Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #439: The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

I've known about The Outer Worlds for a long time now. I've always been interested in the premise. I've heard it described as New Vegas in space. It is one of those games that I've always told myself "I'll get around to playing someday."

Well, that mythical someday has finally arrived, and we can thank Mop Up Duty for that. Let's see how I feel about 2019's The Outer Worlds for the PS4.

Story:

Right away this game's story grabbed my attention. It's the future, and two massive colony ships have been dispatched to a system of planets that is hospitable to human life. Only one of these ships arrives at its destination. It isn't long before their settlement starts to buckle under capitalism, as all the corporations in charge care about is making money and pushing their brand into outer space. Unhappy people, unsafe working conditions, miserable living conditions, widespread hunger? They couldn't care less.

The second colony ship is discovered adrift in space by a you-might-say mad scientist. The scientist manages to bring one colonist out of cryosleep successfully: you. The ship has been adrift for so long that it is not safe to unfreeze the rest of the colonists. A special chemical is needed to ensure their survival - and wouldn't you know it - the last of these chemicals was used on you.

Not only are you the only colonist that was rescued, the chemical has given you super powers like the ability to slow down time. It becomes your mission to work with the scientist and track down enough of these chemicals to save the rest of the passengers on the colony ship.

This is the basic premise of the game. There is a LOT more to unpack here, but I'm going to let you dive into that yourself. Otherwise I'd be writing for three weeks straight.

When you arrive at the first settlement, you'll talk to everyone you meet, taking on quests. The main series of quests pushes the main story along, while the rest are simply for fun and for gaining money and experience points. Trust me, though, there is a ton of lore and world building here to sink your tetth into - if you like that kind of thing.

Gameplay:

While I was intrigued by the storyline and the setting of the Outer Worlds, its gameplay is a little disappointing. It's not that it is bad, it's just nothing, and I mean nothing that I haven't seen dozens and dozens of times before. You enter a new area. You talk to people. You pick up more side quests than you can handle, most of which are simple fetch quests where you have to retrieve something from a dangerous area, or "go wipe out this person" type missions. There is a bounty board. You can skip all this and follow the marker on the map to the main quest. You do more missions to advance the story. There are conversation choices you can make. Your decisions lead your character down a dark or light path. You level up. You buy new equipment. You pick up items. You become over encumbered and have to drop or sell some of your items. Your equipment takes damage and has to be repaired. Yada yada.

If you've played Ghost of Tsushima, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Nier, Horizon, Assassins' Creed, The Witcher, Fallout, Fable, or any Elder Scrolls game, you are going to get major deja vu playing The Outer Worlds. Perhaps if I had played this game before playing any of the others, I would have liked this much more. Instead, I just kind of sighed and started going through the motions. Despite liking the story and despite liking the presentation of the game, I wasn't having fun with the game itself. In fact, I actually stopped playing before making it to the end.

That may come as a shock to some of you who have been reading from the beginning. I ALWAYS try to finish a game before I review it. Always. Of my 438 previous game reviews, I think like ten of them were games I didn't finish - and most of those were games that couldn't be beaten, like arcade games where you play for the highest score. It's very rare I'll just stop playing a game because I don't like it or am bored with it. And if I do stop playing a game, I normally don't review it. But I feel as if I've seen enough of what this game has to offer to give out a full review.

Before I move on, I do want to discuss the combat. I didn't like the combat. You can use long range or melee weapons. Long range weapons are futuristic devices like laser guns, pulse rifles, and that kind of thing. Melee weapons are things like swords, crowbars, or electric batons. I found the long range weapons to be useless in this game. I could unload five clips into an enemy at point blank range and only take off a teeny bit of their health. If I take out the crowbar, they're defeated in a matter of seconds. In what universe is a crow bar a more effective weapon that a high powered laser rifle?

Seriously, I kept finding all kinds of high powered cool looking guns, only to find out they were completely useless. And then I'd resort to smacking enemies with a wrench or crowbar. I think I just gave up on the long range weapons after a while, which is a shame. I really wanted to use them, and have them be effective. I would have had so much more fun!

That's one of the main reasons I decided to drop the game. I just wasn't having any fun. Everything is so, SO "been there done that" it is almost comical. Like I said earlier, this isn't necessarily a bad game. Just 100% completely average and forgettable. Which in a way, is almost worse.

I'm sure this cool looking weapon probably did a tiny sliver of damage to the enemy

Graphics:

I can't knock this game for its presentation. It looks really awesome. If only graphics were everything!

The level of detail that was put into the locations is pretty incredible. I love just walking around these alien planets and checking out the landscapes. Cities and building interiors are just as well-designed. So many areas of the game have that "lived in" look and feel that I love so much.

Characters look great. The action and the cutscenes are very cinematic. Again: if only graphics were everything...

Sound:

This is an amazing sounding game too. You really can't fault the production values. The musical score is fantastic - and the main title theme immediately went on my gaming music playlist. Voice acting is solid. Ambient sound effects really bring the game to life. Do I need to say it again?

IF ONLY THIS GAME WAS FUN!!

Overall:

If you can't tell that I didn't have fun with this game, then you haven't been paying attention. The framework for a great game is all there. Story, graphics, music, concept. I wouldn't have minded quite as much that the game is such a copycat of other, better games, if only it was more fun to play. If the combat was any good and if it wasn't such a chore to get from place to place, I likely would have stuck with the game.

All that said, I do understand why people would like this game. I've read some online reviews, and I am definitely in the minority when it comes to my opinion. I want to like this game. Heck, I wish I did! But it just doesn't do it for me. It doesn't do anything for me, really.

My final grade for this game will probably be one of the lower ones out there. And I'm totally okay with that. I could have gone even lower, but I didn't because of the graphics, the sound, and the overall production value. I feel as if to a lot of people this is a really great game, but not for me. So take that however you may.

THE GRADE:

D+

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