what person hasn't wanted to relive his favorite star wars battles (and the ones he had never heard of) in a video game? I think this game is a little violent but no blood or anything. I play this with little kids all the time. Unfortunately the story mode is aweful. Most people probably don't care and just want the multiplayer fun, but if you do pick up battlefront 2. The story mode is better. But battlefront is great. So what if it's 6 years old, just buy it.
SWB Is great for teens, but keep an eye on pre-teens
I personally love SWB1. Even though the game suggests a T rating, I think that some 10 year olds can play it without affecting their minds (I am one of them). The game is no worse than the movies at all. If anything, it's more tame since body parts can't be dismembered, and lightsabers merely pass through stormtroopers and such. Still, it is a war game and bodies do fly through the air after grenage explosions (albeit more cartoonish flights). There is no blood, and the game is perfect for kids ages 13 and up. Still, for younger kids, make sure that actually commanding the action doesn't affect them. Watching a war is much different than actually leading it.
Messages:
There are quite a few when you look into, despite the fact that the cutscenes are less then a minute long and are just from the movies (don't worry, no episode 3 here). When you play as the good guys, your mission briefing in Historical Campaign is sort of like you must stop the bad guys from invading a planet, or defending a peaceful one. When you play as the bad guys, your mission briefing uses words such as wipe out, destroy, or teach them a lesson, but it's mostly cartoonish.
Regardless of your side, you are engouraged to use teamwork and srategy. You are discouraged and punished in the statistics for killing your own teamates. You however, get awarded for killing the most people (but they automatically come back to life).
Violence:
Yes, there is a fair amount of violence, and you are supposed to get alot of kills, but it is all star wars and lasers. Even the rockets and grenades are different colors from yellow to green to purple to red and even blue. There is no blood or gore, but when a droid is destroyed their limbs can go flying in all directions, but they're robots.
Great game and Graphics. In some ways it's better then it's sequel, (but of course the sequel is still better in my opinion). You don't have to be a big fan of Star Wars to enjoy this game. Many different troop types and vehicles to use.