Happy May 3rd, Battlestar Galactica fans! Remember what John Dune said about living long and prospering? He said: Oh, look, objectively excellent dogfighter Star Wars: Squadrons is under two quid on Steam. As Edwin pointed out to me, that’s about the price of a third of latte, although he does pay London prices. Also, Edwin, are you going around trying to buy the dregs of people’s lattes? I cannot judge. Were it in short supply, I too would debase myself for caffeine in an instant.
Although it has been available on the EA play subscription service for a long time now, the current discount puts the space game at a tasty 95% off. If you’re in the market for an active, frequently updated live-service game with a thriving multiplayer scene, Squadrons is absolutely not it. The competitive multiplayer – the game’s main focus – is by all accounts, deader than Han Solo when the Stargate fell on him. At this price, however, you could easily tempt in a few mates with free copies, and there’s also an eight hour campaign of pure fan service. You can also play both modes in VR, although HOTAS support was a bit dodgy when I last tried it.
I loved Squadrons. It’s the closest thing you can get to playing out the best bits of Star Wars, and the actual flight weaves in little bits of involved sim-like goodness without bogging you down to much. The last time I played, they’d even recently added a B-wing. A B-wing! That’s not exactly a deep lore cut, but you could probably feel a little bit smug about knowing what one is to someone who only knows X-Wings. And what is pop sci-fi fandom if not 5% enjoying the media and 95% being insufferable about minor details? Details and accuracy are the most important things in the universe, as John Dune recorded to project from that Dalek.
Being a website on the internet, we do of course have an entire list of the best Star Wars games on PC for your discerning perusal. You also can also find the actual best Star Wars game – Super Star Wars – as abandonware, which is noticeably cheaper than even the £1.74 you’ll pay for Squadrons.
There’s a whole May 4th sale going on at Steam, actually, including N64 classic Shadows of the Empire for barely over a single britnugget.
