Star Wars: First Assault is a downloadable first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe, originally slated for a Spring release but later put on hold due to Disney’s recent acquisition of the Star Wars franchise.

A source told Kotaku yesterday that the game will support up to 16 players in battles of rebels vs. Stormtroopers taking place on familiar Star Wars settings like Bespin and Tatooine.

The source also said that First Assault is “step zero” to the third sequel in the Battlefront series, a so-called “predecessor” to Battlefront III, which was allegedly in development but later cancelled. In fact, an ex-Free Radical developer claimed the title was 99% finished before being “cancelled for financial reasons.”

According to the source, Battleflefront III would be built from the same code of which First Assault is being built on, rather than using assets from the scrapped project. Allegedly, prototyping for vehicles in Battlefront III has already begun, including TIE Fighters and AT-ST Walkers.

First Assault, however, will not include vehicles nor Jedi, as Lucas Arts hopes to avoid high expectations better suited to true Battlefront sequel. Though First Assault may never make it out of the studio alive, the game is almost complete, according to the source.

Check out some of these early images of Star Wars: First Assault, courtesy of Kotaku.

Thanks, Gamespot.