Star Wars Outlaws Review: Ubisoft's Galactic Adventure Comes With Rough Edges

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Before I dived into Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft's trademark open world take on perhaps the most enduring and beloved media franchise to ever exist, I was playing a different game set in galaxies far, far away. Fairly deep into my first playthrough of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, I couldn't help but be charmed by its rustic delights. That's not to say that Respawn's action-adventure Jedi simulator is unsophisticated. On the contrary, it's packed with sophistications and systems — some of which add necessary depth to the game, while others underscore its flaws. But for me, the joys of the game came from simpler origins.

Jedi Survivor endeared me with its faithful and adoring commitment to the essence of Star Wars. I kept going back for its specific reimagination of those worlds and for its moving retelling of Star Wars mythos. Through its forlorn landscapes, incredible music, and a protagonist who balanced the tragedy and hope of Star Wars, Jedi Survivor captured intangible pleasures. After all, more than its worlds and its people and their conflicts, Star Wars is an evocation. It is John Williams' incredible score. It is Yoda's warm and infinite wisdom. It is Luke looking at two crimson suns setting on a desolate horizon.

And that was what I was looking for in Star Wars Outlaws: an evocation. I didn't need it to have fleshed out gameplay systems, or bring mechanical depth to its action. I simply wanted it to feel like Star Wars. But Ubisoft's newest game often struggles to do that. On its surface, it's an incredibly faithful and visually beautiful recreation of familiar and beloved worlds. Walking around in bustling cantinas full of scoundrels and fixers, ripping through the deserts of Tatooine on your Speeder, and getting into dogfights in the Outer Rim — these moments are as Star Wars as it can get. When it is showing off, Outlaws can leave you wide-eyed and smiling, enthralled by its tangible delights. But when it comes to things that you can't quite put your finger