Interesting and different plot
So, Star Wars Outlaws was supposed to be a new and completely fresh story of the famous film and game series, which puts us not in the shoes of a Jedi, but ordinary longfingers trying to break through. This decision is already welcome in principle, because it is very atypical for Star Wars games, and the main character of Star Wars Outlaws, at least in terms of his abilities, resembles the legendary character Han Solo. This puts us in control of a new character in the Star Wars universe, Kay Vess, and her pet Nix, and the action takes us somewhere between the classic Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi films. Kay tries to escape from her home planet, but in the finale she finds a very dangerous enemy from which she is forced to hide. Well, in the course, as is typical of Star Wars stories, everything turns upside down at least several times and the main character, having assembled a team, begins to prepare for the biggest heist of her life.
The plot is definitely one of the game’s strong points – it’s just a shame that it’s too often pushed aside by the need to explore planets or engage in side activities. Also, not all characters are equally fulfilled. Some are very vivid and well woven into the story, while others seem somewhat lost or not fully completed. In fact, one such character is Kay herself. When playing, there is really a lack of information about her – what is her past, how and what is she related to other characters or similar. A lot of her dialogue with others will be about how she can steal something and the other characters will say “oh that’s fine, steal it, I’ll be grateful”. Kay also spends most of her time talking to her pet Nix – but these conversations don’t add much to the character’s growth. In the end, it’s not clear what the developers did wrong or what happened in general, but the main character’s face often looks deformed or distorted. The faces and models of other characters are more or less neat, and Kay sometimes looks one way in one scene, another in another, and in the third her face is completely blurred, as if melted.
American roller coaster
Analyzing the game further, one of its worst and biggest flaws is the gameplay. gameplay). More precisely, individual parts of the game, because the game “Star Wars Outlaws” has quite a lot of components. Let’s start with the one that is the worst or worst performed. This is sneaking. Admittedly, Star Wars Outlaws – even playing it after official release – is a bit of a bummer. Enemies move strangely, their AI doesn’t always work as it should, and where the game should be precise, it’s too often unpredictably chaotic. And the player always suffers from that.
For example, in this game, I don’t know why there are such stealth missions resurrected from the past, or segments of missions where if we are spotted, we immediately lose and get a “Game over” window. This means that in these segments, even the slightest mistake will mean game over and the need to start the entire section from the beginning – and with it, collecting all the items we’ve already found all over again. Such level sections can drive despair and are really annoying, especially when after passing them we get the game’s permission to openly shoot or even throw grenades – as if the sneaking that burned nerve cells was not important at all.
Another really imperfect aspect of Star Wars Outlaws is the shooting and combat itself. Naturally, we’re not Jedi in the game and won’t have their abilities or weapons, but Kay will often be a bit too weak for in-game combat. She only has one blaster and a few types of grenades in her arsenal, so battles can eventually become too repetitive and boring. True, we will always be able to rely on Nix and order him to blow up tanks in the environment, detonate alarm systems or divert the attention of enemies – but even all these actions will fade after time. Also, Nix will be able to heal and bring us the weapons of the enemies, so we will get a chance to shoot not only with our blaster.
On the other hand, as you progress through the game, you will later unlock more blaster upgrades and eventually you will be able to shoot it like a machine gun, which will make encounters with enemies much easier. However, no matter how the shootings go, more often in the game you will still have to sneak or hide in the shadows, because the game will take us to such levels that if we are noticed, we will either be punished by the “game over” window or will be attacked by so many enemies that it will be impossible to resist. So, Star Wars Outlaws will constantly balance between action and stealth, but the scales will tip towards stealth more often.
Ways to explore the universe
Finally, one more component of the game that seems not fully realized here – scrambling and climbing around the environment. The developers, in order to give the players a breather, have added such environmental exploration levels where we will have to fight and solve small environmental puzzles. These levels are obviously inspired by the Uncharted series, but it’s an aspect that Star Wars Outlaws can’t even replicate. Warming up or exploring the environment here is kind of wooden and not very comfortable. It will also happen that Kay won’t listen to our button presses, or will do so with pauses, which will eventually lead to a crash. Of course, we’re going to be looking at some pretty visuals during these levels of exploration, but gameplay-wise, that exploration could have been a lot more refined and polished.
Well, to finish the speech about the larger elements of the game, it is necessary to distinguish speeder driving and flying and fighting in open space. Rides are simple, mostly serving as a way to get from point A to point B – since the developers don’t even allow you to fire a blaster while sitting on a speeder whenever you want. We will only be able to when we accumulate a column of adrenaline that will allow us to stop time, mark targets and then eliminate them all with the push of a button.
Yes, the developers of Star Wars Outlaws coughed up this gameplay element from the excellent Red Dead Redemption 2, but the copycat is, again, nothing special. True, the “speeder” itself will be useful to us when exploring game worlds, looking for secrets or jumping over chasms. And the ride itself can often be fun, especially if we’re being chased by enemies – but it also gets boring in the long run. At that time, space battles will be very reminiscent of the Star Wars movies in their sound effects and essence – but again, the gameplay here is neither good nor bad. It’s the same with many aspects of the game – the solutions are there, they work, everything plays, but you can’t say it’s very good or very bad. It’s just there, playing.
Impressive planets and different player development
After discussing the game’s negatives or what is worthy of criticism or at least discussion, it’s time to discuss what makes the game amazing. First of all, it is his planets and the opportunity to explore them. The developers promised that this would be the first open-world Star Wars game, and there is certainly a lot of truth in that promise. Outlaws pits 5 different planets against each other before players’ eyes. One of them will have a prologue, so we won’t explore it much, and the other will allow you to explore practically only one city, so there are three different planets in total, which will have larger open spaces. One of them, Toshara, is created by the creators and is seen in the Star Wars universe for the first time, while the other two will be familiar to fans of the series. The planet of Toshara, invented by the developers, is really surprising – because it fits perfectly into the Star Wars universe, is cleverly executed and is really interesting to navigate, even after a dozen hours.
Another commendable unexpected aspect of Star Wars Outlaws is player development. There will be no experience points or anything like that. The only way Kay will improve is through the people she meets. For example, meeting an expert in a certain field – say a mechanic – will open up their card and abilities that can be learned. Then we will have to fulfill the specified requirements and thus unlock a new ability. This kind of progression in a game is unprecedented and interesting – and most importantly, really well executed. You won’t have to spend hours playing the game to level up – abilities will often be unlocked naturally, just by completing regular missions.
Attention to unexpected details
All the little things or nuances that the creators were not too lazy to polish are worthy of praise. For example, here we will be able to play a very cleverly executed, unexpected version of Star Wars poker, which will definitely take time and digging to learn. In the game, we can discover and play arcade games, and to break into a building or part of it, we will be greeted by an original game of breaking locks according to the rhythm. There will be another mini-game when we try to hack the enemy’s systems. But if these mini-games don’t work for us, the developers allow you to simply turn them off in the settings.
Well, perhaps the biggest praise is the game’s soundtrack – here you can hear completely Star Wars-style musical themes that fit both with the classic films and complement the already iconic music with clever new compositions.
Good words can also be said about the graphics: you are often surprised by the abundance of details, the variety of different worlds, the abundance of activities in cities or settlements – but there are also truly monstrous images that instantly remind you of PlayStation 3 games. Finally, there are still a lot of annoying gameplay bugs here that just throw you out of the game.
Although we have already discussed the more obvious pluses and minuses, one feature of the game is so strange that it is difficult to classify it as bad or good. These are different criminal syndicates operating in the game. The developers boasted that we will have difficult choices or unexpected confrontations, but in reality it is just four syndicates that will become friendly if you do missions, and hostile if you do not do or harm them. That’s the whole system. And the choices mentioned by the developers are even simpler – for example, when carrying out a mission for one syndicate, we will usually get a choice at the end of whether to betray them and leak information to others. Such choices will have no effect, and if you really want to, you can simply bring all the syndicates to our side. On the other hand, when the relationship with the syndicate is bad, we will be immediately attacked when we enter their territory. If the relationship is good, we will not be attacked, but in order to get to the protected places of each syndicate, we will still be shot at even by those whose favor we have already earned – so in the end there will be almost no meaning or benefit from this system.
Verdict
So here we have a really, really ambitious first open-world Star Wars game from Ubisoft. This pancake, unfortunately, is more likely to stick than not. Does it have unburnt areas? It certainly is, and they make Star Wars Outlaws worth playing, but we can’t recommend the game as a full-price purchase, even for die-hard fans of the series.
It’s a decent game, but it’s flaws can severely sour the overall experience for many, so Outlaws is better bought later, at a much lower price. Well, if the desire to try is unquenchable, then try with a whole handful of salt and be prepared for a bumpy ride. For everyone else, at least for now, we suggest trying out some really great Star Wars games, like last year’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
2024-09-08 15:53:28