First things first, you have to install Unity Web Player. So, for any of you hopefuls out there that thought this was going to be like the old X-Wing or Tie Fighter games… You play it within a web browser. Not that this is a real complaint yet. You can still switch it into full screen which makes you forget you’re in a web browser because it looks like a pretty cool game, especially for a free-to-play. It also feels pretty nice too, though you’re forced to play with a mouse, which was never my thing back in the old X-Wing Alliance days. Knowing that this is being written during closed beta, there is no way to change any controls either. If you fly inverted, you’re out of luck for now. You’re just going to have to get used to the controls.
As a matter of fact, there’s no real instructions for the controls either. They kind of just drop you in the middle of a dog fight and let you figure it out on your own. I died a lot in the first four minutes. There also seems to be an “up”, which I don’t understand (being space and all), but no matter how hard you turn, juke, or screw, your ship always ends up “righting” itself so up is up. Kind of odd, but maybe it really has been that long since I played a Star Wars simulator. One-on-one dogfights can get a bit dicey, if both of you know the controls well, which I found extremely entertaining. A left bank, into a loopy-loop, into a dive, into a swinging 180 and that little S.O.B. is still right behind me. I hadn’t cussed that loud since “The Most Addicting Game Ever” was a thing.
The only mission that’s playable is “Team Dogfight” with the only board being “Lucrehulk Relic”, which seems to take place over Naboo. You don’t get points off of kills alone; it seems you’re scored based on damage inflicted. You earn credits for every match but obviously receive more for a victory, as opposed to a defeat. You use these credits to buy things within your Workshop and Hangar.
There aren’t very many selections to choose from in beta, starship wise. All there is is the Tie Interceptor, the X-Wing, and the Y-Wing. As of right now, you cannot buy any other star crafts. But, from a load-out point of view, the fighters you do posses are quite customizable, albeit confusing. Like I said previously, they didn’t give me any instructions, or if they did, I click-click-clicked right through them without realizing it. So, when it came down to customizing, I didn’t really know what to do, or what the ships were capable of. I ended up spending what little credits I’d earned on things that are probably irrelevant.
Also, Tie Interceptors don't have shields, but in this game, they do. Small complaint from an Expanded Universe fanatic.
Despite how utterly basic the gameplay is, i found myself submersed in this "flight simulator". This is quite addicting. It has to be the revenge factor of the game, because the only other objective is to not die. If they're objective was to turn me into a meth hound, but for SWAS, in under forty minutes, they succeeded. Well played.
I’m not one hundred percent sure what they’re going to do to make me spend money on this game, though. I’m curious what USD can buy compared to Galactic Credits. I have a feeling I won’t be seeing that in closed beta at all.
All-in-all, there is quite a bit of promise in this. Area 52 seemed to think about this quite a bit during conception. The amount of time that one could spend in this game is unfathomable, and I, for one, am extraordinarily giddy to see the full thing launch with full customization and a plethora of online missions. Well, to be honest, I just want to kamikaze a kelly green Tie-Fighter into a Mon Calamari cruiser. Is that an odd wish?
2nd Round of Closed Beta
I did some testing with gameplay on Mac. It didn't seem to like the Mac Google Chrome browser very much, but it did seem to work well within Safari. That being said, Do Not Play This Game With an Apple Magic Mouse! The fact that the mouse is unable to let you click the left and right mouse buttons puts you at a sever disadvantage, especially if you're a Tie Interceptor kind of guy. That will make more sense to you while you start playing.
They added a new game-play style but still only have one board to play on. Base Defend is a bit different from Team Dogfight. You're still split into two teams, but there is an attacker and a defender. The defender has three Corellian Corvettes to defend, while the attacker launches from a Star Destroyer's hangar bay. The objective for the defender is to keep at least one of your Corvettes functional for 10 minutes, the the attackers are the exact opposite. The only thing the defenders can do to slow the attackers down is attack and destroy the Star Destroyer's hangar bay, which is very difficult, and even then, it only forces the attackers to spawn just a bit further away. The game-play is a breath of fresh air from the traditional dog fight, which is all I played for quite some time. It also forced me to be the Y-Wing for the first time since I tried it out on Beta Day 1.
I'm quite impressed with this game. I just hope they eventually allow joystick/controller controls and a cockpit view, which they may very well already allow, I just haven't had a chance to test it yet.
(More information and pictures to be added throughout closed-beta)
I feel obligated to edit the end of this and let you know that this game will no longer be made. Disney pumped the brakes on it for some reason, though I don't know why.
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