The Outer Worlds Review (RACHMANOVSKI)
BEFORE YOU READ THIS REVIEW, PLEASE: DO NOT BUY THE SPACER CHOICE'S EDITION, BUY THIS ONE INSTEAD (Spacer's Choice Edition is Pathetic cashgrab from Publisher that adds *nothing* to what already exist within the game).
REVIEW:
Wow, I really wish this game was a top down camera cRPG, because it designed like it is.
As it is, this game is great for me personally, it checks all the cRPG trope you would want from a cRPG video game medium.
RPG-wise:
It has good RPG system where you are free to choose your attribute and backgrounds and offers decent variety of roleplay builds.
For example, in dialogue skill you have: Persuade, Lie and Intimidate. These options (mostly) isn't superior over one another, in (almost) every dialogue persuasion checks, the game (almost) offers you all these three options, 3 checks for the same outcome you'd want. This means, you are allowed to roleplay your character without sacrificing your objective priority.
I love that the game give you background choices but I feel a bit disappointed when said background not heavily used within dialogue apart from providing a +1 bonus to specific skill (In fairness, implementing this alone has put this game above other barely RPG "RPG games").
One particular thing that this game did fantastically compared to other RPG system, is how it attribute system affect skills. For example, if you want a good early boost for Pick locking you don't need to boost Dexterity and dump something else, instead you can moderately increase Dexterity (Body attributes) and Perception (mind attribute) simultaneously and still have a proper in-between build. However if you want Min-maxing, you can pick either of these and be either Great at Lock picking *and* combat or Great at lock picking *and* dialogue - this offers more Role-play-ability options.
Gameplay
This is important to note, but this game seemingly wants to be Fallout New Vegas and as a result they adopt First Person Shooter gameplay that resemble it.
For those who are unfamiliar with the genre out there TOW is a "Competent shooter", it's not bad. But you wouldn't get that Call of Duty experience out of it.
I think this is one of the biggest mistake this game made: Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky has plenty of experience creating Roleplaying Game, experience that doesn't directly translate to first-person shooter design.
In FPS RPG games, players has certain expectation: 1) Good Gunplay, 2) Good Visual, 3) Good NPC face model visual, and 4) Writing that supplemented with Visual.
The Outer Worlds doesn't necessarily excel in all of these areas.
Now, if it was a cRPG game, more than half of these variable won't matter.
In my opinion, TOW would be a fantastic cRPG game as it was how Tim Cain writing has always fit in.
Alas, it was an FPS and these sub-par qualities accentuated more than the great things this game has, which player tend to ignore/took for granted.
Music
Music in this game is Absolutely fantastic. Justin E. Bell did a marvelous works on designing the background music, it set the tone for the entire game, and you will play it again long after you finished the game.
Conclusion
This game is not perfect. If you expect a Fallout New Vegas experience, you won't get it, this game never was trying to be Fallout New Vegas, but as the nature of this kind of game, it will always compared to it. This is a testament to the lasting influence of Fallout: New Vegas (Not always a good thing).
It is however a fantastic Tim Cain/Boyarsky production. If you love Fallout 1, you will love The Outer Worlds - and I love it.