Matt_Fox
Member
Star Wars: Squadrons was unusual. It had the big name Star Wars IP but was itself a modest release. It sold at a budget price, it wasn't followed by lots of DLC or expansions, and the single player campaign was just 14 missions (each about 20 mins long). It also allowed for both regular and VR play - again a rarity.
It came from a relatively new and small dev studio, EA Motive in Montreal who previously had performed an assist on Battlefront II, and had their own new IP (a game titled Gaia) cancelled mid-production.
My personal thoughts are that the bones of a brilliant game - the gameplay - is there. I've long wanted a successor to the PC masterpieces X-Wing and TIE Fighter, and whilst this game didn't achieve that standard, a sequel (with just a little tweaking) could.
X-Wing had concise military style briefings, and whilst 'story' and 'characters' have become an indispensable aspect of gaming today neither the story nor the characters in Star Wars: Squadrons registered beyond being an irritation. The fragmented way the game made you play a mission as a rebel, and then the next mission as an Imperial, meant that you never gained a sense of allegiance or purpose. Two separate campaigns would really benefit a sequel.
Scripted and restrictive missions. Again, in X-Wing you frequently few missions alone. You were the boss and you made the choices, and you sometimes had a lot of space to cross to reach objectives - it wasn't constant pew pew, it was even kind of zen at times. In Squadrons each 'arena' really is small and built around a space station or a debris cluster. None are in expansive open space, not one. And.... you are always with your squadron and being told what to do as each new scripted event happens. Let me off the leash please!
Mission variety. Why does every mission have to be 20 mins and a 'Battle of Scarif' sized engagement against multiple enemy waves and capital ships? I'd have been quite happy doing a bunch of shorter 10 minute missions where I simply have to go and scan a small convoy of freighters and maybe destroy Imperial shipments in a war of attrition, leading up to a big epic assault on a Star Destroyer. Introduce a bit of mundanity. Star Wars magic has always been to mix together mundanity with the fantastical. Ebb and flow.
The game is a 3 stars out of 5 for me, but I do want a sequel.
So what do you think of Star Wars: Squadrons? Should it be a 'one and done' or should Motive put all their eggs in one basket and risk a sequel?
It came from a relatively new and small dev studio, EA Motive in Montreal who previously had performed an assist on Battlefront II, and had their own new IP (a game titled Gaia) cancelled mid-production.
My personal thoughts are that the bones of a brilliant game - the gameplay - is there. I've long wanted a successor to the PC masterpieces X-Wing and TIE Fighter, and whilst this game didn't achieve that standard, a sequel (with just a little tweaking) could.
X-Wing had concise military style briefings, and whilst 'story' and 'characters' have become an indispensable aspect of gaming today neither the story nor the characters in Star Wars: Squadrons registered beyond being an irritation. The fragmented way the game made you play a mission as a rebel, and then the next mission as an Imperial, meant that you never gained a sense of allegiance or purpose. Two separate campaigns would really benefit a sequel.
Scripted and restrictive missions. Again, in X-Wing you frequently few missions alone. You were the boss and you made the choices, and you sometimes had a lot of space to cross to reach objectives - it wasn't constant pew pew, it was even kind of zen at times. In Squadrons each 'arena' really is small and built around a space station or a debris cluster. None are in expansive open space, not one. And.... you are always with your squadron and being told what to do as each new scripted event happens. Let me off the leash please!
Mission variety. Why does every mission have to be 20 mins and a 'Battle of Scarif' sized engagement against multiple enemy waves and capital ships? I'd have been quite happy doing a bunch of shorter 10 minute missions where I simply have to go and scan a small convoy of freighters and maybe destroy Imperial shipments in a war of attrition, leading up to a big epic assault on a Star Destroyer. Introduce a bit of mundanity. Star Wars magic has always been to mix together mundanity with the fantastical. Ebb and flow.
The game is a 3 stars out of 5 for me, but I do want a sequel.
So what do you think of Star Wars: Squadrons? Should it be a 'one and done' or should Motive put all their eggs in one basket and risk a sequel?