Aside from a blue paint job and some migraine inducing Na’vi Senses, last year’s movie tie-in, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was a Far Cry game in all but name. It’s a typical Ubisoft move to repurpose portions of an existing product that has already proven popular with their audience, but in the case of Avatar, the final result failed to set the metaphorical Home Tree on fire (sorry, too soon?).
Star Wars OutlawsDeveloper: Ubisoft MassivePublisher: UbisoftPlatform: Played on PC via Ubisoft ConnectAvailability: Out 30th August on PC (Epic, Ubisoft), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
I think part of why Avatar’s players burnt out so quickly (sorry again), was that it was basically just Far Cry but made worse with the addition of a bunch of Avatar gubbins. In the case of Star Wars Outlaws however, Ubisoft hasn’t just picked one singular game to rework. Here, its plucked all the best bits from across its biggest franchises and created this melting pot of familiar gameplay elements. These elements are instantly recognisable when you see them one-by-one, sure, but they all come together as a whole to create a proper Star Wars-y feeling adventure.
When our dashing Deputy Editor, Chris Tapsell went hands-on with Star Wars Outlaws in June, he came away underwhelmed by the dated gameplay he’d experienced during the trio of linear missions he’d been given to play. As if countering that preview with a big, ‘well check this out then’, Ubisoft invited me along to a four-hour preview session that featured a big chunk of open-world action instead, where player were let off the leash to explore as they saw fit.
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The main planet we were given access to was Toshara, a simple farming world filled with large open plains that were very fun to zoom across on a speederbike. These plains were punctuated with small settlements full of NPCs, a couple of mission-givers here and there, and also a large, bustling city called Mirogana that was built inside of a mountain. It was the definition of ‘a wretched hive of scum a villany’, containing a gaggle of gangs and plenty of civilians and imperial troops. But crucially it was also a beautifully realised area, full of visual details that gave it that classic ‘used future’ aesthetic. Honestly, the props in this game are wonderful, especially those for the food.
The interior of Mirogana is where I spent the majority of my time during the Toshara portion of the demo. When I wasn’t being distracted by playable arcade machines (massive missed opportunity not making the old 1983 Star Wars arcade game playable in these if I’m being honest) or gambling on Canto Fathier horse races, I was following the main story mission, which was to repair a ship called the Trailblazer so Kay could get off-world. These mission are where the afformentioned Ubisoft elements were really noticeable, especially the Assassin’s Creed-style stealthing that saw me hiding a crouched Kay in tall grass as security cameras or patrolling guards passed by.