Ubi's ambitious 'Star Wars

Ubi Soft provides a mixed bag with a standout game for series fans.

When we spent a few days at Massive Entertainment’s studios in Malmö attending talks about how ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ was developed, two things became clear: we were looking at a galactic franchise game that didn’t give up the most distinctive elements of UbiSoft’s more accessible sandboxes, and its setting and approach were very appealing. After playing it, we can qualify both issues, but everything meets our expectations.

We play Kay Vess, a hustler who wants to rise in the underworld of criminals that swarm the saga, the same ones who hung out at Mos Eisley (a cantina we can visit) in ‘Star Wars: Outlaws‘ (“semi” because a universe at your disposal is a lot of fabric, even for Ubi). To achieve so, she will contact various groups and cartels and do tasks that may improve or deteriorate her relationships with them.

A captivating robbery story with Kay and a shady team of hustlers underpins the plot and her contacts with cartels. Outlaws has more to offer beyond the reasonable disappointment of the preview a few weeks ago, which presented a fairly restricted sense of the game. The Star Wars underworld of outlaws is one of the most enticing parts, but let’s first analyze what makes Outlaws so Ubi and how that impacts it.

Massive Entertainment’s game is sometimes too on rails and has lazy level design. Many infiltration phases take us through tunnels, ventilation ducts, deserted hangars, and warehouses full of boxes, which could be from any science fiction story. ‘Outlaws’ smartly restricts us to five planets, although there are filler stages and tunnels full of yellow ledges, hook icons, and lazy linear labyrinths.

But the game’s sandbox style is great when it works. The game’s planets have a setting that rivals the best games in the franchise and a style that is rarely seen, since we will go to taverns, betting shops, and criminal dens outside of both the rebels and the Empire, as well as large open spaces. Vess will receive offers to join the rebels, but she will prefer to move for her own interests.

A basic plot with technical intricacy, distant from the moral murky aspects of ‘Watch Dogs‘ (not to leave the Ubi franchises). We loved how it seamlessly transitions between mechanics and settings, providing an adventure with a thousand faces the continuity all sandbox games should strive for. Its main strengths (visual muscle, varied scenarios, planets with personality, a multitude of very worked details – from Nix’s animations to the playable arcade machines) and weaknesses (lazy level design, mechanics to polish) are Ubi’s seal.

Half-baked phases include stealth phases (with enemies whose perception oscillates between total blindness and seeing through walls), puzzles to open locks and unlock computers (some rhythmic, others piece guessing in the style of “Wordle” that tire quickly), and space combat phases, the weakest of the set. Due of their nearly automated aiming, vehicles rarely pose challenges, and when they do, they do so arbitrarily.

In addition, there are bugs: puzzles that solve themselves, foes who don’t see us, arbitrary deaths, rapid visual quality drops, saving game issues, etc. These issues will be fixed with patches, but they make you wish the game had arrived a month later and more polished.

The charismatic characters that have barely been mentioned (the hitwoman who pursues Kay or the android ND-5, among others) and the fact that it’s fun to explore (especially with the speeder) and let the narrative generate unexpected variables make ‘Outlaws’ a remarkable game.

Players who prefer role-playing sandboxes will likely be disappointed with the limited character improvement options, which are replaced here by a simple, accessible, but well-designed system: experts that allow us to improve our characters by completing small missions, with the attendant diversity and danger. ‘Outlaws’ offers a few wonderful hours for people who prefer a simple adventure without Jedi.

Ubi’s ambitious ‘Star Wars

Ubi Soft provides a mixed bag with a standout game for series fans.

By knl9j

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