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Star Wars: Squadrons... you played it? Does it warrant a sequel?

Does Star Wars: Squadrons merit a sequel

  • Yes, Motive Montreal are on to something with this game

    Votes: 58 47.9%
  • No, move on and try something different

    Votes: 63 52.1%

  • Total voters
    121

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?
 

Wonko_C

Member
This first and foremost a VR game I gather? Got it free with plus, yet to give it a whirl.
It's really not. It's a flat game with VR mode tacked on, but flight & cockpit games can seamlessly translate to VR without changing anything. They control exactly the same, with the addition of being able to look around with your head, which might give an "unfair" advantage in multiplayer.
 

TheSweeper

Member
Played through the singleplayer campain. It was okay but I don't really need a sequel as it is not a genre I typically play. Altogether it was a fairly forgettable experience, especially the characters. Which makes sense as this is primarily a multiplayer game.
 

Nico_D

Member
It was fine. I didn't pay much attention to the story, didn't find that interesting. Flying and combat was good but I too would've liked more smaller scale missions.
 

Shmunter

Member
A
It's really not. It's a flat game with VR mode tacked on, but flight & cockpit games can seamlessly translate to VR without changing anything. They control exactly the same, with the addition of being able to look around with your head, which might give an "unfair" advantage in multiplayer.
Ah fair enough, thought it the other way around with the VR being praised as the way to go. Chicken and egg I suppose.
 

Kuranghi

Member
Its sitting on my PS5 waiting to start, but its really low on my backlog, its just there because it was free on PS+ really. Maybe if someone comes over who is really into Star Wars (unlike me, its good fun but I'm not hot on it, I'm guessing since I never saw the originals as a child) I'll boot it up and have a go but it didn't seem like it matched the things its referencing let a lone surpassed them so I'm not in a hurry to play it.

It kinda pains me to say because I would like more variety in gaming and more arcade style generally, but I say focus on Jedi: Fallen Order, just because they seemed to do better there. I reckon the first Jedi: Fallen Order sequel will be better but the 2nd will really nail the gameplay probably so I'm excited to see what they do there.

I think the most important question is this though: Can you get ponchos for the ships in Squadrons?
 
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yurinka

Member
I think the game wasn't GOTY contender material, but was an ok game and at least isn't a greedy cash grab like as Battlefront II was, or like FIFA and other EA games. I'd like to see EA and Motive following this path.

But if the recent rumor of Motive working on a new Dead Space isn't a fake, it will be ok for me too.
 

SScorpio

Member
A
Ah fair enough, thought it the other way around with the VR being praised as the way to go. Chicken and egg I suppose.
VR is praised for good reason as it's really well done. It's just that any cockpit be it aircraft, car, battle mech all give amazing VR experiences with little additional work. Where Squadrons fails with VR is the in between mission hanger stuff. You can't freely move around, but it's still much better than some alternatives. There are points where it does a projected 2D screen for cutscenes and the like, but as this was seen as a "budget" title, I'm very happy with what we got.

If you have VR and haven't played it, you really should. If you are holding off on the game until you get VR, well I'd suggest just playing it 2D.

I'm hoping for more, even though it is different from the XWing/TIE games of my youth, the addition of VR support made the game everything I dreamed about playing those old titles.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
It is a great Multiplayer game. I still play it regularly. There is a absolute massive skill gap though. That is the problem with all sim games and even sim adjacent games like this. If you make them "realistic" enough to have depth and be interesting and require tactics, and not some baby shit like Rogue Squadron, then the kiddies get slaughtered and give up on the game and no one plays.

A sequel with more weapons variety, more multiplayer modes, and of course a better written and longer single player would be fantastic.
 

Matt_Fox

Member
VR is praised for good reason as it's really well done. It's just that any cockpit be it aircraft, car, battle mech all give amazing VR experiences with little additional work. Where Squadrons fails with VR is the in between mission hanger stuff. You can't freely move around, but it's still much better than some alternatives.

Actually, that's the same in the 2D version. You're rooted in the hangar and you just teleport to the doorway or into the ship.

I haven't played VR version but I do worry how my stomach would hold up when 'rolling'!
 

Vlodril

Member
Yes. One of my favorite games last years (i played with vr and hotas). Amazing experience. Great campaign too. A lot of different ships and diverse missions. I was really surprised.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
Good game flat, and a great game in VR with HOTAS. The multiplayer was fun and the ship customization was a cool addition.

AI was broken as hell though and nearly impossible to win against.
 

SScorpio

Member
Actually, that's the same in the 2D version. You're rooted in the hangar and you just teleport to the doorway or into the ship.

I haven't played VR version but I do worry how my stomach would hold up when 'rolling'!
Yup, they are trying to recreate the hangers from the older games as well as Wing Commander. It's just that in VR you have a sense of space and want to walk around and look at everything. You can move around a ship to look at it from different angles, but you can crawl under it and example every detail.

Motion sickness will vary person to person, but I didn't find it bad. Cockpit games are normally easier games to get into since you're not moving around. It's VR games where you are moving around large distances than create a vision/brain/actual movement disconnect that can cause sickness.

With a cockpit games it closer to just normal motion sickness like in a car or plane. But since you aren't actually moving it might effect you less
 

Romulus

Member
I have a 70-inch TV screen and great eyesight, but I thought everything looked tiny playing without VR. While everything is obviously life-sized in VR and TVs can't reproduce that scale, that's not what I'm talking about. Felt like it translated much smaller compared to other TV vs VR in terms of scale.
 

AJUMP23

Member
It was ok. I’m glad I waited until it showed up in gamepass. I think the cockpits could have been better, I felt like I got blown up with out knowing how or why or where it came from.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
the gameplay was good, the story was horrible, the graphics were great.

I think it deserve a sequel with a new writing team and refined gameplay to make it great. It kinda sorta hit that tie fighter/x wing/wing commander itch, but only slightly.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
This gens rogue squadron was all about graphics, first person cockpit view. I feel like it’s a must play experience.
 

Allandor

Member
Well, the Story was a bit irritating. The constant change.
I would have liked separate campaigns for Rebels and for the Empire.

Multiplayer ... well I'm still the single-player type of gamer.
 

AndrewRyan

Member
Really want to love this game but haven't found any settings where it doesn't slightly stutter while panning. 2080s and 3800x. Even without the stutter, the background space effect somehow looks flat, so I hope they can improve it if they make another version.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Well, the Story was a bit irritating. The constant change.
I would have liked separate campaigns for Rebels and for the Empire.

Multiplayer ... well I'm still the single-player type of gamer.

yeah I feel like this is some Disney directive holdover, they seemed to really want to show both sides in all the media they create regarding empire va rebels.

maybe it’s trying to brain wash children that giant unregulated bodies of money and power aren’t so bad after all?

UzRHVZx.jpg
 

ManaByte

Member
yeah I feel like this is some Disney directive holdover, they seemed to really want to show both sides in all the media they create regarding empire va rebels.

maybe it’s trying to brain wash children that giant unregulated bodies of money and power aren’t so bad after all?

UzRHVZx.jpg

The best Star Wars game is one where you fly a TIE Fighter for the Empire, and it released LONG before Disney owned them.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
The best Star Wars game is one where you fly a TIE Fighter for the Empire, and it released LONG before Disney owned them.
Yes but you don’t switch back and forth between sides. And I agree Tie Fighter is my desert island game.

what im saying is Disney is always trying to do this back and forth thing, and it’s horrible from both a narrative stand point, and the actual written words stand point. “My friends were on that mass murdering Death Star!” …
 
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Matt_Fox

Member
Its sitting on my PS5 waiting to start, but its really low on my backlog

One plus point is that it's low time commitment. You can complete it in just two or three decent playing sessions, and despite the issues and wanting it to be better I do still feel it's worth a playthrough.
 

Matt_Fox

Member
I have a 70-inch TV screen and great eyesight, but I thought everything looked tiny playing without VR. While everything is obviously life-sized in VR and TVs can't reproduce that scale, that's not what I'm talking about. Felt like it translated much smaller compared to other TV vs VR in terms of scale.

I agree with that, I have an 85" screen and dont know whether it's because they overuse larger capital ships in every mission so that the bigger ships lose their impact of size or if the FOV settings arent quite right, but it does seem 'small'.

I think generally the speed of the game is a little too fast, everything whizzes by a bit too quickly to really see the graphics or enjoy the setting. When I think back to the OT Star Wars the space battles were more like WWII era pacing, than modern jet fighters.
 

Rippa

Member
Tried it for free from PS+.

Hated the fact that it’s first person only. I wish I could see the X-wing while I’m flying and shooting.

Overall, MEH to me and I only played the first 25min.

Deleted soon after.
 

Rayderism

Member
I enjoyed it. Needed to have like 3X the missions in SP. But then I've missed games like Wing Commander and Descent Freespace for a long time.
 
The framework is there, but the single player storyline was pretty shit.
I wish they'd leave the main story conflict out of it and focus on something else. A Freelancer style game in the Star Wars universe is a no-brainer.
 

TheShocker

Member
Cool game, but I had difficulty with the controls on a controller. Game had just a few too many control systems for a standard controller.
 
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