I haven't spoken much about Star Wars Outlaws on this blog despite the fact that I still very much love the video game side of the Star Wars franchise as the one bright spot in a general overmilked product and do you know why that is? It's because I have very little interest in the thing. The same for Star Wars Rivals, the mobile game that came and vanished at some point in the past year or so; when something like that means so very little to my world I just can't help but pass it over. Also, the reason why the game hold no interest to me despite being "The first open world Star Wars game of all time": (Pretty sure there are a couple of MMO's that would beg to differ there) it because it is a Ubisoft game. You know me- Ubisoft don't get by me without a scrutiny check and Outlaws ain't done a good job passing mine.
But the thing with Ubisoft is that they don't really need my endorsement and support. They don't even need to get the majority of the gamer public on their side- because Ubisoft are one of those companies that have grown to such a pre-eminent level that they've become something of 'the face of gaming'. Someone just looking up big games are going to come across Ubisoft titles, and casual observers will pick up the latest Ubisoft game, blast through it and then complain how all big games are generic and uninspired based on that sole experience. I'm not kidding- you even have indie developers falling down that hole nowadays. Because I supposed Baldur's Gate 3, Space Marine 2, Helldivers 2: they're all just chopped liver or something?
Which was why I pretty much felt like the book on Outlaws was open and closed long before the game actually hit shelves. It looked pretty unambitious, and reviews all seem to salivate over the visuals, as they do for every Ubisoft game, and handwave the wanting- everything else. I figured it would be typical Ubisoft open world slop. A tired formula stretched over the rotting corpse of another brand, maybe plugged with a half-digested idea or two which sounds like it might have been a little novel if Ubisoft had the guts to commit to anything outside the core structure they love so dearly. (RIP literally every non-generic idea 'Mists of Pandora' once had.) Something that would be a hit being both a Ubisoft game and a Star Wars branded title and we'd all lament another undeserving rainfall for the world's least creative creative studio.
And it did. Make money, that is. Star Wars Outlaws landed with the typical average score specially reserved for Ubisoft middle of road titles, (70) and people flocked to buy the thing. But then something very interesting and unexpected happened. You see- people didn't really like the game. The actual user on the street- the average everybody with a passing interest in the medium- yeah, they largely thought it kinda sucked- as evidence by the mid 50 average on Metacritic. Yeah- turns out the game wasn't just boring and uninspired- it was actually pretty messy as well. Buggy and unpolished might slide by a reviewer who plays dozens of games every month but an average joe- they didn't spend their hard earned cash for a game with a leaky brain.
Of course then when you get past the bugginess, I hear Consoles are actually pretty well put together (lucky them) then you have a game that just... doesn't really have much to it. The looks are good, but the plays are weak. Isn't that just Ubisoft in an absolute nut shell? When was the last time they put out an experience as all-around satisfying as God of War? As singularly refined as Horizon Zero Dawn? When was the last time they displayed a mastery for anything other than visuals? Visuals are fine and all- but this isn't a 3D art industry, this is a gaming industry- and it might be starting to catch up to people that no matter what package you put on it- no matter how you wrap it up. A Ubisoft is always, regrettably, a Ubisoft game.
Beyond that the core systems are actually pretty weak. It's one thing being generic, it's another having a core aspect of the design vertical be largely non-functional. Stealth isn't the easiest thing to get right, but most games at least start at a place of competency- which Outlaws struggles to reach. And gunplay is fine but that's not really enough to carry you through an entire video game worth of content- now is it? Hellblade 2's combat is fine- but that is one of the least ways in which the audience interacts with the game- Outlaws has to stand up and try to defend it's single weapon, limited pick-up based arcade shooter vibes. It's just not very good.
And then you have the reputation system which, I'm going to be honest, reeks of a little thing I like to call 'Lack of ambition'. (It always comes back to that, doesn't it?) It really is a matter of passion to create something like a reputation system- it takes effort to consider the scope and ramifications, the intricacies of managing relationships with conflicting factions and the consequences of letting those relationships slide. Not many have the gall to pull it off. And Outlaws executes theirs like they really didn't want to do one. Very binary 'enemy or not' tickers with a supremely simple 'solve' method in order to rebuild reputation because they didn't have the balls to stick to their model. It's just a bit of shame to be honest.
There's this quote that keeps jumping around my head from an Internet Wierdo a few years ago "A game that isn't for everyone shouldn't be made". Yeah, I know how inherently stupid that sounds but it gets to me because this is one of those 'games for everyone'. A fence-sitting 'doesn't know what it wants to be' unwilling to commit sigh. The game is just a sigh. From a studio that used to, somehow, regularly get Game of the Year nominations. Now probably going to be outdone by themselves later this very year. Ubisoft stock has shivered unfavourably at the icy reception and once more the Ubisoft formula has made another game just that little bit lesser than it could have been with a proper studio, a director with vision and, most importantly, some proper development time. What a waste.
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