Star Wars works best when it follows an unlikely group of misfits operating way over their heads. Star Wars Zero Company nails that formula nigh-on perfectly.
No other Star Wars game I can remember has managed to properly capture that group dynamic, instead tending to focus on the adventures of a lone protagonist. As well as this, Zero Company takes players to the dark parts of the Star Wars mythos, the often mentioned but rarely visited criminal underbelly.
The setup is simple. Players step into the role of Tesh Hawks, a former Republic officer and the leader of the mercenary unit Zero Company. Set towards the end of the Clone Wars, the group is hired by the Republic to deal with a separatist-aligned threat that adds some Star Wars-style mysticism to the game without going all-out Sith.
The turn-based gameplay will be familiar to fans of the X-COM games, with many of Zero Company’s development team having previously worked on that series. If you are new to the genre, basically, players direct squad members on a map, up against a number of opponents. By moving from cover-to-cover player position their team and attack using each squad member’s unique abilities and attacks.
Zero Company is based out of a hub known as The Den. This upgradable area unlocks upgrades and perks, as well as managing personal, recruitment and customisation. Surprisingly for an otherwise turn-based game, in this area I controlled Hawks in third person, visiting the various stations and talking with operators in The Pit. A holotable dominates the command area, where you can select missions and operations.
There are two types of assignments players can select from the holotable. Operations are short, text-only quests undertaken off-camera by the operatives that you assign to the task. Information and resources are the rewards for successful operations. The tactical missions are the main turn-based ground combat missions that propel the campaign story, unlock heroes’ backgrounds, or gain resources. Successful operations and missions boost zone influence in the galaxy map, unlocking unique rewards.
The game features several authored characters with proper backstories told during downtime chats that unlock special missions. Every character can be customised, selecting race, gender, features, background and specialisation to create your own unique roster of operatives. Whilst I left the game’s hero characters alone, I went to town on other more generic characters that are recruited as the game progresses.
Often, instead of just switching to a top-down view, tactical missions start with sections of third-person exploration, similar to in The Hub. They work more like interactive cutscenes than action gameplay sequences, making the game feel more personal than just a load of tactical maps to traverse.
As a turn-based strategy game, players don’t need twitch reflexes to enjoy Zero Company, but that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze. The game eases players in carefully but whips the training wheels off quickly. The game punishes sloppy tactics, requiring players to properly prepare in The Den before disembarking and making full use of operatives’ abilities in the field.
Each character gets three action points to move, attack and use abilities. Positioning snipers high and gratuitous use of overwatch worked for me in the early game, but later required more finesse with careful squad member choices and tactics during combat.
Missions vary, from rescuing VIPs and holding areas to defeating enemies, activating equipment, or simply reaching a destination. Along the way, you will find a wide variety of enemies taken from the wider Star Wars canon. You will spot Rodians, Twi’leks and battle droids amongst the menagerie of shady opponents that the team is up against. Then there’s The Coil.
The Coil is a villainous cult whose members are infected with a disease that grants them unnatural abilities and strength. They are formidable opponents and what the game needs in a Star Wars era otherwise dominated by battle droid cannon fodder. The Coil has members from all sorts of races in the Star Wars universe, distinguished by the peculiar markings on their bodies.
I found the gameplay to be fairly well balanced, although I did find that it allowed me to take on a substantially harder main mission when I should have perhaps taken on a few more side quests first. A skirmish mode with random encounters would have been good to better get familiar with and test out different squad combos.
The tactical gameplay requires careful thought, running your squad from cover point to cover point. Characters, both operatives and enemies, in full or half cover lower the chance of being hit by 50% or 25%. Cover can be destroyed, and characters can be flanked. The enemy AI is pretty good, becoming painfully effective on the higher difficulties. The game uses a permadeath system that, unless you switch it off, will very likely see you lose your favourite squad members, immortalising them in a monument adorning the wall of The Den.
The game really excels in recreating the second-hand futuristic look of the movies and TV shows. The visuals sometimes look straight out of the Star Wars animated shows, but at other times look almost photoreal. A nice touch is that in between actions, the characters continue to fire (but don’t hit each other), making the battle look less like it is paused waiting for your commands. The tactical battlefields are packed with details and items that will be very familiar to fans. I only wish I could zoom right in and check out the action up close.
Also worth a mention is the soundtrack, which fits the game perfectly. Whilst it doesn’t use John Williams’ famous score, it uses riffs and musical styles that are in keeping with the likes of Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outcast and other extended media additions to the Star Wars universe.
In a similar way to The Clone Wars and Rebels animated shows, Star Wars Zero Company draws upon and fleshes out the events at the end of the prequels. Despite many missteps in the past, Lucasfilm, with the help of EA Games and Bit Reactor, continues to mine this intriguing era, filling gaps and further refining the Star Wars saga.
Rating: very good