Game Review for Star Wars: Squadrons is EA’s latest addition to the Star Wars gaming universe, and it does not disappoint. Star Wars: Squadrons is a space flight simulator in which you control one of four classes of starfighters seen in the franchises and fight against either the New Republic or the Galactic Empire. Throughout the game, you will switch between the two sides and fight for their respective sides.
Introduction (Game Review)
Star Wars: Squadrons follows two separate groups of fighters, Titan Squadron in the Galactic Empire and Vanguard Squadron in the New Republic. As you progress through the story mode, you will switch between both perspectives, gaining insight into the characters and their motivations. This aspect is very intriguing and definitely provides a new perspective on the conflict between the two sides, revealing the true characteristics of the sides.
Now, I must confess that I have a major issue with the story as a whole: I did not feel invested in any of the characters. As I played Squadrons, I felt as if the characters were underdeveloped or lacked personality, resulting in a stale environment. I also felt that the switching of sides made it difficult to like the characters because whenever I became interested, I was pulled away to the other side. Overall, the plot had an interesting take on storytelling, but it detracted from my immersion.
On the other hand, the controls in this game completely immerse you, but there is a learning curve at first. When I first started playing, I thought it was difficult to aim the starship to hit enemies, and I had to spend a significant amount of time learning the travel time and lead I needed to hit my enemies. One of the most noticeable aspects of the controls after learning them was how tight they were and how well they felt after spending time with them. The game’s controls have a steep learning curve, but once you figure them out, flying and shooting is a lot of fun.
Star Wars Game Review:
Squadrons enhances the immersion by including virtual reality support for all major headsets, as well as compatibility with most joysticks and speed throttles. I have played a lot of different VR games and I can confidently say that Squadrons thrives in virtual reality. Not only are the graphics stunning, but because Squadrons was designed for virtual reality, it provides a truly immersive and breathtaking experience that I was not expecting.
There was one major drawback to the VR experience: I felt dizzy and nauseated. Because you are constantly spinning and moving at high speeds while your physical body remains still, your brain cannot comprehend it and gives me the symptoms listed above. These symptoms subsided after a short period of VR, but reappeared in subsequent sessions. The VR experience is extremely immersive and amazing, but it comes at a price: feeling ill.
Star Wars: Squadrons also supports multiplayer with friends or with random people via matchmaking. There are two modes of play available in multiplayer: The first is a dogfight, and the second is a fleet battle. In the Dogfight mode you play on a team of 5 players against another 5 players in a battlefield where you fight each other to see who will get the most amount of ships taken down. The team with the most ship kills will be declared the winner.
The Decision of Game Review
The other mode, Fleet Battles, has you and your team working together to destroy the opposition’s flagship by navigating their fleet. By playing these modes, I discovered that the multiplayer is very well put together and fun, but it falls apart because the maps are a little too large and the matches appear to be too fast paced. Now, I understand that an aerial playing field requires a large area, but there were times when I had difficulty finding other players, and when I did, the battles lasted about 10 seconds. The multiplayer is a lot of fun to play, but with large maps and short bursts of action, it can get old quickly.
Star Wars: Squadrons is an interesting take on the aerial shooter genre with a decent story and immersive VR. While it does have some flaws in terms of the multiplayer and story I feel as if the single player gameplay and the controls make up for it and can provide a fun experience.
