We could start and end this review by simply saying hooray! I finally get to be a pilot again. The major thing that sets this game apart and above most of the other Star Wars games is that it takes us back to the classics’ days: The Star Wars: X-Wing and TIE Fighter. While many games can give you the satisfaction of blasting and sword fighting with the lightsaber, very few allow you experience the intergalactic wars from the point of view of a pilot. The last time we got to experience anything like that was over 17years ago, in 2003, through the Rogue Squadron III campaign. 

Developed by EA Motive and published by EA, Star Wars: Squadrons is a space dogfighting action game set in a post the Jedi era’s Return. The game allows you to switch sides, so you get to play both as a pilot for the New Republic or the Galactic Empire. As the new kid in the block, you are assigned to Project Starhawk, a project which the Republic is banking on to give them the victory against the Titans of the Empire. The Empire, on the other hand, will do everything possible to frustrate the project. Thus, giving you a full overall view of the whole plot when you play both sides.

A Twisted Order Marks The Beginning Of Our Journey

The game’s prologue comes after the destruction of Alderaan; Darth Vader has instructed that any escapee of the destruction be hunted down and killed. This instruction doesn’t sit down well with Captain Lindon Javes making him turn on his deputy and defect to the Alliance. Four years after this event, the game focuses on two fighter squadrons. Javes has just been promoted to Commander and is tasked to protect the Project Starhawk. His former deputy Captain Terissa is determined to avenge the betrayal she suffered in the hands of Javes and thus is assigned with the task of frustrating his mission. She puts together her list of elite pilot fighters, which she commands directly. So, there you have it, the summary of the entire plot rests around love lost relationship between two former allies.

Unfortunately, probably because the game was designed to be played as a Virtual Reality game, I felt very detached from the plot. The only place your character is visible is when you are select his outfit; apart from that, most of the time, the character is docile once out of the cockpit. Even when you are engaged in chitchat with other characters, they talk at you rather than to you. It makes me wonder whether the developers intended that we be seen and not heard.

Regardless, every feeling of being left out is left outside the cockpit. The attention to detail put into designing the cockpit is worthy of loud applause. Everything you could ever use in combat is right there, ranging from the weapons to the control down to the shield gauge. The design of the cockpit isn’t as snatching as the flight mechanism. Now, if you’ve ever played any spaceflight games, you may not have a hard time acclimatizing to the flight mechanism of the Squadron. If not, don’t fret; the game eases you slowly into the combat; besides, you have over 10 hours of playing to master when to throttle down and when to flip.

Flight, Game Modes, And Factions

The first step in flying would be to select the ship to fly. Each faction has just four ships in its fleet. Every ship comes with its support system, but you can edit it to suit your style of play, starting from your droid to the ship’s engine.   

The game supports both a single-player mode and a multiplayer mode. While both modes are very engaging, playing against actual humans cannot be compared to the game’s AI pilots. The multiplayer has two modes, namely the Dogfight and the Fleet Battle. Nicknamed the deathmatch, the Dogfight mode involves two teams of five players each slug it against each other – the first team to get up to thirty kills wins. The Fleet Battle mode is a space ship tug-of-war. There are two teams each given a Capital ship; once your team loses its capital ship loses. The game randomly selects one out of the six locations to host the battle. The mode requires even more strategy and attention than the Dogfight. This is where the boys are separated from the men. This time it’s more than just shooting down enemies. Regardless, both modes require the knowledge of balancing power between all the many control options available to you. One minute your lasers are all charged up for a shootout, and the next, you need to divert some of that power to your shields to save your behinds from being blown off. Or one minute, you are speeding away from a hot pursuit, and the next, you might need to slow down, navigate a maneuver that takes you behind your attacker.

The game doesn’t emphasize game currency. Rewards from the battle can be spent on getting costumes, which is an unnecessary distraction seeing that you barely get to see your character due to the first-person play. 

In Summary

Although released for PS4, Xbox, and Microsoft to get the best of the game, you may want to play it in VR. Generally speaking, Star Wars: Squadron is a great game, which promises beautiful scenery, an intense flying experience, and a balanced combat style. The story mode feels a little too scanty, and it is even more heartbreaking to learn that the developers have no plans of adding to the content of the game. I hope they fix this in the preceding games. But until then, I don’t think I can get tired of flying in the Squadron.