If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few days, it’s this: being a pilot in the Star Wars universe is brutal. I have newfound sympathy for Porkins, the rebel pilot who briefly appeared in A New Hope, who must have entered his cockpit full of adrenaline and aspirations… only to have it all end with a stray laser. This is the reality of flying through the chaos of space battle, and Squadrons wants you to know it.
Star Wars SquadronsDeveloper: Motive StudiosPublisher: EAPlatform: Played on PS4, PSVRAvailability: Out now on PS4, PC and Xbox One
Made by Motive Studios, Star Wars Squadrons is really a game of two halves – in several senses of the word. Split into a ten-hour campaign and two main multiplayer modes, both sides somehow feel completely different despite sharing the same set of controls, with the story favouring immersion and the multiplayer providing more of the compelling star-fighting experience I was looking for. The latter is where Squadrons’ gameplay truly comes into its own, and is only made better when experienced in the terrifying beauty of VR.
Before you get stuck into the multiplayer, however, you’ll probably want to test your piloting skills in the game’s campaign mode – which has its moments, but never quite reaches the same heights as the multiplayer.
Set after the destruction of the second Death Star, in the strange limbo between the original trilogy and the sequels, Squadrons tells the story of two elite forces as they battle to wrest control of a new weapons project developed by the Rebellion New Republic. The player flits between the Empire’s Titan and the New Republic’s Vanguard squadrons over the course of several chapters, giving the campaign a nice sense of flow and progression. There’s plenty of military fluff thrown around, but the personal tussle between Empire commander Terisa Kerrill and her former (now-defected) senior Lindon Javes manages to cut through the noise and keep you engaged.