As a soloist, you also experience a small campaign here. However, Star Wars: Squadrons is essentially a multiplayer game in which two five-pilot teams compete against each other. They do this either in fast dogfights, where the only thing that counts is shooting each other down or in fleet battles, where enemy carrier ships are the targets. The latter is intended as a central mode, in which ranked games are also played. However, you can also start the fleet battles without counting, as well as cooperatively against an AI team and even alone alongside AI teammates, which is mainly suitable for practice.
The Star Destroyer or the cruiser of the New Republic (Squadrons takes place after Episode 6) are not the only targets of the fleet battles, because there are also two Nebulon B frigates as well as two Imperial cruisers in action, which have to be eliminated first. In addition, there are constantly new squadrons of game-controlled fighters that don't pose much of a threat on their own, but shooting them down boosts morale - and the team whose morale is the first to reach full strength receives support in the form of a corvette that puts a lot of pressure on the current target, i.e. the aforementioned frigates, cruisers or star destroyers.
Yes, this seems complex at first glance, and can even be chaotic at first. But here you will experience great Star Wars cinema!
If you roll your fighter through the narrow debris of earlier battles, you finally arrive in a galaxy far away.
In general, Motive has done a great job with the controls! It is in no way inferior to the old X-Wing games and is completely configurable. Not only do you manually control the power distribution and thus adjust to different situations, but you can also completely shift the shields from the back to the front or vice versa if necessary, for example, to protect yourself from pursuers. Tie pilots, who usually manage without shields, instead of tip their propulsion energy into the weapons or vice versa, e.g. to quickly have a boost available. This requires different approaches on the part of the Empire and the Republic.
Using a mechanic familiar from other games, Motive also prevents the dull circling of two opponents, because you only pull tight loops when flying at half power. What does that mean? That you can easily break free of the gyro by simply accelerating. Before the other pilot notices, you are ideally long gone or already initiating the next attack. The decisive thing is that the enervating spinning worms hardly come about at all.
Conclusion
The campaign is an impressive firework, but its missions are only a kind of summary of cool highlights, instead of staging detailed and narratively interesting excursions into the far reaches of a galaxy. Squadrons come up trumps in the team duels, where you fight short skirmishes against enemy teams or challenging battles alongside capital ships and AI squadrons. Both acoustically and visually, you are sucked into the cockpit and experience cinematic moments that you choreograph yourself. Squadrons are characterized by the convincing feeling of sitting in the cockpit as a pilot. You not only equip Tie Fighter, X-Wing and co. according to tactical requirements and your preferences, but also have full control over power distribution, shield allocation, and more during flight.
