What is Star Wars? Now, calm down boomers, not in the sense of it being a multi-billion sci-fi entertainment brand, we get that. But like, WHAT is it, really? A question that, evidently, Disney has been struggling to answer successfully in the last ten years or so. Stumbling from bad to worse with every shot they take at disappointingly insignifficant TV shows and random, unnecessary spin-off movies. To us – and we like to think that also to many others out there – Star Wars, at its best, is a space western with charismatically bold, rough-edged sci-fi cowboys fighting for their beliefs – and a fair amount of credits for their retirement fonds – without giving a Banta’s Poodoo about woke ideals or gender pronouns in a galaxy far, far away. Red Dead Redemption‘s Arthur Morgan with a Blaster, basically. Good news then, that of all the publishers out there, Ubisoft had the courage to give birth to an homage to old school, rust and dust Star Wars, refreshingly sidestepping the all too beaten path.
Star Wars at its best is a space western with rough-edged sci-fi cowboys fighting for their beliefs, without giving a Banta’s Poodoo about woke ideals or gender pronouns in a galaxy far, far away.
Don’t get us wrong. We liked EA‘s Jedi Survivor for the Jedi power fantasy that is was. But Star Wars: Outlaws putting us in the shoes of well, an outlaw, is a refreshing twist on how game studios usually approach the brand, that has given us force powers and lightsabers. There is a delightfully bold naivety accompanying Massive Entertainment‘s decision for their game to turn the spotlight on a scoundrel archetype, that never got to be more than the force wielding protagonist’s fisty best friend in the movies. Making their take on Lucasfilm‘s universe a stopover worthwhile a thousend lightyears more, than pretty much anything Disney came up with since taking the con.
While gameplay wise then there is little worth remembering, the level of detail and overall quality of its’ world building are second to none.
This game is, by all means, not perfect. A jack of many trades, it struggles to decide upon which it wants to excell at. Surprisingly clunky traversal and the game being unnecessarily annoying with little quirks like constantly making us drop our pilfered weapons or denying us the joy of engaging in free-aim-combat while riding our speeder bike does not help to elevate the overall experience to more than mediocre either. While gameplay wise then, there is little worth remembering, like in many other Ubisoft games of the decade, the level of detail and overall quality of its’ world building however, are second to none.
Funny looking droids happily beeping their way through the dusty, buisy streets of a rundown space port, the wind howling through the squeeking metal plating of make-shift buildings and space ships. We notice the otherworldy tunes of a cantina band in the distance while overhearing a conversation of two shady figures in a dark corner about a hidden stash, somewhere outside the city walls. This, to us, is the answer to our question from earlier. This is, what Star Wars should feel like. This tale should not only be about the privalidged few blessed with a Jedi robe or diplomatic status, but the odd space cowboy who, dispite the omnipresent struggle, forges his adventurous path to a humble life with what opportunities he can catch with bare hands. Albeit, that not necessarily being only particularly legal ones.
