A major selling point of Star Wars Outlaws is that the game doesn’t go for a typical Jedi experience, but the lack of one feature makes protagonist Kay Vess even more of a stickler for the rules than the Jedi are. As an opportunist on the wrong side of the law, Kay Vess starts the game much more interested in acquiring credits than taking down the Empire. She’s not especially cold-blooded, and the game provides plenty of opportunities to pet creatures and help people, but upholding any kind of order across the galaxy could hardly be further from her interests.
Although Star Wars Outlaws breaks up its gameplay loop with plenty of different objectives, stealing is one thing that Kay Vess tends to do pretty consistently. Valuables are left lying around on tables or tucked into chests that can be opened with a bit of lockpicking, and pawning off items found throughout the world is, aside from some luck at the Sabacc table, the best way to raise funds for upgrades. For the most part, theft is easy in Star Wars Outlaws, but the game doesn’t allow it in some situations that seem like obvious opportunities.
Kay Can’t Steal Speeders In Star Wars Outlaws
Kay’s Way Too Loyal To Her Own Vehicle
The world of Star Wars Outlaws is filled to the brim with speeders, but it’s not possible to hop on unattended speeders and take them out for a spin. Over-the-ground transport instead centers around Kay’s own bike, which can be summoned to her side in typical video game mount fashion. Kay’s speeder certainly gets the job done when it comes to transportation, but locking her off from using any other speeders feels needlessly restrictive and locks off a lot of potential spontaneity in the game.
The omission is particularly striking when comparing Star Wars Outlaws to the Star Wars films, where even the Jedi aren’t above commandeering vehicles. Anakin’s heroic moment in The Phantom Menace stems from illicitly flying an N-1 Starfighter, for example, and he appropriates a speeder for the Coruscant chase in Attack of the Clones, which Obi-Wan doesn’t complain about after dropping into the vehicle soon after. If Kay’s attempting to make the cut in a galaxy of scum and villainy, it’s bizarre that she holds herself to higher standards than the Jedi did during the late reign of the Republic.
Star Wars Outlaws Isn’t A Grand Theft Auto Sandbox
An Open World With Limited Opportunities
Although it’s tempting to compare Star Wars Outlaws to a space opera take on Grand Theft Auto, the lack of casual vehicle theft immediately shuts down a key aspect of the comparison. The game lacks the same sandbox impulses in general, focusing principally on reasonably linear stealth missions and side content that idly bounces Kay between objectives. There’s nothing wrong with a difference in priorities, but when it comes to things that feel like arbitrary boundaries, Star Wars Outlaws could be improved by letting loose just a little bit more.
Another big limitation of the speeder experience is how gunfights are handled, as Kay’s usage of her blaster is limited while on her speeder. There’s no way to casually fire shots, with the only option lying in a slow-motion mode that allows her to select multiple enemies to blast. Add in a tendency for the speeder to come to a violent halt at the slightest environmental hurdle, and it can be hard to get into a natural flow where speeder gameplay feels like the dynamic traversal it should.
Slow-motion shot setups can be triggered through activating the Adrenaline Rush ability, which has a refill meter indicated on the bottom of the screen.
It makes sense that Star Wars Outlaws isn’t fully embracing the anarchic glee of Grand Theft Auto, as Star Wars tends to be a relatively family-friendly property where even the most flawed protagonists have a lot of fundamental good in them. All the same, if the game isn’t going to allow some basic criminal activities, it might do better to spend less time rubbing them in Kay’s face. Walking past landspeeders right there for the taking is a uniquely painful feeling, and even the most righteous in the Star Wars universe might laugh at Kay’s reluctance to take a chance.
