Cant even launch

Soooo much fun in VR. A total fantasy fulfilled for a SW fan. The campaign, though short and sweet - is a real treat for the franchise fan. Featuring characters, locations and events that reference the series on film, TV and in legends. I've never played the game NOT in VR, I think a lot of the appeal for me was in immersing myself in the SW universe specifically in VR. When played in VR with even rudimentary flight stick hardware it offers a truly immersive SW experience. It runs well, looks well and has a nice succinct story which isn't overly overburdened with nerdgasm targeting references. I don't think I'd recommend this game for someone with a more casual relationship with Star Wars, playing on a flat screen using a standard controller. But I can't speak to that, I've got no experience being that person.

I got this for less than $2 during the Star Wars Day sale. That said, this was a fun six hours for the story mode! The difficulty curve is steep and frustrating at first, but once you get a handle on the controls the missions are quite fun. It's a shame that more wasn't put into the SP campaign since the MP mode is basically dead--I might have put more hours into this if I could unlock more cosmetics or play new missions, even ones disconnected from the main story, without multiplayer. Would recommend if you can get it on sale and like flight sims.

This review is mostly specific to the SP Campaign as I don't care for the multiplayer aspects.

I get that the concepts for Space combat through the cockpit of a starfighter is limited and I don't fault EA or the conceptionists for designing the campaign mission structure they way they did...BUT:
My god! The number 1 policy that should apply to any video game in the world: MAKE IT FUN!!!
It felt like 75% of the campaign was dedicated to Escorts and protection objectives even when the faction you play as are the ones on the offensive! Not only that but how can you expect the player to do it well when regardless of your choice of controls, you are left with manuverability the likes of which we haven't seen since Ace Combat 6. It's just stress inducing is what it is!
I'm not religious but god have mercy on anyone who tries this campaign on a difficulty any higher than Pilot.

Despite my undying hatred for EA's scummy business practices as well as everything they have done to Star Wars witch I will never forgive them for, I was excited to play this game. So when the game suddenly went 63% off I just had to pick it up, unfortunately EA had other Ideas. I tried repeatedly to connect my Orin account to my steam account but it never worked and I could not play if I didn't connect. So out of time time to return and unwilling to give EA free money for not allowing me to play a game.

That was almost 4 years ago and every time I am reminded of this games existence I remember the disappointment, ♥♥♥♥ you EA!

Having grown up playing the X-Wing series of games, and a giant fan of starfighter combat the way those venerable and celebrated titles made it to be, I had high hopes for Squadrons. The hype was enormous. It looked like X-Wing Alliance with a major graphics upgrade.

I got this game when it released. I played through the campaign in a single night. At just 14 missions long, I can say that I was underwhelmed. It's predecessors had scores of missions in each title. Taking just 7 hours to complete these 14 missions, or about 30 minutes each, I was left wanting with a dissatisfying conclusion. X-Wing Alliance took days of constant flight time to complete, wheras Squadrons was so short it made me wonder if the developers had even played the original X-Wing series.

Now, short campaign aside, the graphics were great. That is the best thing I can say about this game.

The gameplay itself was reminiscent of the X-Wing games, with power control, shield settings, etc. That's where the similarities ended though, and they were mostly visual callbacks to much better games.

The weapon, shield, hull, and equipment variety for each starfighter didn't make sense. Make your shields minimal but regen super fast? Gattling laser guns that need to spin up? Death Star-style laser beams on the B-Wing? These are ridiculous and gimiky to the extreme. Worst of all, DRIFTING and BOOSTING? I mean come on. This was fun for a little while, but when the game winds up being utterly reliant on a gimmik you've got a bad game.

My vitriol for this game didn't end there. If the devs wanted to make a game that looked, felt, and played like the X-Wing series, then they needed to stick to what those games had already laid down. But no, they did not. X-Wings and TF's have always topped out at normal power settings at 100MGLT. The TIE Fighter being faster took me by surprise and not in a good way. The Y-Wing (80 MGLT), B-Wing (92 MGLT), A-Wing (120 MGLT), TIE Interceptor (120 MGLT), TIE Bomber (80 MGLT), and TIE Defender (130 MGLT) were all wrong, each and every one of them. The Devs took the fastest, deadliest fighter of the Galactic Civil War era, the TD, and neutered it. Sure, it was still maneuverable and it had the weapons load out to match, but it's speed was so pathetic it was never a viable option. Balancing the game is one thing, but we KNOW what these starfighters are supposed to be able to do, what their specs are. If you're going to ignore that, then don't put them in the game to begin with.

After multiple playthroughs of a rather boring and short campaign, I moved onto the Multiplayer, and let me tell you what a disaster that is. 30 minutes to find a match the week it dropped was bad. The disconnects mid-session were horrible, and before you say anything, I'm on a 5gig fiber optic connection. It wasn't my network problem. Being able to complete a match was nice, but the constant forced shifting back and forth from offense to defense was horrible. Like ok, this isn't football, this is space warfare. If I've got better tactics, situational awareness, and reflexes better than my opponent, I win. Forcing players onto the defensive and making otherwise vulnerable ships invincible for those defense periods is an insult to players.

The gameplay was bad. The campaign was boring. The campaign was short. The graphics were great. The gimmicks were awful. The multiplayer sucked.

Also, for the record: Yeah, it's science fiction. The Rebellion still had a lot of white guys in it. Not one to be found in this entire game, save for the appearance of the GOAT, Wedge Antilles. The woke was strong with this game. I thought inclusion meant, you know, inclusion? Every race of humanity save for Caucasian was represented. Seems exclusionary to say the least, seems racist to say the most. Be better.

I give it a 2/10. Uninstalled, wish I could get a refund.

A pretty decent game for VR, especially if you get it on sale. Like in any AAA project, there are bugs that need to be addressed, but overall, it's good. P.S. For VR to work properly, you need to switch the game from fullscreen to borderless mode; otherwise, the colors will break, and instead of cutscenes, you'll get a glitch. The character's voice sometimes switches to a different gender...

Lovely graphics.

.

gud game