Star Wars Squadrons can be played completely in VR
And lets you have an Ewok bobblehead in your ship.
Set in the years after Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Squadrons puts you in the boots of both New Republic and Empire pilots, as you dogfight in space battles from within the cockpit of various famous ships.
As well as the X-Wing and TIE-Fighter, the game includes six other ships of different classes. The interceptor class is repped by the TIE Interceptor and A-Wing. Support ships include the TIE Reaper and U-Wing. Finally, bombing ships comprise the TIE Bomber and Y-Wing.
You'll begin in single-player mode playing as a pilot from both sides - getting to know your ships from the inside out. Cockpit sensors and screens act as your HUD, with readouts for things like power management and shields. You'll fight as part of a squad of diverse fighters from various races in a story which reflects the changing power of balance in the galaxy.
Outside of cut-scenes, it looks like gameplay here will be entirely within your cockpit.
You'll need experience in all of the game's eight spaceships to head into multiplayer. Here you can create your own character (you can be a Twi'lek or Sullustan), modify the appearance of your ship (you can have an Ewok bobblehead) and install a loadout of ship components which basically act as gameplay modifiers (including tractor beams, enemy system jamming, or mines).
Dogfight mode offers simple five-versus-five gameplay, whereas Fleet Battles let you compete against other players or AI in multi-stage ship battles. First you win a dogfight battle in the centre of the map, then attack or defend capital ships, before taking down the subsystems of a flagship. There's an emphasis here on tuning your team's loadouts to complement each other. There's also some kind of social hub where your multiplayer character can hang out with others in your squad.
Star Wars Squadrons launches 2nd October and has cross-play between all of its platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
