Star Wars: Outlaws Review (Copy)
Journey to a galaxy far, far away and play as Kay Vess, a freelancer who is willing to do almost any job if the credits are right. She'll use her skills to try to survive the syndicate underworld in Star Wars: Outlaws. You'll be zooming around the galaxy trying to hire a crew for a huge heist job, perhaps the biggest score of anyone’s life. The problem is that to get the best crew you’re going to have to jump through some serious hoops to convince them to join you.
This game definitely has plenty to keep you busy with when it comes to the puzzle aspects. You will be splicing into computer systems to open doors, turn off security cameras, clear your wanted status with the Empire, and more. You’re also going to have to electric lockpick, by rhythm, your way through doors, systems, and locked chests. The game will have some required upgrades for those two systems so you’ll be forced to come back to certain areas/planets.
You’re also going to have to deal with 4 different syndicate factions. These factions, if you’re in their good graces, will give you access to certain perks such as discounts and faction specific equipment. If you’ve ever played against rival organizations you’ll know that you can’t make EVERYONE happy, your actions for one group is going to make another angry. If you do enough to a certain group they will try to kill you on sight ANYTIME you’re even close by. I personally learned that the hard way when it came to The Pykes (ironically one of the very first syndicates you’re introduced to in the game).
Let’s talk about combat real quick. There’s really two forms of combat you’ll be partaking in, the 3rd person shooter variety and the space craft kind. When it comes to the 3PS version you’ll have to be fast on your feet aiming for the head, and praying that you don’t take too much damage. You do have health bars, and as long as there is still a bit in one bar it can, potentially, heal back to full, but if you’re getting clobbered you’re going to have to use your very limited Bacta Vials to try to bring you back from the edge of death. You’ll be armed with a blaster that you can upgrade as you go through the game, it comes with 3 different shooting modes, and it will be your task to make sure you’re proficient in all 3 and know when it is best to use them. There will also be chances to pick up certain dropped weapons that have a limited amount of ammo that you can use to defeat your enemies.
Now let’s talk about ship combat, something that until I had most of my ship parts upgraded to close to maximum, I was terrible at. For the most part this form of combat is not going to play that big of a role in the overall game, but there are definitely going to be some situations where you’re going to have to survive through waves of enemy ships, and if you’re not careful you’re going to have quite a few game over moments. You’ll have 3 attack options by the end of the game, and to be honest I think I really only used the lasers and on REALLY rare occasions I’d remember that I had rockets, which never really did enough (in my honest opinion).
This game has enough content that you can easily go over 28 hours. I know that because that’s exactly what I did. It pays to explore every area you come upon, you’ll find hidden areas that can give you rare parts, or just give you more credits. Speaking of credits, let me give you some sage advice: If you think you have stockpiled enough credits, you haven’t. Some of the upgrades that you have to make to your Speeder (think hoverbike) or your ship will clean you out. Not only do you need to collect all the parts, but it's going to cost you to complete the upgrade. Another bit of advice is that if there is something that is highlighted as something you can pick up, pick it up, you’re going to need that constant stream of junk that you can sell to vendors to keep your pockets somewhat filled.
One of my favorite mechanics in this game, and I’ve been saving for one of my final paragraphs, is Nix. Nix is a Merqaal and is your character’s most trusted companion (sidenote, trust is a concept that is going to be all over the place throughout the entire game… except when it comes to Nix). You can use Nix to distract enemies, push buttons, sabotage security systems, attack enemies, and in stressful times give you a little cuteness to calm you down. There are also food vendors on each planet that you visit that if you have the credits you can trigger a quick time event with Nix and both of you will be able to enjoy a new exotic meal together. Those meals will also unlock special abilities for Nix, so you should seriously make sure you get all the food vendors.
I really liked the game, I played it for 24 hours straight (it was for Extra Life), but even if I wasn’t playing for charity I’d still have put in the hours that I did so that I could play the game from start to finish. The only thing that bugged me about the game, and I’m hoping it was just me, was the random game crashes where the game would just freeze and I would have to restart the game. Thankfully the autosave feature is pretty solid so I never really had to backtrack too much in order to be right back to where I was in the game. If you’re looking for a solid action adventure game set in the Star Wars galaxy I truly believe that you’ll want to have this game in your library.