Star Wars Outlaws review: Star cry

Lego games aside, the Star Wars gaming universe had been exclusive to EA for two console generations. But just like when Disney bought the rights off George Lucas, it’s now a new dawn – a new hope, you might even say – as more developers are getting to play with the most coveted franchise in the galaxy. Star Wars Outlaws is the first of these out the gate.

Last year’s initial reveal trailer gave big “GTA but in the Star Wars universe” vibes, which after countless games spent wielding the Force as a Jedi or dogfighting in space, sounded genuinely intriguing. Focusing on the under-explored side of the galaxy’s criminal underworld in the shoes of a scoundrel hinted at the Han Solo simulator fans have been dreaming of for decades.

But having already released one underwhelming licensed title lately, does Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora creator Ubisoft Massive manage to score a hit this time – or is Outlaws destined for the Sarlacc pit?

Slicer of life

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws casts you as Kay Vess, a young slicer (read hacker) with a history of trust issues who just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to landing jobs that pay. Just when she thinks she’s finally got a good score, it turns out she’s crossed the galaxy’s most ruthless crime syndicate, who’s now put a ‘death mark’ bounty on her head.

Despite being on the run with adorable critter sidekick Nix in tow, there’s not that much urgency to the life of a scoundrel, as you get by taking odd jobs in the criminal underworld. Things only kick up a notch several hours in, when Kay is recruited for what’s billed as the heist of a lifetime – one that will both erase her deathmark and have her set for life.

This in turn sets up what should be an exciting heist as you’re tasked with finding (and very often helping to bust out) other accomplices for the job that then all culminates in the big score itself. If you’re looking for anything as elaborate or riveting as a GTA 5 heist, I’m afraid you won’t get it here, but the set-up itself nonetheless is the excuse for Kay’s galaxy-trotting to find these people, ranging from new planets like the tropical Akiva with jungles and lakes to of course Tatooine, very much exploiting the nostalgia factor as you wander through Mos Eisley or even break into Jabba’s Palace.

These ragtag recruits make for an intriguing bunch, more so than Kay, who despite a gamely performance from Humberly González, just doesn’t match up to Han Solo, even if a pre-order bonus cosmetic means you can don a similar outfit. It probably doesn’t help that the facial animations feel incredibly lacking here compared to other current-gen releases (if they do look good then it’s because it’s slyly slipped into a pre-rendered CGI cutscene). Just as well then that the most interesting characters happen to be aliens or droids, in particular ND-5, resembling a battle droid in a trenchcoat, and perhaps the closest this game has to a Chewbecca.

A long time ago…

Given ND-5’s appearance on both the box art and in the original gameplay demo footage, it’s disappointing that he’s actually very under-utilised in-game, less a companion than just another one of many radio comms chatter. Instead, you rely more on Nix, who functions as a little helper either to distract enemies, pick up items or interact with objects for you, like a living furry remote hacking device. The problem is I found commanding Nix often quite fiddly, sometimes reaching the target you want too slow. Unless it was to reach a location Kay physically couldn’t reach herself, I just defaulted to ignoring the prompts and pressing switches or picking up things myself.

At the same time, Nix’s presence feels like the only novelty in a game that otherwise borrows its game mechanics from the last couple generations of game design. You’ve got the stealth and hacking of Watch Dogs, Uncharted’s climbing, GTA’s wanted system, and if your blaster overheats, there’s a Gears-style active reload system. Lots of recognisable elements from all over the shop then, but nothing that adds to it, or just nowhere near as engaging, especially when so much is overused. I did like the hacking mechanics initially, including one that’s sort of a rhythm-based mini-game, but like everything else it just becomes so repetitive.

There are some upgrades and tools you unlock in the game, a few mandatory and some optional, such as a speeder bike you can get a booster for and then later improved jets to hover over water, but fundamentally, there’s little different that you’re doing in the first hour of the game from its conclusion. Even as the plot starts to get a little more engaging, it’s not matched by the same gameplay structure of uninspired stealth (usually either with an insta-fail if caught or the alarm is raised), bland platforming that doesn’t get more interesting if you decide to turn off the egregious yellow paint, before arbitrarily triggering a red alert with the most irritating-sounding alarm as you’re suddenly in a shooting gallery. It’s just devoid of any set pieces that genuinely raise the pulse.

Don’t force it

Given the criticisms levelled against Ubisoft for a lot of open world bloat, it’s almost a bit refreshing that it has trimmed a lot of that out in Outlaws, so if you just focus on the story you can easily finish in 15-20 hours. I should probably clarify the meaning of open world here though, as it’s more that you have multiple planets, though you’re just given room to explore a bit of it, with varying map sizes, though the way you transition between the planet’s surface to space before jumping into hyperdrive into another system feels more connective than say the menus in Starfield.

While there are some stunning views while riding your speeder, there’s just not a whole lot to do that feels worthwhile, and when you’re actually out exploring, you quickly come up against the environmental limitations. For instance, when I was trying to infiltrate an Imperial base, it became apparent that I’d just slip off any remotely slopey surface surrounding it and that there were just a couple prescribed paths I could use to get in from. I also frequently found compass UI on top middle of the screen unreliable for navigating (in one buggy case, the marker on the map you have to separately open up didn’t actually match up with where I was meant to go), and on some occasions I’d reach my destination only for the marker of the object I’m supposed to find not appearing until I’m literally in front of it.

Exploring the denser city hubs are then more interesting, which have a couple side activities, such as a gambling card game and arcade machines with a mini-game that riffs on the original wireframe Star Wars arcade game. Some locations are also split into the game’s four crime syndicate territories who you’ll be asked to do favours for, which has a meter showing how your relationship with each group is, which affects whether you’ll be welcome in that area as well as what jobs you can take or what items merchants will sell you. Part of the dynamic is that pleasing one faction will always make you an enemy of a rival group, though they’re fickle enough that doing some jobs for them will put you back in their good books, making this as superficial as the game’s other systems.

Star Wars Outlaws verdict

On paper, Star Wars Outlaws has all the makings of a decent space scoundrel adventure that captures both the thrill of jumping into hyperdrive to explore different parts of the galaxy and its criminal underworld as you recruit the ultimate team for the heist of a lifetime. There’s also some engaging characters in your crew as well as some surprise fan-service cameos, while also offering new perspectives, including one where the Rebel Alliance isn’t quite as rosy and idealistic as it’s usually depicted.

Unfortunately most of this is squandered with a game cobbled together with last-last-gen ideas and executed in far less interesting ways, in turn undermining the story beats that I found intriguing. Perhaps a sequel will iron out these issues but by the time the credits rolled, it’s hard not to think that Star Wars games are in the same state as the new Star Wars films and shows Disney have been churning out ad nauseum in recent years, which while admirably expanding its universe also feel pretty forgettable.