Summary
Starfieldhas whisked players away on an incredible sci-fi journey filled with all that classic RPG goodness they would expect, but something is off. While the game is a fantastic ride, the actual spaceship gameplay needs a bit of work. Spaceship flight is a major part of the sci-fi genre, so it should be one of the strongest aspects of the game. However,Starfield’s version often feels fragmented and slow when it should have felt free.
Bethesda is doing a lot of impressive things withStarfield, which help make it one of the best sci-fi RPGs in years. However, the spaceship gameplay feels like a missed opportunity even if Bethesda’s latest epic is still formidable. While the game has a lot of in-depth systems, games likeStar Wars Outlawsseem to be doing space a lot better. That game has not been released yet, but the brief gameplay trailers depict a much stronger flight system thatStarfieldshould have borrowed from. It could have led to a more realistic and lifelike system that could have helped make this great game even better.
RELATED:Starfield’s NPC Approach is a Tradition Decades in the Making
Starfield Needed to Copy Star Wars Outlaws' Flight Mechanics
SinceStarfieldis a sci-fi game, players will spend a lot of their time traversing the galaxy on their spaceship. They have almost limitless control over what their ship looks like thanks tothe advanced shipbuilder that Bethesda provided. This lets them create the ship of their dreams, yet they cannot actually fly it how they want. While there are portions of flight that will see them combat enemies, the majority of space traversal is done via menu screens instead.
Players will hit countless loading screens during theirStarfieldadventure. Not only will they encounter them when they enter some buildings, but also whenever theyengage in any sort of space flight. They will be met with one when they enter their ship, when they take off or land, when they want to go to another planet, or when they decide to jump to another sector. They will be met with loading screen after loading screen, making their space adventure feel slow and disjointed.
WhileStarfieldplayers hit loading screen roadblocks, it looks like Ubisoft will notput players through that inStar Wars Outlaws. The brief gameplay teaser from Ubisoft Forward showed a system that lets players actually fly ships through space uninterrupted. Kay Vess entered the ship without a loading screen, she took off without a loading screen, and viewers were able to watch as the ship exited the planet’s atmosphere. She was then thrust into a combat scenario immediately as the ship flew through the stars. The only loading screen seemed to come in the form of lightspeed, which seemed to be relatively brief.
Everything that players saw intheStar Wars Outlawsgameplay trailercould have simply been a part of the story, constructed solely for the presentation, or could change drastically before release. If the game actually does not have many loading screens, though, then it already seems to be ahead ofStarfieldwhen it comes to space. Giving players the ability to seamlessly fly from a planet to the stars above sounds fantastic, and it is something that other sci-fi games likeNo Man’s Skyhave been doing for years. It feels like a necessary part of any space-centric game, yet Bethesda left it out.
There are likely many behind-the-scenes reasons whyStarfield’s ship flight does not work likeStar Wars Outlaws'. There may be too many moving parts for the game to handle something like that, the studio may have focused its resources elsewhere, or it may have just not been a fun addition. Whatever the reason may be, not offering that ability still feels like a major missed opportunity.
Starfieldis available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
