“Spinning, that’s a neat trick…” No, no its not
It’s time once again to return to a time long ago to a galaxy far far away. Now if only that time and galaxy had something to make the trip worthwhile.
In Star Wars: Starfighter its up to you to take to the skies and beat back the nefarious Trade Federation, who are attacking the poor helpless people of Naboo. Now the story itself is pretty bland (who’d figure) but surprisingly all the main characters are pretty cool, making you wish they where all in a better game together. There is Nym the bad to the bone pirate. Vana Sage a mercenary with a heart of gold, Reti the comic relief, and the stereotypical good guy Rhys. They all have distinctive personalities and specialized ships which you will take the controls of… which is where the game really starts to lose altitude.
These type of games are hard to make exciting. Any game when your strapped into the seat of a starship, plane, blimp and shooting at other aerial opponents, its hard not feel like your not just going here to shoot that thing then going over there just to shoot that thing over there. This is do to the fact that you have so few options on how to engage your opponents. Your in a starship. There is no cover to hide behind, no enemies to be outflank. It is up to the developer to come up with interesting scenarios to overcome the limitations of being in a flying brick. Starfighter however doesn’t do anything to remedy this. You don’t have an expansive arsenal nor a particular grand set of aerial moves at your disposal, besides spinning of course. For the most part your going to fly straight and shoot straight at enemies who will do the same.
Starfighter isn’t a horrible game its just kind of there. It’s never unbearable (though a dogfight inside a Trade Federation ship comes damn near close) but its never fun nor exciting either. This game just feels like a big empty experience, kinda like space. It is cool and inspiring from a distance, but up close its just cold and boring.