[game 638]
Star Wars Outlaws
Adventure
Playstation 5
Ubisoft (2024)
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I've got a bad feeling about this...
... however, it turned out fine! With all the hype about an open world Star Wars game, this particular Star Wars fan was slightly dreading playing it. Would there be too much fan service? Would there be too much open world stuff? Would it even feel like a Star War? In the end, Outlaws attempts the Disney approach and aims to please a wide range of gaming folks. It kind of achieves that goal, actually.
If you're an open world game fan and want to be distracted by a myriad of side quests and secret treasures, Outlaws has a slew of those. The syndicates have jobs for you, random strangers at the cantina call you over to get them a trinket, and the open world is lousy with beeps and boops that lead you to boxes half-buried in various planets' upper crusts.
If you're an action-adventure fan and want to DO SOMETHING like shoot stuff and fly a spaceship, the game has you covered. There are usually two ways to accomplish a mission: stealthily or blasting your way through. Though I prefer a stealth approach, usually, the game provided plenty of opportunity to hold down L2 and pew pew pew your way to success. There is a bit of a cost to your syndicate reputation usually but perhaps the thrill of the fight outweighs your need to please a crime boss.
If you're a Star Wars fan, this is definitely a Star War. There are a few bits of fan service in the way of cameo appearances of familiar faces that don't feel too forced. The graphics and sound design are all quite Star Wars-y and provide a familiar context. Some bits are even downright perfect, like jamming on both sticks to "punch it" to hyperspace.
However, I hit skip on the credits feeling a bit let down. I wanted a balance of story and open world and my need to finish side quests kept me distracted from the story. The final couple hours of the game were excellent, don't get me wrong, but the middle 20-30 hours of finding treasures and getting in good with crime bosses made me forget all about the bad guy and a little bit about Kay's motivations for wanting to do the thing at the end. Perhaps the game would have been better off going all sandboxy open world or all linear-ish story based. I also struggled with controlling the speeder (but loved the ship controls) and found myself apologizing to Nix several times for running us into the wall. Even Kay's movements were a little less than optimal in my opinion. After the end of a joyous open world game, I usually want to spend more time there and go find all the things I missed. This was not the case with Outlaws, despite how good it looks.
It is a Star Wars game, so of course I played it and didn't hate it. I'd even suggest it to you if you are an old-timey Star Wars nerd who doesn't mind playing 40 hours of open world exploring to get to the good part of the story.
... however, it turned out fine! With all the hype about an open world Star Wars game, this particular Star Wars fan was slightly dreading playing it. Would there be too much fan service? Would there be too much open world stuff? Would it even feel like a Star War? In the end, Outlaws attempts the Disney approach and aims to please a wide range of gaming folks. It kind of achieves that goal, actually.
If you're an open world game fan and want to be distracted by a myriad of side quests and secret treasures, Outlaws has a slew of those. The syndicates have jobs for you, random strangers at the cantina call you over to get them a trinket, and the open world is lousy with beeps and boops that lead you to boxes half-buried in various planets' upper crusts.
If you're an action-adventure fan and want to DO SOMETHING like shoot stuff and fly a spaceship, the game has you covered. There are usually two ways to accomplish a mission: stealthily or blasting your way through. Though I prefer a stealth approach, usually, the game provided plenty of opportunity to hold down L2 and pew pew pew your way to success. There is a bit of a cost to your syndicate reputation usually but perhaps the thrill of the fight outweighs your need to please a crime boss.
If you're a Star Wars fan, this is definitely a Star War. There are a few bits of fan service in the way of cameo appearances of familiar faces that don't feel too forced. The graphics and sound design are all quite Star Wars-y and provide a familiar context. Some bits are even downright perfect, like jamming on both sticks to "punch it" to hyperspace.
However, I hit skip on the credits feeling a bit let down. I wanted a balance of story and open world and my need to finish side quests kept me distracted from the story. The final couple hours of the game were excellent, don't get me wrong, but the middle 20-30 hours of finding treasures and getting in good with crime bosses made me forget all about the bad guy and a little bit about Kay's motivations for wanting to do the thing at the end. Perhaps the game would have been better off going all sandboxy open world or all linear-ish story based. I also struggled with controlling the speeder (but loved the ship controls) and found myself apologizing to Nix several times for running us into the wall. Even Kay's movements were a little less than optimal in my opinion. After the end of a joyous open world game, I usually want to spend more time there and go find all the things I missed. This was not the case with Outlaws, despite how good it looks.
It is a Star Wars game, so of course I played it and didn't hate it. I'd even suggest it to you if you are an old-timey Star Wars nerd who doesn't mind playing 40 hours of open world exploring to get to the good part of the story.