Canceled 'Star Wars: Battlefront 3' on display in hour-long clip

An early build of Star Wars: Battlefront 3, the Free Radical-developed game that LucasArts canceled due to budget concerns, shows potential for greatness in an hour-long video captured by Past to Present Online.

An early build of Star Wars: Battlefront 3, the Free Radical-developed game that LucasArts canceled due to budget concerns, shows potential in an hour-long video captured by Past to Present Online.

The footage focuses mainly on the Cloud City/Bespin map, showing off third-person combat on the ground as well as starfighter action in X-wing ships. One segment features the bounty hunter Boba Fett flying around with his jetpack; another shows off Luke Skywalker striking down Stormtroopers with his blue lightsaber. Many sections exhibit screen tearing and an atrocious frame rate, but the promise of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 — massive levels in which players could transition seamlessly between on-foot combat and dogfighting in the sky — is apparent underneath those expected technical issues.

According to a Eurogamer feature on the history of Free Radical, the studio worked on Star Wars: Battlefront 3 from mid-2006 to early 2008. Free Radical co-founder David Doak claimed development was going so well that LucasArts was already on board for a sequel, before a shift in management and company mindset led the publisher to cancel the project. Doak acknowledged that Battlefront 3 was unfinished, but said, "It was very far from a car crash and had interesting ideas." We'll likely never know if Free Radical or anyone else could've made good on that promise, but at least the footage below offers a look at the "what if?" scenario.