But that’s not all. While in the hangar, you can change the equipment of the ships. Cannons, additional weapons, hulls, shields and engines are customizable. After such customization, the same starship can be sharpened for completely different tasks. For example, a bomber can be equipped with reinforced engines and a hull and equipped with ion bombs that inflict maximum damage to the shields of large ships to quickly approach and deprive the enemy of protection. Alternatively, you can increase maneuverability and install proton torpedoes that can target the cruiser’s key systems from afar, then deliver sniper strikes at vulnerable points, and then quickly retreat. And there are enough such options to find the option that is most suitable for a particular situation.
Of course, everything described above is not able to fully reveal itself during the passage of the single player campaign. It is not for nothing that the developers have repeatedly stated that the main emphasis is on network battles.
There are two modes available in multiplayer: standard team detachment and battles of fleets. With the first, everything is clear: two teams of five pilots, the first group gaining 30 frags wins. Much more interesting is the battle of the flotillas. In this mode, your goal is to destroy the enemy battleship. But for this, you first need to weaken the defense of enemy fighters (in addition to five players in each team, there are also starships controlled by bots), then destroy the second line of defense of two frigates, and then take on the battleship. The latter is also not so easy to destroy, because it is surrounded by a protective field, bristles with many turrets, and the fighters do not sleep. Hence the main disadvantage of the regime – it will be difficult without coordinated actions of the team played. Almost every unsupported flight over a battleship is a one-way ticket, and when playing in a random lobby, there is a complete mess in which everyone does what they want.
In addition to the customization of fighters described above, additional cosmetic customization options are available in multiplayer. In addition to coloring the hulls and various emblems, there is the possibility of arranging the interior space of the spaceships’ cabins, which is logical, because most of the time we will observe the dashboard, and not look at the ship’s hull from the side. Here you can choose from all kinds of bubblehead figures, holographic images (apparently, the Imperial pilots love to cheer themselves up with a Darth Vader hologram on the tidy) and so on. All cosmetics and ship upgrades are purchased exclusively for in-game resources. Microtransactions seem to be finally becoming a thing of the past.
The graphics in the game are able to please. The visual part is good both technologically and in terms of art design. The developers have tried to diversify the locations so that they are as different as possible from each other. And they succeeded. Each campaign level and map in multiplayer looks unique. Here are asteroid fields, and huge stations, and nebulae, and graveyards of long-disabled ships of the Old Republic. In general, the eye has something to catch on. True, the animation of the characters during the dialogs can be a little upsetting. Apparently, this is due to the low budget of the project. So, during conversations in the hangar, the characters will stand like idols, it is absurd to throw up their hands and constantly not fall into the lip-sync.
It is also worth noting that the game’s community is reporting problems with support for flight sticks. In particular, the problematic place is the responsiveness of control when using these controllers. On the other hand, in conjunction with a gamepad, the game works great.
Star War: Squadrons sounds good, and in the options there is a choice of binaural sound when using headphones. Of course, starships and blast shots sound authentic.
