Old combat flight simulator 2 squadrons how to#
Old combat flight simulator 2 squadrons series#

Dogfight is a relatively straightforward death match-style offering, tasking two teams of 5 to secure 30 kills before the timer runs out. I’ll be honest, what’s here isn’t incredibly unexpected or revolutionary compared to other flight combat games, but the two modes available at launch both provide a distinct experience and reward your mastery of Star Wars: Squadrons’ unique control setup. Less stilted is the game’s fast-paced multiplayer, which you quickly learn is what the solo portion has been training you for. And even though you create two custom-created characters (one for each faction), Star Wars: Squadrons is by no means an RPG, meaning there’s never the ability to engage with your crew via dialogue options, meaning conversations just come over as stilted and awkward. Doing so simply involves clicking a button and having them speak at you.

In these brief instances, you can move from the hangar to the briefing room and get to know your teammates a little better. When out of the action, the story advances in cutscenes, audio exposition in your cockpit, and some tedious sections on the game’s main capital ships. All eight playable ships handle uniquely in terms of their acceleration, speed, and overall hull strength, though as the campaign progresses, you can tweak them to be more in line with your play style. It’s in the cockpit where you monitor your thrust level, keep a lock on out-of-view enemies, and check the status of any passive or projectile component you have equipped.

The campaign is also varied enough in the scenarios it presents that you’ll find yourself switching attack strategies quite often.Īt first, the game’s first-person perspective is quite jarring, but being confined to a cockpit view feel like a good way to engross you in this universe as every screen and instrument in view believably acts as your HUD. I can’t speak for HOTAS controls, but multitasking these systems feels natural using a DualShock 4 controller.

Old combat flight simulator 2 squadrons how to#

In fact, it’s a bit like learning how to simultaneously rub your belly and pat your head, only here not rubbing your belly the correct way could result in the destruction of a shipyard or the death of innocent people. Yes, there’s A LOT of multi-tasking involved. Luckily, the story switches perspectives between both sides of the war, which helps keep you somewhat engaged, even if the personalities of the do-good Vanguard squadron are drastically more memorable than their Imperial equivalent on Titan Squadron.įlying in Star Wars: Squadrons sits somewhere between a full-fledged flight simulator and an arcade-style air combat game, challenging you to manage and distribute power between your engines, lasers, and shield as necessary while trying to maintain a lock on enemy ships and completing mission objectives.

Turns out, though, buying into a story as nuanced as this one is tricky when events take place almost entirely among the stars. The single-player campaign in Star Wars: Squadronsis a lean if predictable affair, taking place in the aftermath of the Galactic Empire’s defeat at Endor when the Rebellion has reorganized as the New Republic. Stream your Star Wars favorites right here! The narrative might be a little safe compared to some other Expanded Universe entries, sure, but when that PSVR helmet’s slipped on and you’re facing a massive Imperial fleet, you can’t help but feel like the Force is with this game. However, it just so happens that Star Wars: Squadrons also excels in its own right, providing fun and engaging dogfighting combat primed to satisfy both genre newcomers and any franchise veteran craving a true successor to 1997’s X-Wing vs. Let’s be honest, backed up by that epic John Williams score and featuring some of sci-fi’s most recognizable iconography, it’s hard for any Star Wars game to be an unmitigated failure.

Old combat flight simulator 2 squadrons series#

While LucasArts fed that curiosity with a series of excellent flight simulators and space combat games, it’s taken Electronic Arts seven years to deliver a fresh take on the space pilot fantasy with Motive Studios’ Star Wars: Squadrons. Ever since Luke Skywalker braved the trench run and fired proton torpedoes into the Death Star’s core in the final moments of A New Hope, Star Wars fans everywhere have imagined what it would be like to pilot an X-wing – or any of the film’s collection of starfighters, for that matter.