Never in my life have I played a game as terrible as this. “Star Wars Outlaws” was one of my most anticipated games this year. I was really looking forward to exploring the galaxy in the first-ever open-world Star Wars game to be made.
With the franchise’s widespread success, this gave me the expectation that I would have been able to traverse a star field that lets you travel to 20+ planets like Coruscant, Hoth, Naboo, or Endor. But in Star Wars Outlaws, you get only five planets with only one, Tatooine, being a major part of the Star Wars universe. When exploring the planets you’re limited to one small area of the planet they are claiming you can go to and explore. This highly limits the players’ capability to explore, and I expected better for such a highly anticipated game.
Having an open-world game where you can barely explore the world is not the only issue. The biggest issue is that you are going to need a supercomputer just to run the game. If you get lucky enough to not have your computer crash, then you should be ready for all the textures in your game to look like you are playing on a computer from the Stone Age. But even if you attempt to push forward with the extremely low quality, you will not be able to see anything like the difference between the wall and the door, or the clothes on a character. This is especially harsh when you are trying to hide and the only way to pinpoint an enemy is to look at the clothes they are wearing. Even the neon signs that are hanging in the cities are so bad that you cannot even tell what they are.
If you thought the game requiring a supercomputer was the biggest issue, you would be wrong. The game is a blatant copy of Ubisoft’s other game: ”Assassin’s Creed.” I understand that big game companies will utilize the same physics across their games, but they’ll usually change them up so they will have a different feel. In the case of Star Wars Outlaws, this game felt like a copy-paste of Assassin’s Creed and the previous Star Wars titles made by EA. They used the exact climbing from Assassin’s Creed, and did not even try to differentiate it from other games by jumping onto a set of vents or pipes to climb. With them already copying other game titles, they could have at least copied some good playing physics so that it would not feel like you are not flying a house at times, and at other times feeling like you are the most agile person on the planet.
If you are anything like me and dislike playing stealth games, this is not the game for you. Star Wars Outlaws is almost completely designed for stealth, but players are able to run and gun if they’d like. But don’t expect it to be any good because any time you get into a gun fight the lag makes it unplayable. The confusing way that Star Wars Outlaws makes you explore is not evident in missions, but during casual world exploration as well. The lighting is extremely poor, making everything look similar and causing the player to confusedly walk down the same dead-end alley multiple times, only to discover you are going the wrong direction.
Additionally, the price for this game is the most outrageous I have seen. Though most game prices are coming close to $70, most of those games are deserving of their price tag. Not to mention the fact that you are most likely not going to see your favorite characters from the franchise. If you want a mission with, let’s say, Jabba the Hutt, be ready to pay $110 for the Gold Edition, or the Ultimate Edition for $130.
One of the few upsides is the mini-games that they offer throughout your playthrough. A particular one I enjoyed is lockpicking, which requires the player to match the movement of the lockpick the light and sound beat that they give you for each individual door. Although I’m fond of these types of games, they can be a little confusing because of the instructions they provide. However, after playing each mode multiple times, the task became less and less daunting, and I was actually able to have some fun.
Overall, “Star Wars Outlaws” is a big disappointment. Many people like myself were hoping for an open-world ”Star Wars” game where we could witness the beauty of the galaxy. Instead, we got a $70 game that most people would not be able to play because of how demanding it is. I would definitely not recommend this game to anyone unless you like playing games not worth your hard-earned cash.
