The beta is now out. Came out late, they said the 8th, but it was almost the 9th when it appeared on the Xbox Live marketplace.
Anyway I played all 3 available modes, Survival, Drop Zone and Assault.
I started with survival which wasn't too bad, it's either single or cooperative which is great. 5 waves and each wave you start to face different types of Imperial forces. Even have an Admiral Ackbar voiceover directing you. You fight enemies as you would expect, Sand/Stormtroopers, Scout Sniper Troops, Heavy troopers and Jetpack troopers. However be aware At-ST's also make an appearance. 2 drop pods land during the game and if you can claim it before Imperial forces you get pick up features like auto vehicle and infantry turrets for example.
Next up I played a few rounds of Drop Zone which is basically survival without the waves, without the AT-ST and there are two teams of players who goal is to claim the drop pods and defend it from the opposing team. I found it ok, however I found the one shot kills due to the differences in skill levels to be annoying and frustrating. Even with the health auto generating when out of combat.
I have played Hoth Assault mode the most. It's a hell of a lot of fun, 40 players all up. Imperials have the clear advantage here. Imperials need to stop the Rebels from claiming and defending the signal locations as when they do claim them, Y-wings bomb the Imperial AT-AT's. The Rebel's goal is to hit them with everything they got when the Y-wing's disable the walkers as it's the only time the walkers can be damaged. The Imperial's goal is to also keep them (AT_AT's) alive until at least 1 walker can reach the location to destroy the shield generator like in the movie. Various pick up's for both sides are available in this mission from A-wing/TIE Fighters, to grenades, portable shield bubbles, AT-ST's for Imperials, and heroes (I got to play as Vader once). Biggest issue with this one, everything is white and sometimes it's impossible to see enemies at long range, I've been killed not knowing from where yet the death cam shows some guy got me from across the map, so I was looking straight out and couldn't see. The only other issue is the Imperials have a clear advantage and with the dozen games I've played (1/2 Rebels and 1/2 Imperials) I have not once won as the Rebels.
What improvements that could be made? There is only 1 that I can think of that is what I feel is critical. Like every FPS I have ever played there is no clear skill level match up. Ranks don't matter as you gain ranks by playing the game no matter how good or bad. But it's clear some players are really goods and others aren't. So some of matchmaking in games based on the kill to death ratio added up over all their games and is constantly updated I feel is required to make this game far more enjoyable.