Star Wars: Outlaws

The game is now a few months old, and I have my thoughts about it. I must admit that I recently got a free key from Ubisoft, and that will not colour my view about the game in the slightest.

A lot of things were said about the game beforehand. It was trashed, the game was put under the stethoscope, the lead was thrashed for how they looked… it was a lot.

I played the game now for myself and I was surprised. The game is good. Not the best I ever played, but it’s good. It’s different from other Ubisoft games. There are no ability scores but your character levels up through doing specific things in the game and gets rewarded with things that your character does, so you get rewarded for your play style.

I know the game had some visual hiccups and such, but in my several hours of playing the game, I haven’t had one of those, although the controls seemed to not want to trigger when I wanted them to, killing me a few times, but since the penalty of dying is just having to replay a small part, it’s not that big of a deal.

In this game, you don’t play as a Jedi for a change or a character becoming a Jedi but you play as a normal, run of the mill scoundrel in the Star Wars universe, which is a breath of fresh air in star wars games. Also the open world is really fun to play in. The speeder, in typical Ubisoft fashion, takes a while to get used to controlling, as Ubisoft has some trouble with getting vehicles right in their non-racing games, but after you get used to it, it’s a lot of fun. What I didn’t expect was that you get to play out space-fights as well, although I should have, which was a nice surprise. Really fun as well. They don’t take too long, and they don’t overstay their welcome, but are a nice little diversion in a sci-fi game.

The real winner for me is how the missions play out, you get so many ways to fulfill them. Want to double-cross the faction you are working with at the moment, or do you want to help them progress? Do you want to do it stealthily or do you want to go in guns blazing? I love the choices and how the game lets you pick.

I know assassin’s creed is lauded for their stealth in the games, but I must admit that Star Wars Outlaws, in my opinion has much better stealth and much more breathtaking moments in stealth than the most recent assassin’s creed games. I really love the fact they took it open-world instead of more linear and gave you several options in how to tackle the missions and the story. It’s truly your story and how you play with the factions.

I was pleasantly surprised that the game was this fun, as due to internet commentary I would have suspected it to be an abomination, but it’s a really fun game. Is it the best game I ever played? No, absolutely not, but is it a fun diversion into the Star Wars universe that you will enjoy? Highly likely.