Are the Best Star Wars Stories Now in Games Like 'Star Wars: Squadrons'? (msn.com) 56
A game critic for the Los Angeles Times remembers his reaction to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. "What a disappointment — if only it had been built for video game consoles." This leads to this epiphany:
For all the deserved attention "The Mandalorian" series on Disney+ has received, the just-released game "Star Wars: Squadrons" reminds us that some of the best "Star Wars" stories in recent years have been in the video game space.... This is a work, in fact, that doesn't suffer from an action-focused, little-narrative approach — every second I've spent with this game has fulfilled the sort of personal "Star Wars" fantasy that's enhanced by giving the audience a bit of autonomy. It's also, for those privileged enough to own a virtual reality headset, the VR experience I've had at home that most represents what it's like to be in a theme park.
Rather than throwing spectacle after spectacle at me, it lets me partake in them, to scratch the itch of being in the center of intergalactic, aerial dogfights. But less than emphasizing awe, "Squadrons" centers on the feel of controlling a ship, making me feel a part of something bigger. Sure, that's just digital, fictional warfare, but "Squadrons" understands the appeal of "Star Wars" is that it's open to everyone, and any of us can be ace pilots if given the chance. We don't admire; we act.
There is nostalgia at play. The game recalls some of the LucasArts spaceflight simulators of yore that I obsessed with in my suburban Chicago basement, but there's a sense of swiftness and polish that makes this game as appealing as a coin-op arcade machine. And yet it's also in possession of confidence, a depth that I'll need to master if I really want to go hard in multiplayer battles. As a solo player without many friends who play multiplayer games — OK, fine, none — I'm not so sure I'll take the time to learn each individual ship and its advantages or disadvantages. But I'm not sure I need that because "Squadrons" has me smiling throughout, even if I accidentally turn my X-wing into an asteroid. While throwing me into larger-than-life moments — disable a giant, Imperial starship and help lead a capture of it — "Squadrons" succeeds in making them feel livable and conquerable.
In other words, by focusing so intently on the act of spaceflight, I don't feel like a tourist in the "Star Wars" universe, thrown a litany of "greatest hits" moments. Instead, "Squadron's" single-focus obsession allows my imagination to run free rather than have to wonder where I am, who I am or what I'm supposed to do now. I can just fly. And shoot. And it feels great.
Rather than throwing spectacle after spectacle at me, it lets me partake in them, to scratch the itch of being in the center of intergalactic, aerial dogfights. But less than emphasizing awe, "Squadrons" centers on the feel of controlling a ship, making me feel a part of something bigger. Sure, that's just digital, fictional warfare, but "Squadrons" understands the appeal of "Star Wars" is that it's open to everyone, and any of us can be ace pilots if given the chance. We don't admire; we act.
There is nostalgia at play. The game recalls some of the LucasArts spaceflight simulators of yore that I obsessed with in my suburban Chicago basement, but there's a sense of swiftness and polish that makes this game as appealing as a coin-op arcade machine. And yet it's also in possession of confidence, a depth that I'll need to master if I really want to go hard in multiplayer battles. As a solo player without many friends who play multiplayer games — OK, fine, none — I'm not so sure I'll take the time to learn each individual ship and its advantages or disadvantages. But I'm not sure I need that because "Squadrons" has me smiling throughout, even if I accidentally turn my X-wing into an asteroid. While throwing me into larger-than-life moments — disable a giant, Imperial starship and help lead a capture of it — "Squadrons" succeeds in making them feel livable and conquerable.
In other words, by focusing so intently on the act of spaceflight, I don't feel like a tourist in the "Star Wars" universe, thrown a litany of "greatest hits" moments. Instead, "Squadron's" single-focus obsession allows my imagination to run free rather than have to wonder where I am, who I am or what I'm supposed to do now. I can just fly. And shoot. And it feels great.
Anyone? (Score:1)
One of the main arguments seen here against the new Star Wars movies is that anyone can be a great pilot or powerful force user, making them a Mary Sue.
One of the central themes of Last Jedi was that you didn't have to be a Skywalker or Solo to matter. If that's what makes these games great then I expect many here will disagree.
Re:Anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
I didn't like Star Wars: The Last Jedi for two reasons:
1) They ruined Luke's character by making him do shitty things that are 100% unlike the sorts of things that defined his character in previous movies. The writers decided to take a hero who epitomized courage and loyalty, and turn him into a hypocrite, coward, and would-be murderer of his own family. That didn't make the story better, it just flipped a bird to prior generations of fans.
2) They had a lot of man-hatey themes that are typical of a recent trend in hollywood. Maybe this is revenge for womany-hatey themes from movies of the past. Well, I didn't like the woman-hatey themes of the past and I don't like the man-hatey themes of the present.
The "Mary Sue/Gary Sue" thing is, in my opinion, just a weak plot device, and lots of movies have that. A narrative is more compelling when the main character must struggle to earn whatever they get. When all the power in the world just falls in their lap, it makes most of the rest of the story seem kind of pointless. Superman is the most boring of all superheros, precisely because he is such a win-button. So, I get that, but I don't think that is THE primary flaw in the star wars movies, since it is a common flaw in many movies that people tolerate. It's just an easy thing to articulate and complain about.
I didn't see the last star wars movie. I remember the old days when star wars was about virtue vs vice, and that is enough for me.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Luke went from country bumpkin to taking down the Death Star against the best pilots in the Empire in the space if a few days.
Man hating? Much of the plot was building up the male characters!
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, in a new hope Luke was a Gary Sue. The same weak plot device. I guess it saves screen time, or something. I don't know. It is popular despite being dumb. I was more interested in Luke as an exemplar of courage and loyalty, as I mentioned before.
And yes TLJ was full of man-hate. I am surprised you couldn't see it. All the male characters were failures in some way, validated only by virtue of some female character calling them to be better. Some examples:
1) Luke, an abandoner and coward who just
Re: (Score:3)
That's how characters have a story in movies. They are imperfect but overcome.
If Luke had been anything else it would have sucked. He would have been a lame CGI Yoda who ended up sacrificing himself or something. Instead he got to have an interesting story arc and growth as a character. Perhaps even more importantly so did the Jedi and the whole franchise by developing the rebellion and the Force itself.
Re: Anyone? (Score:1)
That's how characters have a story in movies. They are imperfect but overcome.
This isn't about the characters' shortcomings, you buffoon; it's about stupid plots from stupid screenwriters.
Re: (Score:2)
This isn't about the characters' shortcomings, you buffoon; it's about stupid plots from stupid screenwriters.
Wat? The complaint was that the characters are bad because they are women manipulating men. Not that the plot was stupid. It's exactly about the character's shortcomings. What are you talking about?
Re:Anyone? (Score:4, Insightful)
And yes TLJ was full of man-hate. I am surprised you couldn't see it
The rest of us are surprised that's all you saw, so.,. here we are, I guess.
1) Luke, an abandoner and coward who just wants to hide while his friends all die, until Rey calls him to be better.
This (and also point 2) are just a callback to when Obi-wan did the exact same things.
3) Finn is an odd mix, supposedly heroic but his loyalty seems to be to Rey personally and not to her cause. He is of course, corrected by Rose.
Like how Han Solo was corrected by Leia after just being loyal to money?!
4) Kylo, who of course is evil enough to kill his own father, but not evil enough to kill his own mother
Throwback to Vader; Padme was the one person he didn't betray.
5) Snoke and Hux were both shallow characters, but both evil, and of course they stay that way since there is no woman calling them to be better.
This is a weird take on its own; I can't help but feel if one of these characters was female you'd have found a way to make it about how evil women are naturally, or something. But a reminder that a huge part of the entire point of the Star Wars movies is about the lure of the Dark Side and the struggle within. The lesson here is that those that go it alone in the pursuit of power are more likely to fall.
I didn't think these movies were all that great, but if I have any major complaint it was just that they were too obviously just being an homage to the first trilogy. After the trainwreck of Eps1-3 though, I can't blame them.
Maybe this theme of inferior men being bettered by superior women was part of the movie's intent, and maybe it wasn't
Calling it a "theme" is just ridiculous. If you're watching movies through the lens of "boohoo men have it so tough in fiction these days", I suspect you're just going to have a bad time. This is just what movies look like when there's more than one female character in them! They have interactions with the male characters!
Just imagine Yoda was a female of the species, or a woman. Would you be using phrases like "corrected by Yoda", "saved by Yoda", "calling him to righteousness", "brings out the best in him" with such a sneering and dismissive tone?
Re: (Score:2)
You're saying that they were shit films because of the throwbacks, but it's precisely this that made TLJ shit - the whole point is that Luke learnt to be better than Obi Wan because he learnt from his mistakes, so the fact that Rian Johnson undid this is precisely what made his film shit and made little sense.
You're agreeing with the GP (and me) whilst getting defensive and assuming anyone calling out these films must be a misogynist or similar. That's just not true, TLJ was awful because the political statements were wedged it at the expense of story continuity and good story writing - they became the overriding purpose of the film, and that's what broke it.
I don't think so; when watching it (I've only seen the series once, except the first movie which I've seen twice) it literally never occurred to me that these were political or the creators were trying to score political points. I was just irritated and thoughty they were a bit shit because they were trying to do the homage stuff AND shoehorn in their own story with their own characters doing all this new stuff. It just felt crowded and confused.
Re: (Score:3)
I still say the Last Jedi is easily the best of the Star Wars movies.
1. Is the same plot as Luke and Yoda. I understand better the "this plot is a re-tread" argument (although I actually think that's fine, it's 40 years later, we can modernize). I sort of get the idea of Luke never giving up on Vader, why would he give up on anybody else. But it's not like he tried to convince Jabba the Hutt to be a better person. Nor, for that matter, the emperor -- didn't make the slightest motion toward redemption.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The T16 Skyhopper is an "airspeeder", i.e. it can't go into space. He went from flying a civilian transport with minimal armaments to a military starfighter in the 3D environment of space, and then travelling at high speed down a narrow canyon while under fire from elite Empire pilots including Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great movie, what I'm saying is that criticising Rey for doing far worse than Luke is ridiculous.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
In the movie Rey does say that she has experience as a pilot, which makes sense as she can clearly fly an airspeeder (she owns one) and it's an obviously useful skill for someone doing salvage.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Rey immediately crashed the Millennium Falcon into the ground and then barely escaped two Tie fighters, with Finn gunning.
It seems likely that Luke learned Jedi mind tricks on his own too after seeing Obiwan do one. It's certainly never shown on screen where he learned.
Rey doesn't beat Kylo Ren, ever. In their first fight he has already been shot and isn't actually trying to kill her, he's trying to recruit her. She only escapes because the planet is exploding. She only gets good after Luke trains her, and
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't like Star Wars: The Last Jedi for two reasons
Really, only two?
I didn't like Star Wars: The Fucking Sequels, because
- Rehashed plot from originals
- Fuck on the original struggle cause it obviously didn't accomplish anything
- Bigger, even more destroyier Death Star, again. *yawn*
- That blows up five planets at once killing gazillions
- Rebels still act like they won (WTF!!!??)
- One dimensional perma-angry girl
- Who knows how to pilot Millenium Falcon, because reasons
- Super-effective kamikaze tactic
- Nobody ever thought of until then, because reasons
- So
Re: (Score:2)
You know, your post brings back memories. I forgot about some of those weak plot points because it's obviously been a while. And bad movies tend to be forgettable.
As far as I am concerned, Rogue One was the last star wars movie, and the best.
I just wish there was more SciFi that didn't include "space magic." Blade Runner, for example. And The Expanse (though the ancient alien's superior technology gets close to space magic, at least they try and largely succeed at avoiding it). The new Dune movie looks
Re: (Score:2)
Three epic lightsabre battles per movies makes them tired and stale as a plot device.
The stupid, pointless space chase nonsense, which made no sense on any level, along with the ridiculous "Leia flying through space" thing, which treated the audience like idiots.
Also, wasn't that the one where the battle of Hoth happened again, but on a different planet?
Re: Anyone? (Score:2)
"They had a lot of man-hatey themes"
Sorry, anyone complaining about "man-hate" needs to grow a pair, because you sound like a bitch. There is no shortage of men fuck up entire world, man redeems self by unfucking the work of no less than a hundred other men plots but it's "man-hate" when one un-fucked female character shows up.
Give Liam Neeson a female sidekick, and you'd turn it into "dur, how come Liam only kills MALE rapists, derp, dur, derp!"
Mattering (Score:1)
>One of the main arguments seen here against the new Star Wars movies is that anyone can be a great pilot or powerful force user, making them a Mary Sue.
No, it was that Rey in particular seemed to have too much power too quickly... It wasn't that anyone could potentially be a powerful force user. Look at Anakin himself, he came from no-where originally. I'd say everyone is pretty darn cool with being able to become a Jedi after some training.
The argument Rey was a Mary Sue totally fell apart in the t
Star Wars is not very good (Score:4, Insightful)
Rather than look for Star Wars stories that aren't terrible, just forget about Star Wars.
If you want something good, watch The Expanse. If you want good space video games, Mass Effect 1-3 remastered will be out in less than a year.
Star Wars is vast, beyond good/bad (Score:1)
If you want something good, watch The Expanse.
The expanse is fun but it just doesn't have the richness that Star Wars does.
The Expanse is fantastic in trying to stick to more straight-line science but that also binds it in regards to the extent of imagination that can be applied to a story in a universe with a vast range of aliens, and basically "Space Magic". Sure that means storytelling dangers also, but people have done great things within that world you look at the full range of Star Wars media.
The Exp
Re: (Score:2)
Though keep one thing in mind. The Star Wars franchise has been around for over 40 years. The "so many varied books", which seems to refer to the "Legends" are mostly dime novel grade dreck. There are some good ones among them, but that does not erase all the bad stuff, even though if you pretend that they're not canon.
Some people are just fed up with it at this point.
Re: (Score:1)
So what you're trying and failed to say is that different people like different things?
No, that is of course obvious.
What you have tried and failed to read, is that I am saying Star Wars HAS those different things, to like or not like.
Not true of the Expanse, which is good but it is what it is and if you don't like what it is, there is nothing else to move to.
The "so many varied books", which seems to refer to the "Legends" are mostly dime novel grade dreck.
The key is MOSTLY, not ALL. That's why a large
Re: (Score:2)
You might care for it. And that's good for you. But others might not.
Other's might like a different kind of universe with its own rules and a different kind of "magic". That is just a fact that you have to accept.
Range is good for all (Score:1)
Not everyone cares about "having those different things".
They do when it yields something they really enjoy.
Other's might like a different kind of universe with its own rules and a different kind of "magic".
Yes I also like it.
But there is simply more of Star Wars to LIKE, or even love.
I've never met anyone who only liked one story universe to the exclusion of others, or even one form of story universe... has there ever been a single person who liked hard sci-fi, that didn't also read and enjoy some fantasy
Re: (Score:2)
Shutting yourself off from that just seems insane if you enjoy great stories.
There's no shortage of fiction. Why wade through so many bad stories to find the good ones?
Also, — obviously my opinion — it's hard to get past some of the lame stuff in Star Wars. Laser blasters and light sabers are lame. Space magic is lame. Training up young wizards only to have the empire turn them over and over and over is lame. I think cute puppets are lame. The motivation of low to mid ranked individuals in the empire is lame. Almost none of the characters on either side ever have
Re: (Score:1)
There's no shortage of fiction. Why wade through so many bad stories to find the good ones?
You have to wade through ANY fiction to find good ones, so I don't see the point you are making there?
You rely on recommendations of others, or just risk reading something and hope its good for any fiction - not just Star Wars.
it's hard to get past some of the lame stuff in Star Wars. Laser blasters and light sabers are lame. Space magic is lame.
I can understand how people could maybe feel that way, but pretty much a
Re: (Score:2)
Laser blasters are lame because they're supposed to be futuristic, but simple guns would be so much more effective. Same thing with Star Trek handheld weapons.
Re: (Score:2)
I completed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and it was good, but the Star Wars parts made it worse.
I also completed it, some aspects of the story I really liked, some I was not into... but bringing some elements of Star Wars into it improved it I thought.
I kept waiting for Cere to be an imperial double agent, finding all the Jedi and training them up. Then the empire would just capture them and turn them and they'd become the next generation of imperial inquisitors or whatever. Why would the empire want to eliminate the Jedi when that's the empire's source of all the powerful imperial people?
Re: (Score:2)
Mass Effect 3 ending is fine. They improved it after people complained, and the remaster will undoubtedly contain the DLC that should have been included in the base story all along.
Anything that's long and really good in the beginning and middle almost always leads to a disappointing ending. Expectations get impossibly high, and endings are disappointing by their nature.
Even gives rise outright to great stories (Score:5, Interesting)
A link missing from that article, as far as I could tell, was a video released on YouTube ahead of the Squadrons game launch.
Titled Hunted [youtube.com], It's an excellent story told from the point of view of an Imperial pilot, who gets left behind in a battle and is just trying to survive...
The cool thing is it was also actually a gameplay feature demo, but was so subtly done you'd almost never know.
It was done by ILM, and was just fantastic all around - visuals were amazing but the story was really interesting.
If that were not enough, just recently they also released a short story [ea.com] about two of the pilots you fight alongside in story mode.
All around for whatever reason, EA seems to have done an excellent job handling Star Wars this time and is making people a lot happier than they were in the Battlefront II era.
The game itself I find pretty fun, but leans pretty heavy to being a flight sim... that said you can lower the difficulty pretty far and still just enough the single player story, the game itself is only $40 so it;'s not as much of an outlay to do so.
No, they are still in parts IV to VI... (Score:2)
The best stories are new stories. (Score:2)
Stories tell you something. They give you insight.
Re-hashing the same "i.p." ... a term that did not even exist in the 90s, when remakes were still a rare and very shameful taboo, best disguised and hidden as something new ... over and over again, until the last bit of money is squeezed out of the same old single creative work that has long been paid, is not gonna get you a good story.
There is a reason indie games and youtubers are so popular these days, despite the Content Mafia pussying out and not backin
Star Wars is full of new stories (Score:2)
Stories tell you something. They give you insight...Re-hashing the same "i.p."
I agree with you, if over time you are spending time with the same characters over and over.
But the power of Star Wars is not just in the characters, but in the vastness of the universe. There is so much of that universe that is in no-way rehashing to tell a story around...
There is as much room as you like to tell a story within Star Wars that gives insight and is new. Just look at that Hunted trailer I linked in one of my other
Re: (Score:2)
why I think the new trilogy is hated (Score:3)
At least a big part of it is that they effectively stole our happy ending from the original trilogy. We left the original thinking evil had been vanquished and our heroes would get to ride off happily ever after into the sunset.
But no what we find out is that things are pretty much the same PLUS our heroes are shitheels who raised bad kids. I mean they didn't even really get any kind of break from evil.
A possibly better basis for a new trilogy would have been jumping forward centuries and showing the new republic facing some new threat. But of course that wouldn't have allowed for all our geriatric original actors to have any roles.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
At least a big part of it is that they effectively stole our happy ending from the original trilogy. We left the original thinking evil had been vanquished and our heroes would get to ride off happily ever after into the sunset.
But no what we find out is that things are pretty much the same PLUS our heroes are shitheels who raised bad kids. I mean they didn't even really get any kind of break from evil.
You're of the hero generation and you're forced to acknowledge your life story didn't end on a high point. It's been going steadily downhill for a long time now. The kids suck ass, the plot is getting bland, and it's really not all that fun anymore. That's why you don't like it. It is portraying the demise of the American dream and the progression into woke transgender millennialism.
Fucking slashdot and it's shitty formatting
Re: (Score:2)
The best thing would have been to go back in time a thousand years and have completely new stories and characters completely unrelated to any movie and completely forget the formula used in all these movies. The movies are cookie cutter of the previous.
Not just recent years (Score:4, Interesting)
In my opinion, the best Star Wars story after the original trilogy is the one in the KotOR games.
Alternate headline (Score:4, Insightful)
A game critic tells world he doesn't read books.
Fanboy who can't grow up (Score:2)
Never trust a fan boy review.
every second I've spent with this game has fulfilled the sort of personal "Star Wars" fantasy
The time of Star Wars movies is over (Score:3)
The original trilogy, and maybe the prequel trilogy gave us a beautiful vast universe and mythology full of nooks and crannies, which can be beautifully filled out and expanded on by other mediums like TV series, good video games and short stories.
No, they are in the books/comics. (Score:2)
No (Score:2)
Betteridge says No even if he hasn't seen any of this.