The Outerhaven’s Star Wars: Squadrons Review (PC)

I was skeptical of Star Wars Squadrons when it was announced, and I’m sure that the average person can understand why. EA hasn’t had the best track record with the Star Wars license, there have been some highs such as Jedi Fallen Order, and there have been an offensive amount of lows with the Battlefront series. For the most part, Star Wars Squadrons is a good time, but some underlying problems need to be mentioned for any prospective buyer.

Game Name: Star Wars Squadrons
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (Reviewed)
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
Developer(s): Motive Studios
Release Date: 2 October 2020
Price: £34.99/$39.99

Star Wars Squadrons is best described as a space flight sim set in the Star Wars universe; however, it doesn’t have the uber complexity you expect from a simulator game, which I am quite thankful for. Set between the events of Episode 4 and 5, you’ll be flying exclusively in Rebel and Imperial starships, which is a safe option. Perhaps the inclusion of prequel era ships would help with variety a bit as each side only has 4 types of ship to work with.

I came away from Star Wars Squadrons thoroughly enjoying my time, but I did have a bit of a fiddly time getting to that point.  The base gameplay of Squadrons can be enjoyed on a monitor and keyboard, but I’d recommend playing in VR with a flight stick if you have the option. I took the time to test Star Wars Squadrons in the following ways; first, I played with a monitor and keyboard, then with a Monitor and flight stick, after that, I tried with a VR headset and keyboard, and finally, I played on VR and a flight stick. If I were to list from worst to best the ways to play, I would rate them as so:

• Worst: VR + Keyboard
• Monitor + Keyboard
• Monitor + Flight Stick
• Best: VR + Flight Stick

I doubt it’s a surprise that playing with a flight stick is the best way to play, but the inclusion of VR makes this one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever played. I’m not one of those people that has been fantasizing about flying an X-Wing since I was small, but honestly, I wish I was. I can only imagine what this is like for someone who has been. Each cockpit is lovingly crafted with all the bells and whistles, and to top it off, you can choose to turn off the HUD (heads up display) and rely on just the instruments in the cockpit. Trust me when I say this, turn off the HUD – you’ll thank me later.

While I understand that not everyone can afford a VR headset, I would recommend that you at least pick up a flight stick as the mouse and keyboard controls aren’t the best. It’s by no means bad, but surprisingly turning on a mouse can be really floaty and imprecise at times. It took a lot of fiddling in my sensitivity settings to get the tuning just right.

If you have a VR headset, then a flight stick is pretty much a requirement. Sure, you can play with a mouse and keyboard with VR, but not only do you have to deal with the sensitivity issues, but you also need to factor in that you need to use your keyboard with what is essentially a brick taped to your face. With practice, I did manage to get the hang of the keyboard controls in VR. Still, when you get into a situation where an enemy fighter is chasing you, and they’re locking on with missiles, you’ll probably panic and miss the countermeasures key and get blown up instead.

Here are the recommended flight sticks for Star Wars Squadrons (thanks to IGN for the list):

• Saitek x52
• Saitek X-55 Rhino
• Thrustmaster t16000M
• Logitech Extreme 3D Pro – Default mapping is ideal for this flight stick.
• Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas One — this is the Hotas stick recommended for Xbox One players wishing to use a flight stick during their Star Wars Squadrons experience. Other Hotas flight sticks might be compatible, but EA has not been tested as compatible with the game.
• Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas 4 — this is the Hotas stick recommended for PS4 players wishing to use a flight stick during their Star Wars Squadrons experience. Other Hotas flight sticks might be compatible, but EA has not been tested as compatible with the game.

While the flight sticks above are recommended, you can use pretty much any flight stick you want. Personally, I used the Hori HOTAS flight stick that was made for Ace Combat 4. After a bit of messing in the options menu, I managed to map all the important controls. While I’m on the subject of control mapping, I must confess that I’m disappointed that you can map multiple button presses to a command. For example, on my flight stick, I have a “functions” button that, when held, changes the functions of some buttons, but annoyingly I couldn’t make use of it, so I only had around 8 buttons to work with, which isn’t nearly enough to map everything you need to map.

Another gripe I have with the controls in Star Wars Squadrons is that there is no motion control support. While it may not be the optimal way to play this game, it still would have been massively fun to be able to interact with the cockpit yourself. Wanna divert power to weapons? Sure, reach over and press the button. Motion controls have come a long way since the Wii era, and I’m very confident in stating that controllers for headsets such as the Oculus Rift or the Valve Index are more than capable of performing in this game. For proof, look at No Man’s Sky; the motion controls for flying in VR are excellent even on the PS4, while I’ll admit that this does make me sound entitled because Motive Studios already went above and beyond to include VR in the first place you can never have too many options.

To my surprise, Star Wars Squadrons has a campaign mode and a pretty lengthy one at that. Clocking in at 10 hours, the campaign takes you to both sides of the war, with the New Republic trying to carve out a foothold after the destruction of the 2nd Death Star and the Empire trying desperately to maintain control as they fall apart from the inside. During the campaign, you finally got a chance to see what the empire’s final days were like, something Star Wars Battlefront 2 failed to do. As you chat with squad members in and out of missions, you get to hear the stories of X commander going rogue and sending their men to die, or how Y commander has turned their back on the empire, There’s even a few references to the other games with characters such as Iden Versio from Battlefront being mentioned by name and Wedge Antilles makes a brief appearance as commander of Rogue Squadron, so fans of the Star Wars series have a chance to geek out.

One thing that will forever hold the Star Wars games back, however, is the relationship with the movies. While the campaign is fun and teaches you controls in preparation for multiplayer, there is nothing long-lasting to be taken away from the experience. You know the New Republic will win, and the Empire will lose, no one important will die, and nothing will deviate from the norm, so when you’re going into the campaign, don’t expect anything important to really happen.

Each mission in the campaign is more or less designed to prepare you for multiplayer, with each mission teaching you something new. For that reason, you won’t get the full dog fight experience until you hop into multiplayer. Multiplayer is where Star Wars Squadrons excels with 2 modes to pick from, Dogfight and Fleet Battles. Dogfight is a 5v5 mode where you and 4 other players are tasked with eliminating the enemy team. The first to 30 kills wins. Dogfight is a small scale mode where there’s no AI around to back you up or no fleet to help you out. It’s just you and your squad in a test of skill and teamwork. I would say Dogfight is the more competitive out of the two, and communication is the key to success, so make sure to either be on the comms with your team or make use of the ping system to win.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have Fleetbattles – here, you and 4 other players will square off against the enemy fleet while also protecting your fleet from the 5 players on the enemy team. Similar to galactic assault in Battlefront 2, you will need to complete objectives to win, which range from destroying enemy ships or completing bombing runs on the enemy flagship. This mode can be played against bots or other players. With fleetbattles, you have a bit more room for error. While sticking with your squad is recommended, you can spend your time defending your flagship or hunting down enemy fighters to give your team some breathing room. This game mode makes full use of each type of fighter, with support fighters such as the tie reaper having a larger role in the battle.

On the visual side of things, I do have to admit that EA’s studios have consistently nailed the visual aesthetic of Star Wars, and Squadrons continues this trend. Each location is masterfully designed with skyboxes that rival Destiny in visual spectacle and beauty, and these visuals translate flawlessly in VR. The real star of the show for design is the cockpits. I especially love how each cockpit matches each faction’s aesthetic; the New Republic ships are a mess of displays and cobbled together components. The Imperial ships are sleek and clean with a cold efficiency that shows Motive Studios respects the source material. When you get that chance in a battle, take a moment to kill your engines and look at the spectacle below, it’s almost like watching a movie in itself.

Everything in Star Wars Squadrons sounds like it should, the scream of a tie fighter as it zooms past, the satisfying *phwip* sound of an X-wing’s lasers as they blast you to bits. There’s a certain bliss to coming as close to living in the world you’ve been a part of since you were old enough to remember. Everything that you do has its own sound. At times, it rivals games such as Rainbow Six Siege with how well the sounds keep you aware of the battle even though it should be a confusing mess, and trust me when I say that nothing will send shivers up your spine faster than the beeping sound of someone locking onto your ship.

Overall I’d say that Star Wars Squadrons is a breath of fresh air in the Star Wars franchise, where the movies have failed to keep up the past’s quality. It’s nice to see that the games are starting to step up with Fallen Order and Squadrons not only being some of the best Star Wars games available right now but even if you take away the Star Wars license, they would be great games in their own right. Having the best experience in Squadrons may not be the cheapest option, but with Squadrons and Half-Life: Alyx available right now, I would say that there’s no better time to invest in a VR headset. If you’re not into the idea of VR and you want a great space flight sim, then Squadrons is also a good option. VR is not required for Squadrons; it just makes it better.