Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars as a franchise started with a shockwave of a debut in 1977, and since then there have been all sorts of sequels, spinoffs, and different forms of media released with the label. If it involves Lucasfilm, or the old school Lucasarts, then you are virtually guaranteed a Star Wars story that will take you to that galaxy far, far away. That doesn't, however, mean you are guaranteed the best time in your life. There have been plenty of Star Wars games released over the years that are lackluster. Hell... even some of the movies that have been released could bear that badge of dishonor. It seems like a gamble to throw the label on and try to engage a fickle fanbase, but that's what some of these entertainment companies end up doing anyway.

Star Wars: Outlaws takes place just after the events of The Empire Strikes Back. The rebels are on the back foot after a crushing defeat on the ice planet of Hoth, and the imperials are spread thin around the Outer Rim desperate to find and eliminate them. Meanwhile, crime syndicates are on the rise. The ongoing war the empire is hosting against the rebels leaves certain avenues open for criminals to make their moves, find their marks, and establish empires of their own in the underworld.

Enter Kay Vess.

Kay is a confident young woman with a chip on her shoulder due to her mother having abandoned her years before. As an adult, she's an expert slicer always looking for her next mark. Unfortunately for her, she's already made a list of enemies on Canto Bight and needs to make the next one count. She decides to hook up with a gang about to hit a big score on a new crime lord named Sliro. He's in possession of tens of millions of credits in the form of unmarked beskar, that wondrous metal we heard so much about in The Mandalorian, but he has excellent security to keep it safe. As this is all within the first hour, it's not much of a spoiler to let you know that the mission fails. However, Kay is able to hijack her own sweet ride in the process and begin to make her way in the galaxy by dealing with rebels, imperials, syndicates, and freelancers. And this is all utilized to pave the way for her return to that illustrious vault with a new crew so she can try it again.

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Really enjoying the game so far. I've encountered very few bugs, no more than any other game, really.

It can be a little bit repetitive at times but the quests are usually interesting and enjoyable.

One annoying thing is the blindingly obvious lack of male characters. I mean, there's hardly any! All important ones are male, seems to be Very disproportionate. And I am female, by the way. The Empire was supposed to be a misogynistic and alien hating organisation so it seems a bit daft there's so many women as stormtroopers and etc.

Other than that, the gameplay is good, graphics mostly great.

Really hope there's DLC !

What happens when you take Ubisofts formulaic garbage and mix it with one of the best franchises of all time? You get Star Wars: Outlaws. Another subpar gaming experience from the geniuses at Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment.

I have put in just a little over 70 hours in this title, and quite frankly, I'm exhausted from talking about this game, so I will try to make this short.

The story is uninspired and is the same tired heist plot you'd find in your average Fast & Furious film. The characters are basic and are just interesting enough to not be completely boring. The gameplay is fun enough but nothing we haven't seen from other far superior titles ie Uncharted and Tomb Raider. The graphics are passable but are incredibly inconsistent. At times, environments and characters look good, then in others, it's downright bad.

Which, by the way, inconsistent is the perfect word to describe this game. In some aspects, this game can immerse you as you enjoy mini-games like Sabacc or work different jobs to increase your reputation with the four different syndicates or fly around the galaxy in your ship as you engage in aerial combat. But then, for all the moments of enjoyment, there's an equal amount of immersion-breaking, painfully dull ones.

Then this game, which was advertised as an action/adventure title, is, in fact, a horrendous stealth game. There are more stealth sections and instant fail states that any "action/adventure" game has any business having. Now this wouldn't be a complete disaster if the stealth was good. Unfortunately, the stealth in this game is half-baked and almost felt like it was tacked in and forced to be a major mechanic.

Finally the bugs and glitches. This game, on multiple occasions, either crashed or caused multiple progression-halting bugs. By the way, do not play this on PC. I had more issues playing this on my PC than I did on my Series X. Granted, my computer isn't the best thing on planet Earth, but it is a good one, and in most games, I can achieve 60 to 100 fps (Frames Per Second) consistently not with Outlaws however. Though at the end of the day, console or PC, this game is not optimized properly in any way.

I wanted to like Star Wars: Outlaws, being the massive Star Wars fan that I am, but this game not only has a serious amount of unmet potential but has too much bad for the good there is. This makes this all the more disappointing because the good that's here is fun and can be expanded upon; unfortunately, it's just not being utilized.

Anyway, if you're a massive Star Wars fan like me, then maybe... maybe you can squeeze every bit of Star Wars fun out of this average game to get your money's worth. If not, then I highly recommend waiting for this game to hit the bargain bin or, like me, getting a month of Ubisoft Plus and then immediately canceling for the best value.

Here's hoping Ubisoft's next title will bring some originality or at least be good. Either way, I'm not holding my breath.

Final Score: 5/10

Played on Xbox Series X and PC with Ubisoft+

Star Wars: Outlaws is an undeniably passionate and personal jaunt through some beautiful and painstakingly curated locales. Curiosity and exploration are rewarded while an emotionally punchy tale of a lovable rogue in Kay Vess sells an adventure dripping in 80s sci-fi goodness.

Marred by some pretty significant technical issues that scream to be left in that development oven just a little longer, some thoughtful design choices help balance the experience out, delivering an overall satisfying open-world action adventure with rudimentary but flexible mechanics and a colourful cast of bandits whose knives are primed for Kay's back.

This is a quality game, outside of a handful of bugs, this game is immersive and beautiful. It tells a unique Star Wars story and puts you right in the middle of various syndicates and let's you choose differing options to tell the story in varying ways.

I metered my expectations based on some reviews but was more than pleasantly surprised with the detail and gameplay. The open world can be overwhelming but you'll find chests, fights, and stories everywhere to keep you busy without burning out doing the same thing over and over.

Your companion, Nix, is equivalent to a droid from other Star Wars media and helps you along the way, either by stealing, opening, or blowing someone up.