Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card DLC Review – Bad Beat

As a seasoned gamer with years of experience under my belt, I must say that Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card is a rollercoaster ride through the galaxy far, far away. The combat feels more refined, and the movement mechanics are enjoyable, but it’s clear that Massive Entertainment still has some work to do on the AI and overall polish.

Given its high-profile marketing, popular Star Wars branding, and top-tier production quality, it’s not shocking that Star Wars Outlaws didn’t perform as well as expected. However, considering other factors like fierce competition, the franchise feeling stale, and numerous unpolished areas, this might have been inevitable. Nevertheless, even dedicated fans can’t deny that upon release, Star Wars Outlaws struggled in various gameplay aspects.

The development team at Massive Entertainment has been putting in a lot of effort to enhance the game. The recent updates to their titles aren’t just about boasting improvements in enemy AI, Speeder functionality, and movement – they also revamp combat and stealth mechanics. Features such as weak points, enhanced enemy death animations, longer durability for scavenged weapons, elimination of stealth failure in most quests (except for a few), better cover usage – the list continues. Despite these updates making Outlaws seem more attractive, it still lacks compelling content. Unfortunately, Wild Card doesn’t quite fit that bill.

It’s unfortunate that when you reload, the cards you draw and the actions you can take don’t change, because the introduction of Shift Tokens and new abilities such as drawing twice and placing cards on opponents to make it seem like they are cheating, have certainly increased the level of suspense in the game.

In this adventure, Kay is portrayed as participating in a critical game of Sabacc and encountering Lando Calrissian, but there’s more going on behind the scenes. Instead, it’s Thorden, the governor of Toshara (for those who might not recognize him), who coerces Toshara into competing due to a grudge over her freeing his bookkeeper. The tournament’s grand prize is a map leading to Okala Five, a moon with an unclear worth. Kay aims to find the location where the game takes place and utilizes Thorden’s Imperial Credits to win. Meanwhile, Lando is on a mission for the Rebel Alliance, using his underworld connections to join the tournament and later collaborate with Vess in pursuit of the map.

Despite the initial setup being appealing, there’s an issue with the pace. The Merinia search, which includes a bothersome shuttle chase and routine space skirmish against minions, is fine. However, the subsequent events to encounter Lando and recover his unique chip slow things down significantly due to excessive planet-hopping. The dialogue isn’t poor overall, but there are some weak points, such as a character telling Kay that Lando is always welcome when he wants to lose his – stressing ‘cape’. Kay’s unenthusiastic reply? “You can tell him that yourself.

In some instances, Kay’s behavior, particularly when trying to navigate through situations, gives off an impression not of a dashing rogue but rather a jittery high school student attempting to pass off a fake ID. Lando, on the other hand, presents himself as a character who straddles the line between charming and slightly seedy, yet retains a genuine kindness. The repetitive pattern where Lando instructs Kay to perform tough tasks, followed by her complaining and eventually complying, became tiresome rather quickly. I found myself wishing for a less frequent occurrence of this dynamic. Additionally, there’s a surprising plot twist that feels contrived and underdeveloped, serving merely as a means to increase the tension.

In some instances, there are intriguing interactions, like when Kay uses her own form of coercion to join the tournament, or a casual chat between Lando and Thorden that feels authentic. Yet, if you weren’t captivated by the original game’s narrative, Wild Card doesn’t strive for anything more extraordinary.

The mission design isn’t too shabby in some areas like the immersive sim-lite tasks to obtain the player list onboard the Merinia and then to find an invitation that suits Kay. The approach lacks skill checks or the like, relying more on listening in, gathering clues, talking to individuals, and compiling evidence, but it works for the most part.

In the real competition, it seems more akin to jumping directly into the championship round rather than experiencing a full bracket tournament. Additionally, it’s unfortunate that the cards dealt and hands played don’t change when reloading, as the scarcity of Shift Tokens and introduction of new abilities such as double-drawing and planting incriminating cards on opponents to accuse them of cheating brought an element of suspense.

There were no performance problems I encountered, but there are several significant glitches such as floating animations during transitions between bars, occasional jerky movement in Kay’s hair upon loading, and at least one cutscene with poor color saturation and lighting.

Beyond these features, the DLC offers much of what you’d typically find in Outlaws – plenty of running, shooting, and sneaking (accompanied by at least two intense escape scenes). The gameplay transitions smoothly during platforming sections, particularly when infiltrating an Imperial base for the final mission. Coordinating the activation of two elevators, maneuvering between them to dodge powerful wind turbines, and navigating carefully through platforms felt responsive. Similarly, stealthily moving past multiple droids to activate a crane that breaches a barrier, providing an opportunity to reach your goal, was well-executed. Regrettably, it all concludes with a relatively unimpressive boss battle (and even referring to it as such is being quite generous).

In this rephrased version, the focus is on the immediate impact of the absence of failure conditions in stealth and combat improvements:

It appears there’s still room for improvement with the AI, as it sometimes struggles to spot characters like Kay, even when she’s within their line of sight. On occasion, she can be standing directly in front of an enemy without eliciting any reaction. An amusing instance occurred when the AI seemed to malfunction as I approached a Stormtrooper unnoticed and gave him quite a beating, yet he showed no sign of awareness with not even a “What was that sound?

The game’s overall quality could use some improvement. While I didn’t encounter any performance problems, there were several noticeable glitches such as unnatural animations during climbing transitions, occasional jerkiness in Kay’s hair upon loading, and at least one cutscene where the lighting and colors appeared dull or faded.

In one open-world scenario, I encountered a hidden Pirate Camp where unseen sentries constantly claimed to spot something. Despite eliminating all other adversaries and snatching the treasure, no additional pirates ever appeared. Instead, they persisted in their watchful vigil, reacting suspiciously to mysterious sounds even after my departure.

In approximately three and a half hours, it offers a compact but satisfying experience. However, during the final hour, I found myself wishing for more detail, specifically delving deeper into the aftermath of the quest.

Additionally, although the title upgrade claimed enhanced facial expressions and animations for dialogue sequences, the final outcome fell short of expectation. It’s unclear whether this is a criticism of the base game or if it’s not as significant an improvement as anticipated. However, the visuals and environmental design are commendable – the Imperial Fortress, with its impressive size, presents some awe-inspiring vistas, particularly in terms of lighting effects.

Despite the improvements made in Star Wars Outlaws being much appreciated, it still has a tough challenge ahead. The combat and movement are now acceptable and even fun, yet it requires more refinement in stealth through improved AI and continued bug fixes. If you found the initial game enjoyable, the recent title update definitely enhances it, but ideally, these enhancements should have been part of the initial launch experience.

From my gaming perspective, diving into this DLC wasn’t an unforgettable journey, but it wasn’t a total letdown either. The Sabacc tournament was definitely a highlight, but beyond that, things felt a bit forgettable. Clocking in at around three and a half hours, the adventure was brief yet satisfying, but I couldn’t help feeling that the final hour could have been expanded upon, delving deeper into the aftermath of our quest. Additionally, I yearned for more innovative mechanics, unique sections, and perhaps even more Sabacc to keep things fresh and engaging.

As a gamer diving into Outlaws, I’d say that “Wild Card” is an engaging side story for those already playing, but it might not be enough to attract many newcomers. If you’re on the fence about joining, you might want to hold off a bit longer and see what other improvements and exciting features they’ve got cooking up next. Massive Entertainment is certainly putting in the effort, but we’re still a ways away from the full package.

This game was reviewed on PC.

2024-11-27 16:11

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