4/16/2015 8:31 a.m.: The image is now complete, and... well, it's not quite what you probably expected. The Battlefront art doesn't feature your standard, run-of-the-mill Stormtrooper. This one sports a backpack, a shoulder pad, and a hose connecting the backpack to the helmet. The shoulder pad is reminiscent of Episode IV's Sandtroopers, but the color of the leather wrong and the hose is something new.
If anything, the trooper featured in the Battlefront art is most reminiscent of the Star Wars Celebration-exclusive Spacetrooper action figure from Hot Toys. Check out the completed image right here and the Hot Toys exclusive here. It's not an exact resemblance, but it's close.
Before Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, some of the Star Wars Expanded Universe books featured Zero-G Assault Stormtroopers, which sported a much different look. But there's never been a "Spacetrooper," not until Hot Toys' reveal.
It's possible that the new breed of Stormtrooper pictured factors into Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, but we've already gotten a peek at the distinctly different Stormtrooper helmets in director J.J. Abrams' film. This doesn't look like any of those.
So what can we gather from all of this, then? The Battlefront image clearly isn't an exact reproduction of Hot Toys' Spacetrooper. What we're likely seeing is a first look at one of Battlefront's soldier classes.
EA hasn't confirmed anything about how the game plays yet, but it's a safe bet -- based on developer DICE's work on the Battlefield series and the multi-class approach that previous Battlefront games took -- that there are different soldier classes filling different roles. We'll find out soon. EA will be revealing the first Battlefront details this weekend at Celebration.
With just a few days to go before Electronic Arts spills the first details on Star Wars: Battlefront, a mystery of sorts is shaping up on the game's Instagram account.
On Monday, the publisher shared three images that, sewn together, tease a piece of art that features a familiar character.
A photo posted by EA Star Wars (@eastarwars) on Apr 13, 2015 at 3:00pm PDT
A photo posted by EA Star Wars (@eastarwars) on Apr 13, 2015 at 12:20pm PDT
A photo posted by EA Star Wars (@eastarwars) on Apr 13, 2015 at 11:57am PDT
Who could it be? If you can't figure it out, then you're probably not all that jazzed for Battlefront to begin with. I mean... clearly it's Luke Skywalker, on his way to rescue Princess Leia in A New Hope. Right?! No way, it's just a run-of-the-mill Stormtrooper. But this one's a little short for that, don't you think?
While there's not much suspense to the tease, there's a lot of anticipation surrounding what EA might reveal on Friday at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim. Battlefront marks the long-awaited return of a series that fuses oh-so-popular competitive online shooting matches with characters and locations from the Star Wars universe. The series has been dormant since 2005's Star Wars: Battlefront II, which is probably why EA opted to drop the expected "III" from the upcoming game's title.
Battlefront is currently in development at DICE, the Swedish studio known for its work on the Battlefield series. That game's sprawling combat zones and epic scope promise to translate well into a Star Wars setting.
There's no release date yet, but the game should arrive before the end of 2015, and likely before director J.J. Abrams reveals the next chapter of the Star Wars universe in Episode VII: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18.