Star Wars Battlefront's latest update smooths out newer features

The May update for Star Wars Battlefront doesn't bring in the kind of new maps or modes that past free updates have delivered, but it will supply some balancing and adjustments that consistent players will appreciate.

For example, players now can see if enemies have a charge card active thanks to a new icon above their health bar. A healthy 1.5-second cooldown has been added to the new combat roll maneuver, introduced in the March update. And now if a personal shield is deployed players can also use the jump pack and swap weapons, which DICE said corrected some earlier unintended effects of the shields' core behavior.

"We are also listening to feedback regarding the charged cards as a whole, and have for the coming Bespin update [will] implement a mean to actively turn the card off," a developer wrote in commentary to the patch notes. "This means you can manually disable your Charge card to push it into cooldown sooner, if no one is around you or you need to fire regular blaster bolts rather than Ion."

The full list of changes can be seen here.

Star Wars Battlefront in April introduced its first premium expansion, Outer Rim, so it appears this update is more about maintenance of that and the game as a whole. A free update at the end of March delivered new weapons and the "Hutt Contracts" series of unlockables.

Bespin will be the second premium update and will arrive sometime this summer. Cloud City's suave, mustachioed baron-administrator will join the roster of playable heroes.

For now, Battlefront itself is celebrating Star Wars Day (May the Fourth, tomorrow) with a free trial for PC players and 4,444 free credits to spend on skins, weapons and other in-game unlockables.