–
|
PRO
– |
|
Flying around with an X-wing or TIE fighter, it’s possible in Star Wars: Squadrons from Motive Studios, without any microtransactions.
–
“What could a modern Star Wars game with a focus on space combat look like?” That was the question that a group of passionate fans at developer Motive asked themselves one day. The passion project grew into a pitch and Star Wars: Squadrons was born.
In Star Wars: Squadrons, you take place in the cockpit of several popular starfighters just after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. You do that partly as a pilot of the New Republic, which is in the midst of the transition from rebels to leaders, and as part of the Galactic Empire. The story of the single player is thus told from different perspectives.
That is ideal, because the main goal of the campaign is to familiarize you with flying around in the various starfighters. There are eight in total in this game, divided into four categories. The names will no doubt sound familiar to you and you can rightly become enthusiastic. We all dream of this when watching the movies, don’t we? It’s about:
- Fighters: T-65B X-wing starfighter & TIE/ln starfighter (“TIE fighter”)
- Bombers: BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bomber & TIE/sa bomber (“TIE bomber”)
- Interceptors: RZ-1 A-wing interceptor & TIE/IN interceptor (“TIE interceptor”)
- Support: UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft & TIE/rp reaper attack lander (“TIE reaper”)
Over 14 missions you will get to know different unique characters and even see some famous names pass by. For all these missions you take your place in the cockpit in a first person perspective. This means that a large part of your screen is occupied by lights, radars and other information. At first that is a bit overwhelming, but luckily you learn along the way. So you will continuously play with shifting the power from your starfighter to either your bike, your weapons or your shields. Finding a good balance is crucial. For example, sometimes you like to give up some speed to be able to shoot for a longer period of time without your weapons overheating. When you make that choice will depend on the starfighter you are currently piloting and whether you have a New Republic or Empire ship under your butt, because although an X-wing and TIE fighter fall under the same category, they feel sufficiently different in use. This certainly benefits the variation and also provides extra choice in multiplayer.
Moreover, you can adjust each ship on the basis of three passive components and four active components. Think of the choice between different laser weapons and bombs, engines, shields, etc. In total there are 50 components to choose from. These are all available simply by playing the game. There are two currencies you can collect, but beyond the $ 39.99 for the game itself, you won’t have to invest a single extra dollar to get the most out of it (Marvel’s Avengers can learn something from this). We can only applaud Motive for this decision. Unfortunately, this also means that the game is now complete and therefore no DLC is planned.
Motion sickness and VR
When we were offered the game for review, I had some doubts, because the many directions that a starfighter can fly in and the camera movements that follow seemed like a perfect recipe for motion sickness. Still, it turned out to be not too bad once we started the game and that is partly because a large part of your screen consists of the cockpit. There is also always a crosshair that serves as a focus point while the rest of the image is in motion. The game can also be played in VR, but we have not been able to experience the consequences ourselves. However, we regularly ended up in situations where we wished we could look to the side or behind us, so there seems to be a clear advantage to playing in VR.
Multiplayer
Once you have completed the campaign, you are ready for the real thing. There are two forms of 5v5 multiplayer: Dogfights and Fleet Battles. Dogfights are our personal preference because they provide much faster gameplay than Fleet Battles. You choose the right set-up with some teamwork, fine-tune your ship and then get started right away. Taking down as many enemy players as possible before time runs out is the message, while trying to avoid a lot of debris (or use it to hide).
Fleet Battles require a bit more strategic insight and will undoubtedly be popular with groups of friends, because to get the best out of fashion, good communication is certainly necessary. The goal is simple: destroy the enemy flagship. However, the execution takes quite some time and you can quickly count on matches that last about 30 minutes, depending on how good the players on both sides are. Bringing a Fleet Battle to a successful conclusion requires a lot of effort and we were happy with the provided tutorials, so that we could already practice before we went online. If you score well there, you can earn some unique cosmetics by finishing high in the ranking, such as an Ewok bobblehead for your cockpit. Who doesn’t want that now?
Star Wars Squadrons: Eindoordeel
Star Wars: Squadrons has become a hugely entertaining game. On a single player level you can enjoy a story that fits perfectly in the Star Wars universe thanks to the fun characters and the many recognizable starships. Competitive players can then go all out on multiplayer in exciting 5v5 game modes. Motive also proves with this game that the old-school approach without microtransactions and DLC still works. A must for anyone who has ever dreamed of flying through space with an X-wing. May the force be with you!
Star Wars: Squadrons is available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The best prices for the console versions can be found on Bol.com.
–
