‘Star Wars Outlaws’ is Unimpressive and Similar to 2022’s ‘Saints Row’?!

This month, attendees of Summer Game Fest could try out Ubisoft’s upcoming scoundrel simulator, Star Wars Outlaws. The experience of playing in an open world set in a galaxy far, far away left one gaming journalist feeling let down.

A writer for GameSpot was in attendance. While there, Ubisoft allowed journalists to play a handful of sections of the upcoming game. The impression it left was anything but positive.

According to GameSpot’s Jordan Ramée, the three main complaints about Ubisoft are that the game is too easy, unmemorable, and mediocre. I’ve been saying these things about Ubisoft games since it started recycling the same play mechanics across multiple Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry titles.

While the ease with which the writer overcame challenges in the game could be something Ubisoft implemented to keep players moving through the game, the overall mediocrity of Star Wars Outlaws is what worries me the most.

Ramée’s most damning statement comes when he compares his experience to the ill-fated dumpster fire that was 2022’s Saints Row:

“The aspect of my time with Star Wars Outlaws that stands out to me the most is just how much my preview experience reminded me of previewing 2022’s Saints Row, a game that paints over half-baked systems and average storytelling with the trappings of a franchise I love. Outlaws so far feels exactly the same, using the imagery and sounds of Star Wars to disguise an otherwise mediocre game. Maybe the full release of Outlaws will surprise me in a way the full release of Saints Row didn’t, but I have serious misgivings about Outlaws that I didn’t have prior to playing it.“

Saints Row was a major disaster in the making, which many people saw coming. However, the studio making the game failed to acknowledge its hubris and is now defunct. It may be too late for Ubisoft to make any revisions since Outlaws is due out in August (with outrageous pricing).

I take everything GameSpot says with a grain of salt. This outlet has a history of questionable tactics regarding reviews, previews, and reporting in general. So, to balance that out, I went to another equally dubious site to see what they thought of the game.

In contrast, Polygon‘s time with Star Wars Outlaws is far more positive. However, the writer did concede that some annoying tropes of modern gaming are present (yellow paint on scalable surfaces, for one). You probably won’t mind the handholding if you like Uncharted, the newer Tomb Raider titles, and Jedi: Survivor.

Polygon’s takeaway is far more positive than GameSpot’s. It’s important to note that the person playing the game here is also a huge fan of Han Solo, so that fandom could be softening the rough edges of Ubisoft’s Star Wars title.

On the bright side, if you’ve wanted a Han Solo Simulator, Outlaws is it, according to Polygon. Is trading in challenge and complexity worth playing as a knockoff of the galaxy’s most famous smuggler? We’ll find out later this August.

[Source: GameSpot]