A cheap X-Wing knockoff at that

EA Disney™ Star Wars™ Squadrons is a little bit X-Wing and not a lot of Rogue Squadron.

All I've wanted is to get back behind the cockpit of an X-Wing and pew pew some Imperials. It's been 17 years since Rogue Squadron's Rebel Strike for the Nintendo Gamecube, and a bit over 20 years since the last X-Wing's Alliance for the PC. I'm not sure why it's taken so long to get us back behind the cockpit, but EA's Star Wars Squadrons is here to do just that.

At face, the game seems to satisfy the temptation to pull up your orange flight suit and get back to some pew pew in a galaxy far far away.... But on closer inspection the game falls short and feels incomplete and a cheap tease.

My biggest issue with the game is the lack of content and the in game mechanics. For what seems to be a cheap port of any X-Wing game, the missions and maps feel underwhelming. This is mostly due to the small playable area but largely for the lack of unique playable maps in multiplayer. For a game that takes place in space, you think there would be room to fly around. But each mission (in single player) or multiplayer combat has players forced in a small area to maximize interactions with other ships. Its worse in multi-player when you're trying to outmaneuver your opponents and you end up breaching the boundaries of the map (which usually have negative consequences to your ship by means of gases that decrease your health). And as for the ships, the worst part of the game is that it doesn't understand how to handle those ships. TIE's should be super fast and highly maneuverable to make up for their lack of shields. Bomber class fighters like the Y-Wing and TIE Bomber should be slower and more sluggish in their steering but make up for that lack with increased durability and heavy armament. Interceptors like the A-Wing or TIE Interceptor should be super agile and have quicker boosts.

EVERY SHIP IN THIS GAME FEELS LIKE THE OTHERS. There is little to no discernible differences in handling from one to the next ship. The only way you know you are flying a different fighter is the change of cockpit scenery and a difference in load-out. I can't possibly understand why the A-Wing handles exactly like the X-Wing. It's the one thing that Rogue Squadron series did best, each ship had its own characteristics and felt like it handled differently.

I also don't understand why the game designers didn't adhere to the in universe lore of how these ships operate, especially when it comes to their weapons. Why are there cool down times for your bombs and missiles? You already have a limited capacity of how many proton torpedoes your ship can hold. You should be able to use them at your own leisure and not have to make pass after pass to recharge and re-fire your ordinance on any ship. I also wish the designers kept the fire rate toggle, seeing how they took everything else from the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games. Why can't I toggle between single, dual, and quad fire rates?

All in all, the game was a bit of fun when I first sat down to play, but since its mostly geared towards multi-player and there are only six maps... each multiplayer campaign feels just like the last. There isn't any staying power in this game. I had fun for the short while when I first installed the game. But once I put the controller down, I haven't had any urgency to pick the game back up right away.

Maybe if the developers released a few more options to swap up multiplayer a bit more so it doesn't feel like flying the same match, or at the very least include a few more map options to change up the scenery.

Here's flying solo on this one....

2 out of 5.