Star Wars: Squadrons Critic Reviews

I’ve been waiting 23 years for a game to come along and take the crown for the best Star Wars flight sim from X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, and have had to endure guff like 2001’s Starfighter in the meantime. Well, it’s finally here. This is now the high watermark for interactive Star Wars experiences.

It encapsulates everything that makes those epic dogfights from the movies so magical, and puts you right at the heart of it. From throwbacks to particularly iconic moments to the wailing scream of a TIE Fighter at speed, it's all here and it all looks and feels fantastic.

The campaign has a few bothersome technical missteps but playing the game with friends online, watching them engage targets in the middle of an assault on a Star Destroyer has brought life to my inner child.

With a great single player story and addictive multiplayer mode that that puts any player in the heart of the movies, there isn't a shred of buyer's remorse. A few bugs have sullied enjoyment at time but these have been reported by the community and are sure to be patched out quickly. At a budget price, gamers are getting a difficult to put down flyer that currently holds the crown as greatest current-gen Star Wars title. Buckle up, make those pre-flight checks and don't get cocky kid.

All in all, Squadrons is a great encapsulation of what it feels like to be a star fighter in Star Wars, but only if you can experience it in VR. I find it hard to recommend if your only means of playing this game is on a standard monitor or TV, but an opportunity to play Squadrons in VR is an experience worth having. Doubly so if you’re able to play the game with a flight stick.

With some unexpectedly complex and challenging controls, Star Wars: Squadrons is not the sort of game that you jump into and play casually. Squadrons is a surprisingly deep flight sim-style space battler that benefits from all of the sights and sounds of the Star Wars universe. While fun played on TVs, Squadrons really comes to life in VR, despite some resolution issues. This is simply the best Star Wars space battle game ever produced, and is a dream come true for fans.

Star Wars: Squadrons is a pretty nice surprise. Its great campaign and awesome VR make it a must have.

Furious Star Wars action with great cockpit feeling and tense team dogfights.

Squadrons is a fantastic game that truly shines in VR. It manages to capture all the intensity of these battles and deliver a great campaign and multiplayer modes.

An unexpectedly involved space combat simulator that manages to replicate the thrills of the 90s X-Wing and TIE Fighter games with surprising clarity – and an excellent VR mode.

Star Wars: Squadrons provides players a genuine starfighter experience with a low cost of entry. The single-player campaign offers just enough distraction from the real meat of this adventure that is found in its multiplayer modes. The best part about the experience is how it rewards those who put the most time into it, so I’m hoping to see additional modes to keep things fresh.

While Squadrons may not be the most ambitious in scope, it does a great job of making you feel like a pilot in the Star Wars universe. Soaring through space and blasting ships is a lot of fun, and its implementation of VR is so good it feels mandatory now for future Star Wars flight games. More variety would go a long way, but at least it comes in a little cheaper at $40. Squadrons is easily one of the best Star Wars games to support VR, and it’s a solid choice all around.

Star Wars: Squadrons is a great game, with challenging fun reminiscent of the property's golden years in gaming while also serving as proof that a Star Wars experience doesn't need microtransactions to be a successful one. However, bugs on all platforms need to be fixed, so some players may want to wait a while to pick up a copy until it's a bit more stable. Either way, Star Wars: Squadrons is still a must-play for major fans of the franchise.

It’s hard not to imagine what could have been with better follow-through. It’s Star Wars, though, and cool ships and enormous spectacle are part of the fun. It’s alright that the story isn’t going to win any awards because it still does its job and doesn’t actively detract from the important parts of the game. Star Wars: Squadrons is the most accessible and potentially best way to experience one of the coolest parts of Star Wars.

Star Wars Squadrons is great value for money at just $49AUD or $39USD (October 2020) and provides a superb distraction to COVID-19 Earth by transporting you to the stars of Star Wars. While the single-player is good as it introduces you to the mechanics of the game, it’s the multiplayer aspect where you’ll be spending your space flight time and that’s where the Star Wars Squadrons succeeds.

While Star Wars: Squadrons cannot touch the depth or importance of X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, this is easily the best Star Wars space sim since that game-changing classic, and the best Star Wars game of the Disney era.

Star Wars Squadrons is a terrific dogfighter, reminding you beyond anything else that Star Wars, when done properly, is supposed to be really, really fun.

Star Wars: Squadrons certainly has a few issues. Its enjoyable campaign has some dull moments outside of the cockpit and the multiplayer, as stupendously thrilling as it is, is a bit too barebones at the moment. But it's also the most fun and immersive Star Wars flight sim experience we've ever had thanks to its immaculate gameplay and incredibly polished production.

Star Wars: Squadrons nails the inherently exciting feeling of piloting and fighting in its iconic starfighters, but the paltry single player and multiplayer modes fail to do anything ambitious or impressive with the core gameplay. The sheer amount of gameplay and aesthetic customization and clear passion for the license do their best to make up for these shortcomings, and could keep dedicated Star Wars or space combat fans invested. But as the hours wear on, Squadrons’ repetitive objectives starts to feel less like a main attraction and more like a fun diversion, ultimately leaving the game as an enjoyable multiplayer experience to return to when you feel that itch for a few rounds of frantic and fast space combat.

Star Wars: Squadrons is a well-balanced game, that manages to offer quality single-player experience and an immersive multiplayer part. There is still is for some balancing, but the game works pretty well. Every aspect of the game seems to have received the same amount of attention and as the result, the story actually is important, not just an appendix. The multiplayer is not earth-shattering, but it is fun at least for a while. Despite all the initial reservations, Squadrons turned out to be a good game, with intense action, plenty of room to personalize the experience, and lots of fun. Squadrons is not a trap, but a rather pleasant surprise.