battlefront is far from faithful to Star Wars canon in many other regards. Rebels can use Imperial weapons and vice-versa, Luke can get stepped on by an AT-AT, and Stormtroopers have far better aim than their movie counterparts. That being said, it's nice to see the developers at DICE agreeing with fans over what seems like such a trivial feature, albeit one that has long received complaints. Players on the game's Death Star maps can still play as helmet-less Imperial officers, but as of yesterday, grandma Stormtroopers have fought in their last campaign.
