"I can tell that Rebellion has put a lot of thought into Elite Squadron's design, particularly as it pertains to the interaction between the ground and space forces. A typical strategy involves ground forces storming an enemy base and capturing a checkpoint, which activates the aforementioned ion cannon. After that, one player targets an enemy capital ship and knocks out its shields, giving the players battling space a chance to storm the vessel and knock out its reactor. That finished, a successful attacker can then hop an escape pod and return to the surface. More than ever, the key to victory is teamwork, which means lone players will likely perish quickly in a hail of blaster fire -- and quickly."
Click here for the full preview. Elite Squadron will be coming to the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS in the fall of 2009.
UPDATE:G4TV offers up their first impressions of Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron from E3 as well. Excerpt below:
"But while story is actually the same in both the PSP and DS versions, the games are not. The two versions also have some of the same battles, but each also have some that are unique to each system. Which yes, means you?re going to have to play both versions.
There are also some differences in the way the different versions work. Obviously, the DS doesn?t look as good, though it compensates by changing the perspective of this third-person game to a more aerial view, and by having the lower screen as your radar. The PSP will also only support four-player ad-hoc battles, while the PSP can handle six on ad-hoc or 16 over the Internet. The controls on the DS also seemed a little simpler and arcadey. Or at least they did for the minute I spent trying to shoot Tie Fighters above Hoth on both machines, anyway."
UPDATE #2:EUC points us over to another first impression of Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron...
PocketGamer.co.uk gets "Hands on with Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron on PSP":
"These layered battles run across all of the game's modes including a new story-driven campaign that follows clone brothers across the Star Wars series. Other modes include online multiplayer Deathmatch and Capture-the-Flag variations and a new Heroes vs. Villains mode that pits notable Jedi and Sith characters against each other.
Returning in remixed form is Galactic Conquest, the inventive mode introduced in the Renegade Squadron that sees new functionality and depth here in Elite Squadron. In addition to delivering new scenarios, Galactic Conquest will support hot seat multiplayer rounds."