back to article Luke Skywalker used to bullseye womp rats in his T-16 on Tatooine. But Star Wars: Squadrons misses the mark

Greetings, traveller, and welcome back to The Register Plays Games, our monthly gaming column. It's time to lock S-foils in attack position because we're checking out Squadrons, EA's attempt at a dedicated Star Wars space combat game, and the first in the genre to grace the galaxy far, far away for a long time. Everyone loves …

  1. Jay 2
    Meh

    I got this on PS4 and whilst it looks great, sounds great with a good in places storyline I found it somewhat unsatisfying. The main problem for me is that using a DS4 the controls are somewhat sluggish. This is made worse by the fact that if you reconfigure the controls to be pilot/aviator/whatever with pitch/roll on the right stick then the devs somewhat bizarrely nerfed it to be slower if you try to do both (go diagonal) at the same time.

    The knock-on effect is that if I find the game hard enough to play on single player, then there's no point going into multiplayer. I got excited when I heard it had HOTAS support on PS4... but that was only for very specific products of which my Saitek X52 is not one.

    The final gripe is that overall it's quite buggy. Lots of in-game achievements/trophies not popping when they should or being lost. And I hear the multiplayer ranking/matchmaking is a complete mess. There's a good game in there struggling to get out, but it depends on if all the issues will be addressed in time before the player base just moves on. As it was a relatively cheap game then people may feel they've already got their money's worth.

    1. NoneSuch Silver badge
      Pirate

      It's a Bit Crap...

      But at least it's better than Star Citizen.

      1. Kane
        Boffin

        Re: It's a Bit Crap...

        "But at least it's better than Star Citizen."

        So is a swift kick to the nads.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: It's a Bit Crap...

          I had "Star Wars - StarFighter" on PS/2.

          It amazed me that in this advanced galactic civilisation, with hyperdrive and blaster guns and tractor beams, they would have fighter craft that handle like a World War I biplane.

  2. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Bummer

    I have fond memories of the X-Wing series, and it would be great to have a new story-driven space combat game with similar mechanics. I get why developers are focused on the multi-player experience, but some of us want to lock our S-foils into attack position without being called juvenile obscenities along the way.

    1. Franco

      Re: Bummer

      Yep, on a similar note I've recently been playing Wolfenstein Youngblood and co-op gameplay has all but ruined the grandaddy of FPS game.

      It's tough for Star Wars games though, because X-Wing was the first and set the bar pretty high for space combat sims, and the Dark Forces series also set it pretty high in the FPS genre.

      Can't help but thinking dismantling LucasArts was a bad idea, partly because EA have a spotty record at best (particularly with the Need for Speed franchise) but also because I want more Monkey Island games (unless some asshat thinks multiplayer Guybrush Threepwood is a good idea, in which case I would like to challenge said asshat to an insult swordfight)

      1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

        Re: Bummer

        (unless some asshat thinks multiplayer Guybrush Threepwood is a good idea, in which case I would like to challenge said asshat to an insult swordfight)

        Land-based or sea-based rules?

        On second thought maybe not...

        Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!

        1. Franco

          Re: Bummer

          Sea-based, don't you know I can hold my breath for 10 minutes?

          1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

            Re: Bummer

            Very well! En garde! Touché!

  3. beep54
    Mushroom

    Star Wars

    I completely gave up on anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) having to do with the Star Wars universe after Phantom Menace, although I could possibly see watching the Christmas Special just for the lulz.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Star Wars

      The Star Wars Holiday Special: It was a really dark time for the Rebellion

    2. NeilPost Silver badge

      Re: Star Wars

      Seriously watch Rogue One it’s a hoot and bar far the best any Star Wars film.

      ... then feel free to go back to sleep.

      1. 0laf

        Re: Star Wars

        Hmm I'd say 3rd after New Hope and Empire.

        But still very good.

        The new ones were very pretty with little plot or story that could be followed as far as I could tell.

  4. baspax

    Bought it and returned in less than an hour

    The first thing that struck me was the terrible graphics. Are we talking about the same game? Squadrons appears five years older than Battlefront II! And let's not get into the abysmal load times and bugs (I have a Samsung EVO Pro NVMe m.2, so it's not my disk!).

  5. jeffty

    The LucasArts originals had the formula perfectly balanced...

    In the LucasArts original games ((X-Wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, or X-Wing Alliance), the Rebel craft had superior craft with shields and hyperdrives, the Imperial craft had less in the way of shielding (until the Gunboat, Tie Advanced/Defender and Missile Boat came along) but superiority in numbers (there was always more of them). The original games reflected this accordingly. Squadrons doesn't seem to address this imbalance with it's focus on even numbers battling each other, which is why I'd suspect the Rebel flight groups usually end up winning engagements.

    A lot of the other mechanics (energy management, repairing systems, selective squadron orders, objective scoring etc) that made the originals so immersive and such a challenge have been glossed over or are missing.

    Still, all of the originals are on Steam and have received upgrades in terms of textures and animation of late, X-Wing Alliance has a massive modding community that have completely overhauled the graphics of the game (and I thought the original version looked good when I was playing it on a 3dfx card). You can usually pick them all up fairly cheaply in a Steam Sale or on CDKeys/GoG. They've held up surprisingly well and are still worth a play.

    1. Cederic Silver badge

      Re: The LucasArts originals had the formula perfectly balanced...

      Ah, X-Wing, the game that broke a million mice.

      Joystick only, that game. Although Tie Fighter was better. X-Wing vs Tie Fighter was the start of the decline, one of the games that sacrificed the single player experience to promote online play; a choice that's been the bane of good single player gaming since.

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: The LucasArts originals had the formula perfectly balanced...

      Since X-Wing vs TIE Fighter my only computer spaceshippery was a few years playing EVE Online. Which just isn't the same - EVE is an amazing bit of multi-player world-building and I loved it - but suffers from the requirement that you have to join a corp with other players to get the full experience. And by definition that makes it a real time-sink. Not really suitable for completely casual play. You can't just drop it for 2 months and then come back to it.

      I've been playing EVE Echoes on the iPad. Which is clearly trying to make an EVE more friendly to casual gaming, but I still think I'm going to need to join a corp and get stuck in for the full experience. It's a shame they didn't implement the faction warfare from EVE Online (assuming that's still going on) because that sounds like it's much more casual gamer friendly. I think I'm a bit old and past it for playing on til 3am to finish that op...

      So a bit of non-online gaming you can just pick up and put down is surely a good thing. Just a shame they can't charge online subscriptions for offline only play...

      But I always said I'd get a decent gaming PC to play an updated Tie Fighter again.

      But it's dead disappointing if the comments above are right, and they've matched sides even though the whole damned point is that the TIE Fighters are paper thin and fragil but there's loads of them. In the original you could never fly straight and level, because one random hit would damage something and the second would usually kill you.

      1. baspax

        Re: The LucasArts originals had the formula perfectly balanced...

        You might want to check out Elite Dangerous then.

    3. Binraider Silver badge

      Re: The LucasArts originals had the formula perfectly balanced...

      Lots of multiplayer games are terrified of asymmetric forces. Take World of Tanks - in principle a nice game engine and combat mechanics. But, it's 15-a-side, cursed by pay-to-win elements, and worst of all, when you get in a Tiger II you should be the KING of the battlefield, albeit out-numbered. Except you're not, because the game matches up "equivalent" hardware to oppose. Consequently you can never do the 3-Shermans take a Tiger. Or taking on the weak-as-imaginable Panzer 2 and 38(t) mobbing French Char B1s. Or using the faster, lighter vehicles to lure the lumbering behemoths into an ATG trap.

      The lack of depth in these "tactical shooter" games is endemic and plays out in every arena deathmatch game descending into more of the same - hence why Quake 3 and Counterstrike STILL are immensely popular compared to generic-shooter-2020 edition that nobody will remember.

      People moaned on World of Warplanes, precisely because you could use asymmetric forces (e.g. early Bf110 could do boom-and-zoom causing much annoyance other players). The player in the weak biplane, could, if they knew what they were doing, play to the biplanes strengths and force the 110 to have to engage in situations where it shouldn't. Mostly by getting down low and slow in the hills.

      SW universe is meant to me asymmetric. Half a dozen X-wings taking on literally dozens of imperials. Or maybe, the lone TIE Defender taking on hordes upon hordes of desperate rebels.

      As long as EA has the license crap won't cease, so I do hope Disney decides to value the artistic element over just sales figs. A proper TIE Fighter calibre game would have been an instant purchase even with a £60 tag. This? Might pick it up on a sale. Maybe.

  6. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Meh

    As a past

    player of the excellent Tie fighter(die rebel scum!) I could look forward to something like this as another adventure in the Star wars universe.

    But a short story mode, then into the types of battles that elite dangerous can provide (with all the fun of those who have "git gud" ), I can see no need for buying the game.

    Sure graphics look pretty, the sounds are excellent and the writing/voice acting can be immersive, but at the end, just like a movie, all that wont make a great game that players today will look back in 20 yrs time and go 'why cant they make a star wars:squadrons type game again?'

  7. Danny 2
    1. Danny 2

      Re: Edinburgh's best milkman just died

      Despite the nonsense that well known softie faker Irvine Welsh wrote for laughs, Connery is remembered in Edinburgh as 'the real deal'. Which is a big bit bigger than 'big man'.

      In Edinburgh, he gained a reputation as "hard man" when six gang members tried to steal from his coat. When he stopped them, he was followed. Connery launched a one-man assault which the future Bond won hands down...

      A keen footballer, Connery was good enough to attract the attention of Matt Busby, who offered him a £25-a-week contract at Manchester United...

      A year later, he was alongside Lana Turner - proper Tinsel Town royalty - in the film Another Time, Another Place. Her boyfriend, the mobster Johnny Stompanato, reacted badly to rumours of a romance. He stormed on set and pulled out a gun. Connery grabbed it from his hand and overpowered him, before others stepped in and kicked him off set...

      And he turned down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings in 2006, declaring himself tired of acting and sick of the "idiots now making films in Hollywood".

      He did some awful movies with the same inappropriate accent, but he will always be 'The Man Who Would Be King'.

  8. Stuart Castle Silver badge

    Personally, I’ve been looking forward to this for a few months. I really liked the idea of flying all the classic craft,

    This, when I got my download, I installed it and excitedly waited with vr headset at the ready.

    Then I played it. I played the first couple of missions. They were quite enjoyable for training missions.

    Then I played the 3rd and 4th missions. They were pretty much the same. Even the much vaunted different craft felt similar, with essentially minor differences in speed and manoeuvrability. While doing this, I noticed that there was no real storyline. What there is is designed purely get the player to the next mission. I know that is the case with nearly every videogame story, but at least most game stories attempt to hide that fact.

    I’m most of the way through the single player game (I am not really interested in Multiplayer), but tbh, don’t think I’ll bother to come back to it, but if I do, I think it’ll be because I find it irritating that I haven’t completed the game rather than any interest in the story,

  9. Spanners Silver badge
    Meh

    I have no interest in multiplayer

    It may be my age (I can remember Apollo 11). It might be that I am antisocial (my day job is part of a team). It may even be that I have had too much poor experiences of under spec IT kit (currently have a PS4).

    Long ago, I really enjoyed Elite. When I heard it was coming out again, I was interested until I heard it wouldn't work offline. Even when that was, perhaps, fixed it was clear that this not me against the computer. It was me against whatever random stranger happened along until I teamed up with others in some way that I was not interested in doing.

    If I was to play Candy Crush, I would play it. There would probably be league tables but I could probably ignore them. I have a Sudoku game on my tablet. I have never registered to show up on a score table. I do note my performance improving quite happily without that.

    I used to read a lot. Nowadays it is harder as the world is a bit blurred. I have switched to audiobooks and am happy with this. I don't need other people telling me that my "literary choices" are crap. I hear the story. I imagine what it's like. I don't need input. Even if, in previous years, we went to the cinema, I tended to find that film critics talked rubbish. If they felt it was beautiful and thought-provoking, it was far less entertaining than the latest Avengers film that they hated.

    Oblivion was good, Skyrim was too but they didn't bother me with other human beings! Lara Croft was fun even if my, then pre-teen, son felt that she wasn't s suitable shape to go through the jungle!

    1. NoOnions

      Re: I have no interest in multiplayer

      You can play Elite Dangerous in Solo mode and never have to deal with a human player. It is only in Open mode that other Commanders may be human (and some will attack you just for the fun of it). I play in Solo mode.

    2. not.known@this.address
      Alien

      Re: I have no interest in multiplayer

      You should check out Oolite, the OSS version of classic Elite. If you use your favourite Search engine to look for 'Oolite wiki' you should find out everything you need to decide if you want to download it or not.

      And best of all, it's free!

      1. goodjudge

        Re: I have no interest in multiplayer

        I looked into Oolite years ago but couldn't get my hands around it - literally. I played the BBC version (to death, or at least to Deadly level); all you needed for the most part was A, S, X, < and >, my fingers went automatically into position even after several decades and... Oolite uses different keys and I couldn't face being a beginner again. Maybe it's time to reconsider.

        Joystick? Whassat?

  10. Robert Grant

    A question

    Why do we need this new weapon when we can just lightspeed a drone through each Star Destroyer?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A question

      Because it might miss, and end up light-speed skipping into a planet's atmosphere which should tear your drone apart. Wait, that doesn't happen now either.

  11. Kane
    Stop

    "I thought the prequels were OK too"

    Yeah, you lost me there I'm afraid.

  12. Jonjonz

    You overlooked XWing Alliance (1999), probably the best Star Wars spaceship shooter of the bunch.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "You overlooked XWing Alliance (1999), probably the best Star Wars spaceship shooter of the bunch."

      I don't think it was the best. It was ok but plagued with a lot of bugs, some of them quest and game breaking if I remember.

      The best, to me and many others, is still Tie Fighter wars.

    2. Excellentsword (Written by Reg staff)

      I made reference to the X-Wing series as a whole.

  13. Binraider Silver badge

    EA haven't released a good game on 20 years. Big sellers, yes. But good? Reused assets from BF? Fair enough the models are pretty good.

    But to fall back on arena deathmatch, a genre that is as staid as one can possibly imagine for most gameplay? Blech. TIE Fighter and X-Wings success came from your participation and ability to influence a complex story. This rehash just looks like eyecandy and no substance. I'll be running the old games on dosbox for so e time to come yet it seems. XWVM can't come quickly enough.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not only does it mean we're not sure what to write about for next month's column

    you can write about the state of (some) humanity AD 2020, i.e. that game developers received death threats from (some of) their fans, because the Game release date has slipped again.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've got an idea for a Star Wars game...

    It starts with the raid on the Death Star and you're playing the role of Skywalker. You jump into your fighter cockpit, you pull your helmet on and take off. As you approach the Death Star an animated visor comes down, the screen goes completely black and you hear the words "Use the force Luke".

    Completely true to the film and the effects are exactly what you imagine them to be!

  16. anonanonanonanonanon

    Rogue Squadron was the best

    I really wanted a rogue squadron, this wasn't it, but I stlll enjoyed it, and it is a bit cheaper than regular games I guess. I did find a couple of sudden ramps in difficulty in certain missions that were frustrating, I almost gave up on it, but did finish on Pilot level and didn't much feel like continuing. Bit disappointed there was no decent trench run section too.

    I got Watchdogs Legion and that's keeping me very occupied now.

  17. NightFox

    It may be an age-related thing now I'm the wrong side of 50, but am I the only one who just wants to shoot crap out of things and actually doesn't give a toss about character development cut-scenes and back stories so tragic and clichéd that the characters could almost be Britain's Got Talent finalists? There's too much of this blaming galactic oppression or genocidal-level rebellion on unresolved family tensions.

  18. Daz555

    I really like this game.

    Yeah sure it's not the original Tie Fighter (what is?) but it's still a great blast. Especially in VR where it becomes wonderfully immersive.

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