At the beginning of August I wrote in my preview of Star Wars Outlawsthat the shooter is still missing something “special”. A feature or an element that makes it unique and transforms the hitherto solid title into a truly good game transformed
In the test version I have finally over 25 hours investednumerous missions with Kay Vess and Nix behind me, all four major planets explored more or less. Which Strengths and weaknesses Star Wars Outlaws, whether I still found the special feature and why developers Massive Entertainment would have benefited from a few more months of fine-tuning, I’ll tell you in the test – including rating and video.
Star Wars Outlaws: After the break-in is before the break-in
Die History of Star Wars Outlaws begins in a galaxy far, far away, between episodes 5 and 6: The Empire still has the monopoly on violence, only a few pieces of rock from Alderaan remain in space and Darth Vader has recently revealed himself to be Luke’s father and the murderer of dozens of young men. During this time I slip into the skin of Smuggler Kay Vess and her pet companion Nix.
After a major break-in, the two finally want to lead a peaceful life, but the plan goes wrong and Kay has to flee from Cantonica, her home planet. The problem? She steals a rare ship from Sliro, the guy she just tried to rob. As the head of the Zerek Besh syndicate, he obviously doesn’t find it very funny – and Kay and Nix are in trouble.
This palace has to be broken into at the very beginning. Kay has no idea what consequences this will have. Credit: 4P Screenshot / Ubisoft / Massive Entertainment
After a crash on the completely reinvented planet Toshara and a few first steps to repair the slightly damaged means of transport, Kay and I stumble straight into the next misery: betrayal and unexpected help from a crime boss who at first glance seems far too smooth. He offers me protection if I put together a team in return and break into Sliro’s again – from then on we go from planet to planet to collect the various team members for the herculean task.
A pale troop
Assembling the team and breaking in is the basic premise of Star Wars Outlaws, but the story has to offer a little more – even if it takes a while to really get going. At the beginning, it just plods along: I complete the tasks assigned to me, but I don’t really develop any sympathy or interest in the individual important supporting characters or even in Kay herself.
This is also because the authors hardly give me anything to work with. In the first few hours of play I learn almost nothing about the heroine and her cute companion, which makes the smuggler in particular look very pale, quite different from the obvious film model.
Only in later flashbacks, which, depending on how much time you spend in the open worlds, can take a very long time to appear, and in smaller dialogues, the Background story of KayI even feel a little sympathy for her (and her furry sidekick). After all, she grows up in problematic family circumstances, but is able to fight her way out, despite the fact that there are always setbacks.
Nix is without a doubt one of the cutest creatures ever. Every moment with him is almost worth its weight in gold. Credit: 4P Screenshot / Ubisoft / Massive Entertaiment
Many other supporting characters do not even make it to this status. In the end, I only grow the stoic command droid ND-5 a bit, which is why some scenes with him are particularly affecting. Technician Gedeek and the bomb expert on board, on the other hand, are generally quite nice, but after their recruitment they quickly fade into the background. That’s a shame, because competitor EA only started Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its successor proved how important and central companions can be, even if it is not a role-playing game.
On a positive note, I would like to mention that Star Wars Outlaws does refer to the first Star Wars films, but not entirely dedicated to fan service It is a completely independent story that indulges in the smuggler fantasy. Even if it cannot always fully fulfill this claim.
