Now that the prologue is over, time for the real Star Wars: Squadrons missions. This was one of the rare days I had several hours to play. May be some mini spoilers ahead.
It’s 4 years since the prologue and you get a fun little cutscene before you are dropped off in the hangar to meet the new boss.
Hangar
The hangar is a nice touch, then it was on to the briefing room. Both are fantastic in VR. Face to face with the characters and looking over the holo table is super immersive. You get to have little side conversations (well they just talk to you) with the characters and can inspect your current ship.
Star Wars: Squadrons Missions
I’ll make this part quick as to not spoil the missions yet. I really enjoyed the simple things like flying from point A to B, following another pilot or scanning some debris. Being able to look around with the headset is perfect in this game.
The Star Wars: Squadrons missions are pretty simple in structure, but the choices spice things up. Over the course of the game, you get more control over loadouts, directing power to different systems, shield direction and later, ship choice.
The fights are fun, especially when you come up against the larger star ships and need to target their systems.
For each Star Wars: Squadrons mission you will get switched between Rebels and Empire. A lot of times you are dealing with the aftermath of a mission you just completed for the other side. It’s great variety and I like the campaign more for it.
Ship Variety
Each ship has it’s pros and cons for each Star Wars: Squadrons mission. All of the cockpits are unique and the instruments are actually work. Rebel ships have shields, while all but the tie reaper have stronger hulls. With the loss of shields for the Empire, their ships also has a power conversion ability I talk about in the next section.
Tie Fighter – faster than the X-wing, but lacks shields and peripheral sight lines. It’s the balanced ship for speed, fire power and hull strength.
Tie Interceptor – fast, high fire power against fighters and maneuverable, but at the cost of low armor.
Tie Reaper – not much fire power or maneuverability, but high shields and armor. It’s a support ship. I haven’t seen all the loadouts, but have used a missile where you can “shoot” a shield at a friendly.
Tie Bomber – I have not flown this in Star Wars: Squadrons missions yet, but I know it is slow and not very nimble. It does have a lot of armor and firepower, after all it is a bomber.
X-WING – the icon. The rebel balanced ship with medium everything.
U-WING – I have not flown this yet, but it is the equivalent of the reaper.
Y-WING – slow speed and turning, but has high firepower, shield and armor. The rebel bomber.
A-WING – a fast starfighter killer with shields. I assume this will be the popular multiplayer ship for those that don’t know the strengths of the other ships (like power conversion on the ties).
Redirecting Power
You can redirect the majority of power toward firepower, engines or shields (assuming you have shield) and then rebalance. This adds a level of complexity to give you an edge in fights during many Star Wars: Squadrons missions.
For those ships with shields, you can direct them towards the front or back and choose to rebalance them. Great when you have a bunch of fighters on your tail on a bombing run or at your front when assaulting a star destroyer.
For Tie ships without shields, there’s an energy conversion mechanic that let’s you super charge your firepower or engine at the expense of the other. This can give you a needed edge for Star Wars: Squadrons missions.
For example, if you need extra power to laser cannons, then you can basically convert the power and cut engines to super charge weapons. The other way you can cut weapons to supercharge your engine to get away.
Star Wars: Squadrons Mission Loadouts
I’ve only scratched the surface of these Star Wars: Squadrons missions, but a lot of them are the space equivalents of battlefield vehicle loadouts (and that’s a good thing). You unlock most playing multiplayer, which I have yet to do.
Play Now
As I mentioned in my first post for the game, some setup is required to get things right, but it is absolutely worth it. Newer patches will likely help. This is especially true if you own VR. If you do AND you are a Star Wars fan, then you should already be playing Star Wars: Squadrons.