Most objectives do boil down to “you’re in space and you need to shoot X thing,” (which is the entire premise) but the story’s setup for each one makes them feel more diverse than that – especially when you’re hopping between good guy and bad guy every stage or two. That said, it does provide more than enough reason to hop into the cockpit and fly some very fun missions. It just seems like a missed opportunity not to do something more interesting with this unique campaign format, where we have perspectives from both sides of the conflict. Neither side really makes much of a point about the greater conflict, you aren’t asked to make any choices or even really question anything they do, and your two rival squads never even directly clash like I so hoped they would – now that would have been fascinating. It’s undoubtedly amusing the whole way through, but it doesn’t strike me as especially memorable. That story is an entertaining one though, centered around the New Republic’s development of a new type of warship and the Empire’s hunt to stop that weapon from joining the fight. I always enjoyed listening to them, but it’s unfortunate that you could skip every single one and it wouldn’t affect your experience of the main story at all.
Those stories are well written and acted, but they are just sort of inconsequential in the course of Squadrons’ events. Learning about them and their backstories is almost exclusively limited to optional conversations in your hangar between missions, which frequently feels ham-fisted for a getting-to-know-you exposition-filled info dump. In fact, I hope they do appear in an RPG some day, because they aren’t used very well here. Whether it’s the war-torn Imperial Shen with a battle-scarred helmet he never takes off or the mildly Force-sensitive former racer Keo on the Rebel side, each one is distinct and well-designed enough to stand out in their own way – so much so that I could see any one of them as a Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect companion without them feeling out of place at all. Part of that comes down to its cast of interesting characters, primarily made up of your squads on either side of the conflict.
It’s very cool, and developer Motive Studios continues to prove it knows how to make a game fit seamlessly into the Star Wars universe.
The way it weaves the stories of two rival squadrons together sets up clever scenarios, sometimes letting you spring ambushes on your other half only to have the next mission swap perspectives so you can deal with the aftermath of your own actions. The campaign spends its roughly seven-hour run of missions jumping between the dueling perspectives of a crumbling Empire and a freshly formed New Republic just after the events of Return of the Jedi. Right now there are only two modes with six maps shared between them, alongside some simple progression to hold it all together, making my love for its flying more of a steamy affair than a committed, long-term relationship." - Tom Marks Its flight and power management systems reward quick thinking and its customization is centered around personal preference instead of power upgrades, but it feels like there’s so much more that could be done with it all. "The thrill of using incredibly detailed TIE Fighters and X-Wings to weave in and out of Star Wars: Squadrons’ (mostly) opportunity-filled maps as you duel other players in 5v5 dogfights is an absolute treat. Things like that make flight more engaging and give good pilots a chance to shine without requiring you to literally learn how to fly a spaceship in order to play. You can, for the most part, just pick up a controller and start chasing down enemy ships – but there’s also a nuance to adjusting your throttle for better turning, swapping power between engines, weapons, and shields in the style of the grand old X-Wing games, and countering missile locks.
Squadrons has found a sweet spot between the point-and-shoot simplicity of the classic Rogue Squadron series and the insanely detailed simulation of Elite: Dangerous.
It’s full of great references for fans and charming (if ill-used) new characters alike, all crammed into a series of cockpits that are accessible to jump in and pilot without dogfights feeling mindless. The balance between playing as both the New Republic and Empire, between arcade and simulation-style controls, and between fun and flashy action and blunt exposition dumps. Like the Force itself, the Star Wars: Squadrons single-player campaign is a balance.