The line between a good turn-based strategy game and a great turn-based strategy game is not a clear one, but after 12 hours with Star Wars Zero Company, I'm afraid it strays ever-so-slightly onto the wrong side of that line. It's a solid tactics game; grounded in its setting, satisfying in its combat, and with squad-based progression that's quick to reward intelligent choices. But it's also lacking the playful spark I think it needs to sustain what promises to be a meaty campaign.
Zero Company is a mercenary outfit that finds itself working for Republic Intelligence during the Clone Wars. Led by player-character Hawks, who I outfit as a sharpshooter in my hands-on, the crew is a rag-tag group of exiles from around the galaxy: discharged clone Trick; one-armed boxer Kabbney; exiled aristocrat Jae. Your medbay droid is also your pilot, your mechanic is clueless, and your accountant is a stressed-out former Separatist with a giant chip on their shoulder. Your debt to the Hutts is coming due, and while Zero Company's narrative thrust is hardly unique in that sense, it's enough to get the ball rolling on a story that weaves through the background of one of Star Wars' most sprawling eras.
