2019-03-01_PC_Gamer

Squad

THE BEST OF EARLY ACCESS

LikeBattlefield,Squadhas large

maps, combined arms and a focus on

objective play. But within this huge,

writhing mass of war are smaller

squads, communicating, working

under a leader and dismantling the

enemy’s grip on the

map piece by piece.

Well, that’s the idea

anyway. If a team isn’t

communicating or

doing what the squad

leader asks, they won’t

make much of a dent in

the battle. This is not a

game for lone wolves.

It’s remarkable how a relatively

small indie team has created

something, in terms of scale, on par

with Battlefield. The production

values are much lower, of course, and

it looks a little dated in places. But it

makes up for this by being a

thoroughly enjoyable and deep

tactical shooter. Bullets obey the laws

of physics, there’s no minimap, no

automatically spotting enemies and

no external vehicle cameras.

I like how most players take Squad

seriously, investing themselves in the

experience in a manner that you

don’t often see in mainstream

shooters such as Battlefield. Squad

leaders bark grid references and issue

orders, marking a shared map with

icons and instructions. Having to pull

up your map with M to monitor the

battlefield feels much more

immersive than blindly following

HUD markers and constantly eyeing

a minimap.

Leaders can also build forward

operating bases (or FOBs) with help

from their squad, delivering building

supplies with logistics vehicles and

ultimately creating spawn points,

defences such as barbed wire and

sandbags, and powerful offensive

capabilities including mortars and

machinegun bunkers. This aspect of

the game is surprisingly complicated

and in-depth, meaning it’s best left to

a squad leader who knows what they

are doing.

The learning curve

for Squad is, in general,

pretty steep. As well as

almost every key on

your keyboard being

used for something and

vehicles requiring some

practice to operate

competently, there are

lots of unwritten social rules to

adhere to. If you dive in without

doing any research you’ll probably

find the game pretty unsatisfying.

While Squad players are, for the

most part, quite welcoming, they will

get frustrated if you keep screwing

up. Not using a microphone is a

pretty big crime here, but there’s less

obvious stuff to consider, too, like not

immediately hitting ‘give up’ when

you’re incapacitated, rather than

calling for a medic. Oh, and Squad

has friendly fire, which means

knowing who you’re shooting at

before squeezing the trigger is vital.

Maps include Fool’s Road, an

expanse of woodland in Eastern

Europe with scattered buildings and

forested valleys. Al Basrah is a city in

the Republic of Iraq next to a river,

with roads snaking out towards a

nearby village. And Belaya, also

located in Eastern Europe, features

snowstorms, frozen terrain and a

network of tunnels that play host to

brutal close-quarters firefights.

These, and all the game’s maps, are

understated and realistic, rather than

designed around gimmicks.

MILITARY MIGHT

Since being released via Steam Early

Access in 2015, Squad has grown

from something pretty barebones to a

fully-featured military shooter with

vehicles and rich squad management

tools, as well as several large maps

and multiple playable factions. The

interface is highly customisable, too.

But whether or not Squad is the right

game for you depends on how willing

you are to get into the spirit of getting

involved and being a team player.

It’s easy to play Battlefield solo and

have fun, but here you’ll have to

befriend strangers to get the most out

of the experience. Luckily there are

lots of community guides on places

such as the Squad subreddit, the

joinsquad.com forums and

squad.gamepedia.com to teach you

the basics and impart the wisdom of

veteran players. I recommend

reading these before you join one of

those 80-player online servers, ’cause

it’s tough out there for a greenhorn.

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A squad-based

multiplayer shooter.

FIRST RELEASED

December 15, 2015

VERSION TESTED

Alpha 12.2

EXPECT TO PAY

£30

DEVELOPER

Offworld Industries

PUBLISHER

In-house

LINK

http://www.joinsquad.com

Squadplayers

are, for the

most part,

quite

welcoming

P

roject Reality is a popular mod for Battlefield 2 that places a

greater emphasis on teamwork and makes it more realistic.

Squad, developed by former members of Project Reality’s

core development team, is an attempt to make a standalone

game in the same mould. The result is a shooter that isn’t as

accessible and explosive as Battlefield, nor as intricate and sim-like as

Arma. It’s somewhere in between, and it wears it well.

BAD FORM

Seven deadly Squad sins

1

Not using a mic or having

one and remaining silent. 5

Joining a squad to get a gun,

then immediately leaving.

2

Taking a vehicle, driving it

by yourself, then ditching it. 6

Running around in the open

like you’re playing CoD.

3

Shooting friendlies, even if

it’s an accident. 7

Not talking about the

mission in chat.

4

Not practicing shooting on

the firing range.

“Not using a microphone is a pretty

big crime here”

SQUAD is a large-scale military shooter with added realism. By Andy Kelly