The Gamers Arms

While I'm happy to see more story-driven Star Wars stuff, I can't help but feel underwhelmed by that. It's clearly an open world game, and it's published by Ubisoft, which is never a good sign, but it feels like one of those vertical slice demos that don't really represent real gameplay. Maybe it's good? I don't know because the video just felt a bit soulless.

I think the video just wanted to show off as many different gameplay elements as possible, but even with that I thought it looks good. Colour me cautiously optimistic.

That looks like it could be fun. It's great see someone other than EA make a Star Wars game, unfortunately it's Ubisoft so who knows what kind of a hot mess it'll turn out to be. It had every possible Star Wars troupe they could cram in but such is the nature of the franchise.

Would love to see a Wildlands or Breakpoint style game set in the SW universe as long as it kept the combat of those games. But I can't imagine Disney letting you go about doing brutal knife takedowns on stormtroopers.

This but on Hoth...

I enjoyed aspects of the demo. The third person combat was whatever but I was surprised to see the ship combat. I trust Massive over every other Ubisoft studio in terms of creating a game that doesn't just follow the standard Ubisoft template, so I'm cautiously optimistic. It certainly appeals to me a lot more than the Jedi games EA has put out recently.

Ever since we were given that first glimpse of Star Wars 1313 there has been the long promise that a game would visit the gritty Underworld and the fact it has taken this long to finally see it fully realised in Outlaws...it's nothing short of beautiful. The fact that we don't wield a lightsaber at all is completely fine with me, the gun combat looked every bit as satisfying as Massive's very own Division, and as such shooting enemies from the Star Wars universe on top is just the representative icing on the cake as long as they properly mix up combatants that is and if indeed Division is anything to go off they will.

The moment the main character sat in that seat and journeyed directly into space no flashbangs no loading screen or forced cut scene was glorious.

And surely I can't be the only one who instantly saw Sigourney Weaver on my screen? That's the one, I'm going to roleplay the game as Ripley exploring the stars with my cool looking droid companion. And I for one don't buy into the oh well it's Ubisoft narrative because love them or hate them they are now the very same ones who served in bringing the kind of true Star Wars experience we all always wanted to life no light swords or space wizards even necessary. On top Massive are probably the most talented studio under their umbrella showcased by Outlaws already making Jedi Survivor look somewhat dated and walled off by comparison.

https://www.pcgamer.com/star-wars-outla ... -in-years/

Let's just say there hadn't really been a game announced this summer season that had me super excited as in oh fuck I need to upgrade so I can get the best possible experience kind of levels, Outlaws went and altered all of that in an instant.

Apparently the droid is hot?

https://www.eurogamer.net/why-the-inter ... laws-droid

I'm not someone who judges people for who or what they're attracted to, let your freak-flag fly, but this certainly took me a bit by surprise.

I will say that having watched the gameplay video a second time I'm more enthusiastic. The gameplay itself hasn't really won me over yet, but the montage of locations at the end looks really promising. It's very reminiscent of Bad Batch, in fact I had to listen again to make sure the Mon Calamari fixer wasn't played by the same actress that plays the almost identical Trandoshan fixer in that series. While BB hasn't been the best series, the variety and imagination shown in the environmental design really sells the Star Wars setting better than most productions.

Ah dammit Ubi, bollocks to the rinsed out, flogged to death Star Wars franchise, put your team to work making another open world Ghost Recon title!

Pfft. At least Disney keep a tight control over their franchise. Do you think Tom Clancy would approve of that Punk Rock Mosh Pit nonsense? Ubisoft can't be trusted.

This is launching on 30th August, and there's a story trailer to whet the appetite.



I'm still hesitant to get excited for it if I'm honest. It looks like it's a fairly lavish production, but nothing in the actual gameplay has really grabbed my interest. All of the stuff that I loved about Jedi Survivor came from the Jedi aspect - force powers and lightsabers are a really good combination for an action game, but this just looks like a shooter with context actions for the (admittedly adorable) little axolotl thing.

Raid wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 14, 2023 12:10 pm

Pfft. At least Disney keep a tight control over their franchise. Do you think Tom Clancy would approve of that Punk Rock Mosh Pit nonsense? Ubisoft can't be trusted.

Well I am never going to argue against that case, it's a slam-dunk. But regardless, resident Star Wars fan, hush now and support my craving for endless tactical shootery!

Do you think George Lucas would approve of that…. ok bad example.

Special edition apparently set to go for over £100 ($130, not sure of the conversion on that). Yeah, they can fuck right off.

At that level I'm expecting a regular edition to go for the much-vaunted new AAA £70 pricepoint, and there's not a chance in hell I'm ever paying that for a game.

Yeah I saw that and they can get to be fucked. Cunts.

On the other hand, have just watched Angry Joe's vid on it, and apparently you can sign up for a month of Ubisoft's service ($18, not sure what in £), play the game and then cancel it at the end of that month... supposedly quite an easy process.

If it reviews reasonably well I could well shell out for a month's sub to play it.

Eurogamer are unconvinced, and a lot of what's in here echoes my concerns too. It just looks a bit bland, gameplay-wise.

https://www.eurogamer.net/after-a-worry ... n-expected

They barely show any real gameplay in the "gameplay showcase", which makes me worried that there isn't anything new or interesting in it.


It really does look the part, the environments look fantastic, but if there's nothing more than a rudimentary third-person shooter underneath it, even as a Star Wars nut I'm going to lose interest quickly. Say what you will about the franchise over-using lightsabers and force powers, but hokey religions and ancient weapons make for a far more interesting game than a good blaster at your side. Melee combat is just more varied; you can swing left and right, you can leap over and strike from behind, you can parry their own weapon, you can roll out of the way of attacks, and a Jedi can push enemies around with the force. With a blaster, your agency is reduced to just being on target, and choosing the right weapon to deal with a particular enemy type, and crouching behind cover to avoid return fire. It's just not as engaging.

And I'm not sure they could have come up with a more boring ship design than that. Star Wars has such wild, impractical ship designs (the Stinger Mantis from EA's Jedi games isn't amazing either, but at least it has a massive rotating wing and engine assembly that serves no obvious purpose), and they went with a flying brick?