In case any of our readers were living under a rock this evening, EA and Mobius dropped a cinematic trailer for Star Wars: Squadrons. A brief reaction of my hype can be found here. Star Wars and Space Dog Fighting fans haven’t seen a stand-alone X-Wing / Tie Fighter sim since the Nintendo Gamecube’s ‘Rogue Squadron III’. Is this a definitive alternative for Star Wars fans all over the galaxy?
Well, we don’t really know much at this point. It looks like Star Wars: Squadrons is going to be a 5v5 Space Dog Fighting game, hopefully with some kind of story that is based on the new republic. Judging on the looks of the original trilogy ships/pilot garb, I have my suspicions that Squadrons will be taking place after the events of Return of the Jedi but before the emergence of the First Order.
Following Classics – TIE Fighting Through the Generations
Now is probably the best time to look over some of the best Star Wars Dogfighting games across the years. Starting with Battlefront II, EA’s latest space fighting outing, Battlefront I and II brought a much-loved part of Star Wars gaming history into the HD era. With fluent controls and online match-ups, Battlefront dogfighting was a fun experience which, for me, stood apart from the main game. Maybe someone at EA thought the same as me?
Rolling the years back to the age of PC Joysticks, one can’t mention a space fighting Star Wars title without the critically acclaimed Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994). For many, this was the first and most memorable experience of space dog-fighting. Featuring some amazing mechanics for the time which properly utilized the axes of joysticks such as the ‘Microsoft Sidewinder’, TIE Fighter is a memorable product of nostalgia and control precision.
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997) built on the TIE Fighter formula by requiring a Joystick to play, any other control input at the time wouldn’t have felt right anyway. Featuring up to eight-player CO-OP and a slew of improvements on the already advanced TIE Fighter mechanics, this title was an important title in the history of Star Wars Dog Fighting titles.
Namesake
The next series of games which stand out as definitive Star Wars space-fighting titles is the Rogue Squadron series. This was also the first venture for the genre on home consoles, starting with the Nintendo 64 and PC in 1998. For the 90s PC kids in the audience, the PC release of Rogue Squadron (dubbed Rogue Squadron 3D) was groundbreaking at the time. Much like the Crysis meme, Rogue Squadron was one of the first games to require a full 3D graphics accelerator card, which meant it was one of the most demanding games at that time.
Rogue Squadron‘s mix of Star Wars lore, strong representation of fan-favourite Star Wars characters and amazing controls paved the way for Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001). Serving as a launch title for the Nintendo Gamecube, Rogue Leader‘s big attraction was reenacting A New Hope‘s trench run and Death Star fight. This was followed up with Rogue Squadron III (2003), also released on the Gamecube which rehashed similar mechanics and ideas.
Fondly Remembered
The Star Wars: Battlefront series (2004, 2005) on PC, PS2 and OG Xbox probably serve as the fondest memories of dogfighting for many Star Wars gamers. Battlefront also featured tight controls, with the later installments allowing players to land their spacecraft to participate in ground-level battles.
With such a rich history of Star Wars titles to draw from, including a successful attempt of making lightning strike multiple times with the latest string of Battlefront games. EA and Mobius have a brilliant opportunity to create not only a great Star Wars experience but memorable canon.
