Star Wars Zero Company is the Chosen One of the Tactics Genre – Review

I’ll be upfront: I’m a huge Star Wars fan – and I’m an even bigger tactics fan.

I consider the Clone Wars to be the single greatest thing ever to come out of Star Wars, and it’s criminal it’s taken this long for players to get a modern video game in this setting.

Just wanted to get that out there.

The tactics genre is rarely explored by the AAA space, especially when the game isn’t even priced to sell at AAA (it’s $50, can you believe that?), but Bit Reactor and Electronic Arts‘ Star Wars Zero Company is real – and it’s here.

Star Wars Zero Company is the Chosen One of the Tactics Genre – Review

There’s so much to explore in Star Wars Zero Company.

Iconic tactics combat, a fresh approach to how the genre tells a story, the entertaining cast and crew – where to begin?

Star Wars Zero Company’s cast of misfit characters is one of its greatest strengths. As Hawks himself puts it, ex-Separatists, ex-Republic, ex-Cons – there’s a home for everyone at the Ring of Kafrene.

Throughout the title, players will explore the various relationships between Hawk and the crew, with all major story characters having supported quest lines and choice dialogue. For instance, players will help Cly hunt down Mandalorians to help avenge her Clan, or convince Kabb to reunite with his estranged family.

Each story in Star Wars Zero Company adds so much for its characters, which makes choosing your squad each mission that much more difficult.

It would have been so easy for Star Wars Zero Company to walk on trodden ground, retelling the same old stories featuring the same old characters.

Rather than going with the safe option, Star Wars Zero Company features a brave narrative, one that explores an intriguing time period surrounding the Clone Wars.

I never venture into story spoiler territory in my reviews – and I won’t here – but the story in Star Wars Zero Company is worth exploring, even if you hate tactics games. Fathom, the leader of The Coil, is as dark and twisted an antagonist as the Star Wars franchise has ever seen.

The events of Zero Company, and the lives of its crew, unfold around well-known events from throughout the Clone Wars era. The News Anchor at The Den keeps players apprised of the current events happening in the broader war, while Hawks and his crew work secretly for The Republic in hunting down Fathom.

Fantastic performances throughout, but Rekha Sharma as Fathom steals the show

Cameos in Star Wars Zero Company are handled perfectly, with beloved characters making brief yet impactful appearances. These characters never take away from its quality lineup of original characters, with a stellar voice cast throughout.

I’m a 40-year-old old man, playing alone in my office, and I still let out a little fanboy cheer when certain characters were introduced!

Star Wars Zero Company tells a story worthy of Star Wars, delivering a level of cinematic quality rarely explored in tactics games.

As the genre is famous for, Star Wars Zero Company’s combat is intricate and rewarding throughout. It boasts some of the most in-depth progression and rewarding combos tactics games have ever seen.

Character progression in Star Wars Zero Company sees each character with a Trait, a chosen weapon type, and a Specialization (class). A familiar system, even simple on the surface, but one that expands to offer a level of customization and creativity feeling nearly endless.

Each Specialization has several skill lines players can follow, weapons can be customized with modifications, and then about fifteen to twenty hours in, it explodes with dual specializations.

Every class in Star Wars Zero Company has been carefully designed to fit a specific role, but to be equally versatile to allow for a huge variety of different build options. Even something as simple as swapping weapon types can drastically change how a character performs in combat.

I’ve probably started a fresh run about ten times, playing through ten to fifteen hours, as well as my full completion run. Totalling about 120 hours, and I’ve still yet to truly master every class. I haven’t dedicated enough time to every character.

At the end of each of my playthroughs, I was convinced I had found the most broken combination of characters and abilities.

From there, I found even more enjoyable options on subsequent attempts.

Well, with one exception…

That would be the Mandalorian Cly, arguably the most fun I’ve ever had in a tactics game. Featuring huge maneuverability with a jetpack leap, an area attack that both damages and shocks enemies, coupled up with Scout as a secondary specialization to power her kit, and she was clearing the entire roster of enemies on the first turn.

There’s a rewarding joy to truly exploring all of Star Wars Zero Company’s different build options; it is easily the biggest reason to restart playing after the credits roll.

The main cast of characters would be enough, but it doesn’t end there. Star Wars Zero Company features a complete character creation and customization suite that even puts select RPGs to shame.

Players can create completely custom operatives in Star Wars Zero Company, choosing everything from species and eyebrow shape to Traits and Specializations. These custom characters then become available to recruit at the recruitment station at The Den.

I had my Temu Padme, Darth Maul, Han Solo, R2-D2, a whole squad of poor lookalikes, but this all shows the strengths of the customization system that you can even get close. Finishing a mission to see “New Customization Options Unlocked” was probably one of the most exciting rewards in the game.

And this is a game where you can get Thermal Detonators and Flamethrowers.

Cinematic shots of major abilities throws players right into the action, when the camera doesn’t ruin it

Despite its cinematic delivery and near-perfect execution, Star Wars Zero Company’s combat suffers from one major woe that has plagued the genre:

Camera angles.

While not a serious issue from a gameplay standpoint, it becomes quite frustrating by the end.

Seeing perfectly lined up combo attacks, or a mass execution of B1 Droids with several well-placed fields of Overwatch all ruined by its camera is never fun, but it’s literally the single biggest issue I had with its combat – and that’s not really a bad thing.

The one area some tactics fans may feel a little disappointed over is the replay value. Star Wars Zero Company is heavily focused on delivering a strong story, but it sacrifices longevity in turn…albeit in a small way.

The large number of scripted story missions means a lot of repeated events on subsequent playthroughs. Although somewhat mitigated by different enemy placements and squad makeup, it’s a lot heavier on the story than almost any other tactics game – with maybe the exception being Marvel’s Midnight Suns (the greatest Marvel game ever made, just saying).

The optional content is better equipped for longevity, as although many maps are reused, it does a good job of mixing things up. Different entry points, different map perspectives, varying objectives, enemy types, and locations. I probably played one of the maps five times in a single run, but it was equally enjoyable every time.

The replay value in Star Wars Zero Company is not bad; far from it. While there is no New Game+ at the moment, there are post-game rewards that make another run a bit cooler.

I would be very surprised if fans didn’t complete the entire campaign at least two to three times.

Having written all that, I remembered this Bit Reactor’s debut game, which is a bit ridiculous really.

Star Wars Zero Company is, simply put, the greatest tactics game in the galaxy. Creating a story worthy of the Star Wars franchise, this tactics title delivers the very best in combat the genre has to offer, wrapping it up in a cinematic delivery of the highest order.

The post Star Wars Zero Company is the Chosen One of the Tactics Genre – Review appeared first on GamersHeroes.