‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Gameplay Showcase Restores Some Hope?

Ubisoft is a name that invokes both admiration and trepidation from gamers. The publisher/developer once made great titles but rapidly started recycling gameplay mechanics repeatedly, sometimes resulting in badly broken titles. However, Star Wars Outlaws may break that cycle.

Outlaws has not been without criticism. We cannot deny it. From putting content behind a massive paywall to inconsistent character design, Ubisoft isn’t exactly building a strong case for the Ultimate Edition’s $169.99 price tag.

This week, the Star Wars YouTube Channel released a Gameplay Showcase video from Ubisoft Forward. While it didn’t exactly vindicate the hilarious price point, it did give us reason at least to buy the entry-level $69.99 version of Outlaws.

The footage shows off one of Outlaws’ most intriguing aspects: finding people who can teach us new stills. The first person we have to track down is in a familiar cantina in Mos Eisley.

The visuals look great, but we have to keep in mind that Ubisoft has tricked us before with work-in-progress footage. We’ll put a pin in that for now.

Wandering through the world, we see lots of iconic alien races, droids, and decor. A lot of detail and care went into creating these environments. It feels like Star Wars, much like EA’s Jedi Survivor did. But looks are nothing without a soul.

To get to Tatooine, we board our ship and start piloting through space. As expected, the traversal system also opens up gameplay elements: build your rep, gain credits, etc, like in Assassin’s Creed. It’s here that we notice Kay Vess’s voice acting lacks urgency, and the line delivery is flat.

The ship combat is also underwhelming. It’s not as tight as EA’s Squadrons. Then again, Outlaws isn’t centered around being an intergalactic flight sim.

Kay makes her way to docking bay 94 on the desert outer rim planet and we start the hunt for our target. Again, everything looks authentic. It’s nice to be back in the Original Trilogy era.

Before long, more Ubisoft tropes pop back up. This time, instead of aspects of Assassin’s Creed, it feels like Far Cry.

We scan the landscape to figure out the best way into Jabba’s palace; then it’s back to the AC gameplay, where we stealthfully traverse and subdue the locals. You can send your little critter Nix to distract or attack enemies, giving you the upper hand.

Then another annoying trope comes in: detective vision. Yes, your little pet acts as a radar that highlights enemies in the darkness. Thankfully, this feature seems to only work on enemies who are in your line of sight rather than detecting them behind walls.

Next, we see a lockpicking mini-game. OK…

Now we finally get to see some gun fighting! The action stays in the 3rd person during blaster battles, and it relies on cover mechanics.

Certain droids can be shot in a specific area that causes them to explode, with the resulting electrical discharge stunning surrounding enemies. I like it!

When Kay reloads her blaster, there’s a meter that pops up with the “sweet spot” for a buff. Yes, it’s that mechanic everyone has been ripping off from Gears of War for years.

After this segment, we get some more questionable voice acting and a tiny preview of the blaster skill we’ll acquire from the Tatooine mission. This skill allows you to paint multiple targets and pull off a quickdraw attack that puts a group of baddies down quickly.

Speeder bike upgrades are also shown, allowing Kay to jump large chasms or glide across the water. Ubisoft is giving us the opportunity to play the game how we want: stealthfully or as a juggernaut, pretty much like in the past decade’s worth of AC games.

There’s a lot of promise here. When it comes to open-world games, Ubisoft can sometimes hit it out of the park. That is … if it’s not a bait-and-switch like we saw with the original Watch Dogs.

[Source: YouTube]