The Force is Strong With this One: Star Wars Squadrons Review
Star Wars has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and the first series that caught my interest. With any multimedia franchise, there will be video games that follow. One common aspect of the Star Wars movies, are the dog fights. The Death Star trench run from Episode IV: A New Hope, is arguably one of the most iconic moments in cinema. Many games feature events like these from the series, such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Star Wars Rogue Squadron.
Motive Studios, under Electronic Arts, has released a game featuring these ship battles titled Star Wars Squadron, that came out on October 2nd. Does the game follow the good side of the force under EA's Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order? Or does it follow the bad side under the initial release of their Battlefronts? Let's hop in our TIE Fighters to find out.
Graphics
As divisive as EA's Star Wars games have been, the graphics are always a highlight and Squadrons continues to impress. Motive Studios manages to capture the exact look of the starship fights of the movies. The ship’s models, both internally and externally, were scanned right from the movies. Faces of the human character models are where the graphics shine less, but still, it’s an improvement from Battlefront 2. Star Wars games have reached the point to where graphical increases in the future, will be minimal at all levels. Every playable ship has their own unique HUD display and cockpit design that gives each one their own personality and makes the experience feel all the more different depending on the one chosen.
Star Wars Squadrons Gameplay and First Impressions, from Jackfrags
Sound
Gordy Haab
Sound effects such as the iconic “screeching” TIE Fighter laser fires, or the hyperspace sound effects are right from the movies. This game hits it out of the park when it comes to immersion. The music is unfortunately not by John Williams (the usual composer for all things Star Wars), but instead done by Gordy Haab with Skywalker Symphony. While not as ideal as Williams's work, it still manages to capture the feel of the movies. The voice acting is well done, though nothing noteworthy; with voices that tend to match the characters, amid sound variations. Common trends in Star Wars media is to cast British (or British sounding) actors, to play many characters and this game followed suit. It's a trend I never understood, but always just approved of.
Gameplay
Star Wars Squadron plays like a first-person flight simulator, which focuses on the Rebels and the Galactic Empire. Each side has four different ships that serve as either a Fighter (Balanced), Interceptor (Speed), Bomber (Heavy), or Support class vehicle and there is customization available for weapons, abilities, and the internal and external parts of your ship. This is significantly more in depth than what Star Wars Battlefront 2 offered with its starship battles, proving that this game isn't just a spin-off centered around that gameplay style. While the focus of the game is multiplayer, there is a story mode that allows you to alternate between the factions as you are allowed to create a pilot for both sides. The prologue takes place around the “Battle of Yavin” (A New Hope) and skips ahead after the “Battle of Endor” (Return of the Jedi), when the Empire falls. While the story is not anything memorable or groundbreaking, it is interesting to see personalities and perspectives from the factions. There are also some established character cameos, and it's always enjoyable to see what went on in the Star Wars universe after the original trilogy.
EA.com has revealed information about each class of ship in Star Wars: Squadrons, giving us clues as to how they all might play as a team in the game. From Star Wars Explained.
The missions’ main focus is on destroying other star fighters, larger ships, and/or defending allied ships. The length of the missions can range from 15 to 45 minutes, with varying difficulty. Gameplay allows the player to choose which aspect of their ship to prioritize firepower, speed, and/or armor (not every ship can alter armor) in the midst of battle. This gives the player an opportunity to be strategic in choosing what works for the right situation, making the game a little tactical rather than just shooting what's in front of you. Something I appreciate about the movement options is the ability to control the levels of acceleration. The star fighter can even come to a full stop which feels refreshing for these types of games that generally never allow that option to begin with. Controls do have a learning curve, but once you get used to them, there is little to no issue. One gripe I do have with the control scheme is its inability to do an evasive maneuver. I wish there was a direct method to perform a barrel roll, somersault, something. Sometimes it feels like you're a sitting duck when you get hit with enemy fire.
Squadron Dogfighting…from OperationDrewski
The time spent online played like a dream. The lagless matches felt as if I was playing offline, and it was easy to find a game with satisfactory load times. This was very impressive as I played with a wireless ethernet connection. The match types are based off of objectives from the campaign: Dogfights (deathmatches essentially) and Fleet Battles (Attacking and defending larger ships), allow up to 10 players with 5 on each side. Squadrons also incorporates cross play; allowing my PS4 to play with some of my friends who have PCs. The cross play was effortless, with no technical issues. All it took was an extra step of exchanging EA account usernames.
Side Note: It was great that my friend and I always got to play as the Empire, sometimes we got matched with opponents who were “stronger with the force” than we are, which is my one nitpick here. While I wish there was a balanced focus on single and multiplayer, they succeeded with the online component.
The main issues I have deal more with the lack of options and content for the game. While the first-person view during combat is immersive, a third person option would've been great. Especially since Battlefront 2 and other star fighter games, allow the option for both. It feels backwards that there's customization for the external view of the ships, yet you're only able to see what they look like in the hangar. Since the game has an emphasis on multiplayer, and while I do think it's a shame there's not much for single player fans, once you finish the campaign, it would've been great if you could at least use the story mode to unlock content. Unfortunately, not only is customization for multiplayer, the currency gained in single player mode can’t be used to buy customizations. These types of restrictions are frustrating and are becoming a trend in modern gaming. Though it should be mentioned, Star Wars Squadrons is not even a full priced $60 game.
Two final notes, the game does support VR but sadly, I don't have access to it. Secondly, since it is an EA product, there is nothing to worry about regarding microtransactions. If Squadrons is going to be a new series, then I would say Squadrons is a solid, albeit, not perfect start. Between the first EA Star Wars Battlefront and Jedi Fallen Order, I would rank it as “first tries” between the two. For die hard Star Wars fans that just want a new game to fly around in all of the iconic rebel and imperial ships, this is just for you. While it's not a full retail game, it's definitely built more for multiplayers. Star Wars Squadrons is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Score: 4.0/5
