Josh Hendrickson
For a while, EA had a bad rap for expensive games filled with endless microtransactions. Then along came Star Wars: Squadrons, an inexpensive space fighter game with zero microtransactions. If you buy the PC version, you’d even get VR included; no extra purchase necessary. What could be better? A 40% off sale bringing the price from an already reasonable $40 to $23.99.
Star Wars: Squadrons for the uninitiated puts you in the pilot’s seat on both the New Republic and the Imperial side of the battle. It begins shortly after the destruction of the planet Alderaan in A New Hope, but then jumps straight to events happening after Return of the Jedi. You’ll take turns piloting ships for both sides, from Tie Fighters to X-Wings, to A-wings, and Tie bombers.
The game has a single-player campaign, but the online-player mode makes up the bulk of the game. There you can participate in standard dog fights or even go into fleet battles. In that mode, you’ll try to push back the enemy and then destroy a carrier ship. But naturally, the opposing side will try to stop you and push you back so it can accomplish the same goal.
If you purchase it on Steam or PlayStation, you even get Virtual Reality modes included with the game. That’s not always a given, especially with PC games. And better yet, VR isn’t a last-minute tacked on feature that doesn’t add anything to the game; the entire game plays well in VR. Some people argue it gives you an advantage. Naturally, you can play with the keyboard, controller, or joysticks too.
All in all, it’s a solid game at $40, and you don’t have to spend more through microtransactions to compete online. They just don’t exist. Even the latest update is free to all players. So at 40% off, there’s no reason not to buy it.
'Star Wars: Squadrons'
An excellent dog fight simulator set in space. You don’t even have to like ‘Star Wars’ to love this one, but it helps. Play offline or online.
