FAR FAR AWAY

STAR WARS OUTLAWS succeeds at the little things, but not much else shines

- Morgan Park

Can we agree that we all have that one game studio we think about more than others? For me it’s Ubisoft. Ubisoft has the reputation of a trend-chasing collection of studios that make the same types of open world games over and over, but not enough people talk about the cool, unexpected, or just plain weird little touches its games have that no other massive publisher would ever green-light.

I’m talking about the good stuff, like Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s robust codex of ancient Baghdad museum pieces, Rainbow Six Siege’s overkill destruction engine, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s ambitious exploration mode that turns every waypoint into contextual directions so you develop a real sense of mastery over the planet’s geography.

Star Wars Outlaws is both sides of Ubisoft: it’s conventional and safe in ways that really get on my nerves, but it’s also ambitious enough to be more than just a third-person shooter in a sandbox. Outlaws is a game in which nearly every story mission involves crawling through a vent that leads to a ladder that leads to a hallway. It’s also a game with a reactive reputation system that matters, detailed cities I didn’t want to leave, and maybe my favourite side activity ever.

STREET URCHIN