The Outer Worlds – Second Opinion

What an absolute mess

<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;the-outer-worlds-review&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">The Outer Worlds<&sol;a> is a stunning game&comma; truly one of the best that we&&num;8217&semi;ve seen in the current console generation&period; It allows you to explore a brand new system of planets&comma; filled with characters that feel as though they&&num;8217&semi;re almost taken from a Fallout game&comma; and gives you the freedom to do anything you want&period; While all of this is still true of the Nintendo Switch port&comma; it is a complete mess in a number of ways that make it very difficult to play&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If that hasn&&num;8217&semi;t put you off&comma; let&&num;8217&semi;s get into the second opinion for The Outer Worlds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-159821" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;22055906&sol;theouterworlds-3-6-19-20-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"theouterworlds-3-6-19-20" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">What am I looking at&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>It is impossible to talk about the Switch version of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;top-3-games-of-the-decade-2010-2019&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">The Outer Worlds<&sol;a> without mentioning the visual downgrade&period; The game looks like every texture and element that can be seen has been replaced with the smallest possible version&comma; and then put back into the game without anyone checking to see what they look like in practice&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s a harsh criticism&comma; but the difference between every other version of the game and the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;new-nintendo-switch-model&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Nintendo Switch port<&sol;a> is so drastic that I genially wonder how much testing was done when it came to visual elements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One caveat to this issue is that the skyboxes still look fantastic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Breaking things down a bit&comma; everything much further than 50 yards away basically melts into the distance&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s like trying to look through glasses that a toddler has been handling after eating fifteen jam sandwiches&period; Once things get a bit closer&comma; you can tell what you&&num;8217&semi;re looking at&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s still so far from pretty&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a real shame that this issue is so prevalent&comma; because the looks of The Outer Worlds are one of its strongest points on all other platforms&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NPCs and creatures alike have also been affected by this colossal visual downgrade&period; Anyone not wearing a helmet looks like they&&num;8217&semi;ve aged about 50 years across the board&period; This is a very odd thing to see&comma; but it must have something to do with the texture changes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-159823" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;22090338&sol;theouterworlds-5-6-19-20-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"theouterworlds-5-6-19-20" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Push Through the Blur<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; if you can get past this massive visual drop&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s still a fantastic game to be found here&period; The story is excellent&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s really the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;deep-dive-star-trek-discovery-pandering-writing-sjws&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">writing<&sol;a> and characters that you&&num;8217&semi;re playing this game for&period; Every character has a distinct personality&comma; and you get to experience that through the plethora of side missions that you can take on throughout your time with the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Switch version has a great set of scaling options for in-game subtitles and dialogue options too&period; These have been built with the smaller screen in mind&comma; and allow you to read everything without squinting like you&&num;8217&semi;re trying to see some Marmite in the dark&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s refreshing to see a Switch port get this so right&comma; because most others that I&&num;8217&semi;ve played look as though the developers totally forgot about them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also unaffected by the Switch port is the game&&num;8217&semi;s audio&period; You can hear everyone just as clearly as you can in other versions&comma; and the epic music is no less grand for the game&&num;8217&semi;s portability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-159824" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;22090518&sol;theouterworlds-4-6-19-20-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"theouterworlds-4-6-19-20" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">A More Visceral Port<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The Nintendo Switch port of The Outer Worlds brings out some of the console&&num;8217&semi;s best features&period; Rumble is enabled as standard&comma; and will see your Switch attempt to leap out of your hands with every shot or jump&period; This was a bit too much for me&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s very easy to turn off&period; You might think that this takes something away from the action&comma; but it really doesn&&num;8217&semi;t&period; Playing the game without rumble on makes everything feel a lot calmer&comma; but when you&&num;8217&semi;re sneaking around the tension is actually intensified&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Switch port also includes motion control support&period; This is great&comma; and feels fine as a mechanic&comma; though I never get on with the Switch&&num;8217&semi;s motion controls so didn&&num;8217&semi;t play with them for long&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m sure that anyone who enjoys this feature will love wandering around The Outer Worlds and shooting enemies by swishing their Switch around&period; If you don&&num;8217&semi;t&comma; this too can be turned off&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;d say that virtuous did a great job of making The Outer Worlds into a game that will appeal to Switch fans&comma; even though they had to sacrifice a lot to get it there&period; Hardcore Switch fans want rumble support and motion controls as standard&comma; and those are both present here&period; Not only that&comma; they work really well&comma; and should keep you happy for days on end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-159825" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;22090732&sol;theouterworlds-1-6-19-20-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"theouterworlds-1-6-19-20" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Don&&num;8217&semi;t Judge This Game by its Cover<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>It would be very easy to read this review&comma; and see the screenshots&comma; and think that the game isn&&num;8217&semi;t for you&period; Yes&comma; the visual downgrade is massive&comma; it can&&num;8217&semi;t be overstated just how bad the game looks in some cases&comma; but that isn&&num;8217&semi;t what The Outer Worlds is all about&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here you have a game from the creators of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-fallout-vegas-fallout-vegas-e3-2010-trailer&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Fallout New Vegas<&sol;a>&comma; arguably the best modern Fallout game&period; The mechanics and features of that game&comma; plus the ones that they couldn&&num;8217&semi;t include&comma; have been used here to make something very special&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Outer Worlds isn&&num;8217&semi;t just another open world RPG&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a genre-defining open world RPG&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll never find another game that offers this level of freedom and character customization based purely on your actions&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s fun&comma; quirky&comma; and will definitely keep you laughing and intrigued for the majority of each playthrough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-159826" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;22090837&sol;theouterworlds-6-6-19-20-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"theouterworlds-6-6-19-20" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Verdict<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s hard to recommend that anyone purchase this game in its current state&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m hoping for an update that boosts visual quality&comma; like <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;witcher-3-wild-hunt-game-year-edition-coming-august-30th&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">The Witcher 3&colon; Wild Hunt<&sol;a> got&comma; soon&period; I would say that if the game is every part of a sale&comma; or sees a discount&comma; then it&&num;8217&semi;s definitely worth picking up&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s a lot of game on offer in such a tiny package here&comma; and it&&num;8217&semi;s hard to give you a reason to pass up on it&period; With that said&comma; there are other versions that are much cheaper out there&comma; and they&&num;8217&semi;re worth getting if you&&num;8217&semi;re looking to experience the game for the first time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If all you have is a Switch&comma; and you&&num;8217&semi;re desperate to play The Outer Worlds&comma; then get this game&period; Nintendo fans will easily be able to push through the issues&comma; but casual gamers will struggle not to immediately return the game from whence they purchased it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">A review code for this game was provided by the publisher&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <h3 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;subtitle">The Review<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <h2 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;title">&NewLine; The Outer Worlds - Nintendo Switch &NewLine; <&sol;h2>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"review&lowbar;score score&lowbar;avg">&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;value">6<&sol;span>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;text">Score<&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"desc" style&equals;''>&NewLine; <p>The Outer Worlds is a fantastic game&comma; filled with dozens of hours of gameplay and some of the best writing you could ever hope for in a game&period; While this Switch port does a great job of bringing the essence of the game to the hybrid platform&comma; as well as motion controls&comma; it fails to deliver in the looks department&comma; and it&&num;039&semi;s a massive let down&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewdetail clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>PROS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Motion controls and rumble support<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Options to scale dialogue and in-game text are the best I've seen in a Switch port<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Everything you need to play the game is here<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>CONS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Looks dreadful<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Rumble controls on every jump and shot is a bit much<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewscore jeg&lowbar;reviewbars clearfix" data-scoretype&equals;"point">&NewLine; <h3>Review Breakdown<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li>&NewLine; <strong>Overall<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">6<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 60&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; &NewLine; <&sol;div>

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