[ad_1]
Is Star Wars: Squadrons, EA Motive’s latest game entry in the franchise, a worthwhile addition to your collection?
Star Wars: Squads it is an interesting case. It’s a game released in a no-film window to drive sales, at an affordable price, from a development studio whose only other job is campaign mode in Battlefront ii. When all of these elements are combined, the results should be a cocktail disaster. However, even though there is little going for it, Squads it is, overall, a success.
Permission to get on an X-Wing and blow something up
Concern for Squads was that it would be focused on multiplayer and would throw the single player content on the roadside. It is surprising, then, that Squads offers a story worth telling. Through 14 missions, Squads He asks you to fight for both the New Republic and the Empire, as his goal is to establish himself after the death of Emperor Palpatine. The story doesn’t reinvent the wheel at all, but it’s compelling enough to hold your attention and sprinkles with a ton of character and lore cameos to legitimize the campaign. That being said, there is no reason to return once you are done. I managed to finish the story in two sessions (about 6 hours), and I can’t imagine that I would go back for the missed achievements.
Star Wars ™: Squads. Image courtesy of Electronic Arts (EA)
The essence of the game can be found in the multiplayer mode which, for a title that clearly developed with multiplayer in mind, is disappointingly basic. That lack of content doesn’t affect the quality of what’s available, and it features crossover play between Xbox One, PS4, and PC players. But, with only two modes on six maps, you can’t help but yearn for a little more.
Those two modes are standard five-on-five dogfighting and “fleet battles,” which is a bit more complex. The game asks you to reach level 5 before you can play Fleet Battles, which will likely give players a chance to acclimatize to the general difficulty level of the campaign mode. Both modes are fun, I’m happy to report. Dogfighting allows you to be a more independent pilot, asking you and your team to rack up 30 kills faster than your opponent. However, fleet battles require a bit more strategy. The goal is for your team to shoot down the enemy capital ship faster than yours. Between that, your goal is to build “morale”, allowing for attack runs. This is a mode that basically requires communication, and you try to coordinate your defense and build those runs. It’s surprisingly deep and well worth your time.
The best star pilot in the galaxy.
Something that is worth discussing is the aesthetics of the game. Everything off the menu looks and feels totally authentic. The details in both the hangars and the interiors of the ships are impressive. You can legitimately disable the game’s HUD and successfully navigate through single or multiplayer missions with the feedback available only, and that’s a testament to the detail that EA Motive has put into the cockpit experience. The game is also VR compatible, and while I couldn’t play it in VR, I can fully see a scenario where ILM Labs takes a version of this game on the road, to the Secrets of the Empire.
Screenshot from Star Wars: Squadrons (2020). Photo via EA / Star Wars.
That sensory feedback comes at a price; the complete lack of a third person view. Motive has justified this by stating that a third person angle would offer an unfair advantage to those who choose to use it. While I don’t necessarily disagree with that reasoning, having a completely separate multiplayer mode in third person only would have fixed this right away. I would like to have the option to see the boat I have designed in action, so having that option would have been a nice change of pace.
Speaking of customization, the idea of owning and flying an X-Wing has been the dream of thousands of people for the past 40 years. I was excited to see how Squads took advantage of that. It’s disappointing, then, to see that customization is quite limited. You have a set amount of skins, decals, and trinkets for your ship’s look, and a couple of options that change its handling, and voila. If the game is going to receive updates in the future, at least let me design the astromech that sounds and hits me. But at least I’m happy to report that Squads it’s free from microtransactions and DLC.
In summary
Squads it is definitely a game worth learning. It has a compelling enough storyline and a nice, if absent multiplayer offering. At the aforementioned budget price ($ 39.99), it’s a game that will help you through the rest of this generation of consoles and possibly until the release of the next Star Wars title, whenever that is.
Star Wars: Squads is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
[ad_2]
