Right out of the star-gate, the good news is that the flying and combat in Squadrons felt solid. If you like trying to shoot at where the other guy is going to be while wiggling your spaceship to shake off the proton torpedo on your tail, you’ll be in Gammorean Heaven. I played with a mouse and keyboard, but other participants reported a similarly good experience with a controller. The game’s targeting system is effective and fairly intuitive, and although it’s been a minute since I got my dogfight on, I found myself immediately flashing back to my Rogue Squadron days. Targeting and strafing a turret on the surface of a Star Destroyer, the chatter between me and my teammates, jumping from one level to the next, the detailed sounds of lasers and explosions I shouldn’t actually be able to hear in space — it all felt right.
Squadrons knows what it’s about. It’s a very focused game, on a path as narrow and thrilling as any Death Star trench. If you’re into first-person space combat, I doubt a tighter package will come along this year. And if you’re a fan of multiplayer team sports, you could certainly have a lot of fun putting together a squad of fighter pilot friends and taking a run at becoming the scourge of the servers. The developers clearly have a lot of love for the Star Wars universe, as evidenced by the gorgeous, pop-art and propaganda-inspired cutscenes that help set the game apart from a generic Star Wars look. So if you yearn for a return to simpler days, but with a few new monkey wrenches thrown into the works to keep things interesting, Squadrons has a seat waiting for you.