My First 50 Star Wars Squadrons Impressions

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 Papa Dom

Star Wars Squadrons is here, and it’s been taking over my life. I’ve never been so terrible at, yet so in love with, a video game like this before.

EA’s space combat sim has the majority of the internet hooting and hollering as they blast each other into space dust, and reviews thus far have been generally pretty favorable. While I, personally, haven’t played enough of the game to write a full review (yet), here are my Top 50 impressions of the game (so far).

Character customization is so simple, and yet so satisfying in this game. It makes you wonder, why can’t every game do this?
You can give your pilots FIRST and LAST names. Do I love this? Yes. Have I seen those names since the character creation screen? Nope.
WAMPA PLUSHIES FOR YOUR COCKPIT
Starship customization is, in a nutshell, fucking excellent
PODRACER TOYS FOR YOUR COCKPIT!!!!!
I don’t understand what any of these mod components do
You earn currency to customize ship parts and cosmetics REALLY fast
EWOK BOBBLEHEAD FOR YOUR COCKPIT!!!!!!!
The campaign has a nice set up. I don’t care if its cliche, I’ll always care about the “bad guy who realized he was on the wrong side” characters
I would love to know what the character animations would look like if this game was a full $60

The entire Rebel outfit you fly with in the campaign is wildly diverse. Even the Imperial squadron is incredibly diverse by film standards.
I read a review earlier that was complaining about how this game made you play as the Empire. That’s a pretty stupid complaint.
Every little knob, light, and meter inside your cockpit serves a purpose, and I absolutely love it. You could definitely play this game with no HUD and eventually be totally fine.
This game is hard
I should buy a flight stick
I should probably also buy a VR headset
Why is everyone better than me at this game
Look how my little dashboard decorations swing around while I fly!
I died again
Got 6 kills in a multiplayer match, I feel like a god

Peripheral vision in a TIE Fighter? Nonexistent
Flying through the debris/flames of a ship you just blew up is a top 1 cool feeling of all time
I have been screaming at my television for hours and I think my wife is upset
Every time a pilot in a Star Wars movie gets a kill and screams “WOO!” is 5000% justified. This is not easy
The AI in Fleet Battles is, dare I say it, way harder than playing against a real-life team
Fleet Battles, in general, are pretty unforgiving
I forgot to eat today
Do you think there are any puns about space gas in this game? I will be keeping an ear open
There definitely should be
The scene transitions in the campaign are super cinematic. The Imperial March and fanfare as the scenes transition from Rebel to Empire POV are perfect

I am 99% sure I am doing more harm than good by changing around my ship’s components
Playing multiplayer with a full stack of teammates you know is one of the coolest experiences in multiplayer gaming out there right now
The cameos in this campaign from other big, notable Star Wars characters are all incredible
And they have their real voices from the real actors from television and film!
My SNES cartridge of Super Mario RPG wiped all my saves, so I have no choice but to play this game exclusively right now
This game could use maybe one more ship on each side. No B-Wing love?!
If this ever had a podracing mini game I’d cry
This game is HARD

The amount of collaboration, communication, and sheer luck and focus that it takes to take down a Star Destroyer is very real.
The tension and the heartbreak that comes with Fleet Battles feels so genuinely cinematic and cool, even if you’re on the losing side
Dogfights are still probably my favorite mode, but that’s probably just because I haven’t won a Fleet Battle yet
You MUST play the campaign to learn some of the tricks and controls in this game. The tutorial only really tells you so much
The campaign is basically an extended tutorial with cutscenes, which is consistent with every other multiplayer-focused EA release
I hope this game gets more maps
I don’t wanna do real work, I just wanna shoot spaceships
Someone went 15-0 in a Dogfight match and I just think its time for me to go to bed now
Landing a full-rack four bomb hit on a Star Destroyer is a EUPHORIC sensation
God I hope people buy this game, we really need more games like this

And there you have it. 50 thoughts about Star Wars Squadrons. In short, this game is excellent. I’m a huge fan so far, and I really hope that the game performs well past EA’s expectations, because – as I said in my last bulletpoint – we need more games like this.

Stay tuned for a full review soon once I’m able to finish up the campaign.