Starfield

Starfield is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. It desperately needs an editor to cut through all the idealistic but useless features to remind the developers that quality always trumps quantity. A rich world and fantastic side quests clash with an uninspired main quest and a plethora of performance issues that render the game's push for exploration anything but. It's a mix of the studio's Skyrim with the genre-defining Mass Effect series, but never quite satisfies those itches and leaves the player thinking of stronger experiences. I ran into a plethora of issues from glitches to outright crashes, spent an inordinate amount of time troubleshooting issues I shouldn't be worried about on console, and doing my best to accept that Bethesda doesn't seem to care to learn from lessons that have hurt them for decades.

While Starfield seems stuck between generations and intentions, it's still fun (frustrating fun, sure, but fun nonetheless). Its side quests shine and its crisp combat only gets better the more skills you unlock. Character creation and crafting your journey are both solid in design and execution, and the game does reward your investment. With all my criticism, I am excited for the universe's future and the undoubted refinements to come, but quality control needs a firmer, more moderate hand.

It has been 1 month and 26 days since the release of Starfield, and in that time, I have logged 6 days with a total of 144 hours, give or take.

Now after the debacle of Fallout 76 it was important that Bethesda had a win in a major way for this title, and with all the time I logged I can confidently say it's kinda better?... ya that's what I want to say better.

Oh, Bethesda, Bethesda. What happened to you? Why have you become so lazy and complacent?

I'll start with the good...

The game is pretty and has a lot of interesting things to look at and explore, good questlines (sometiems), and ya, you know there are guns and then space guns... and I can't keep up this charade.

Starfield is the biggest game with the most restrictions I have ever played! Soo many game mechanics and decisions are made in this game purely for the sake of wasting your time!

The story is boring, uninteresting, and dull, and the writing here is just as bad. Admittedly, some questlines were interesting, but everything always just led to "Is that it? Oh, ok." Then this games "ending" is the biggest slap in the face I've felt from a games conclusion. I would give details on it, but to avoid spoilers, all I'll say is completely unsatisfactory.

All this sucks because the game is actually fun. The gunplay, the guns, and the ships. I can't begin to describe how many hours I've spent building and customizing my ship.

But the games' starkingly surprising limitations hold back everything. Also please Bethesda PLEASE dump this engine! It's time to put it to rest.

Yet still, for some inexplicable reason, this game receives high praise and scores! How? Why? The game has the worst ui, maps, and downright stupid enemy npcs.

Character customization is good, but clothing is extremely limiting in variety. There's basically one style and almost no women's apparel. This leads to another complaint: Why is there like no fashion for women in this game? Even when I want to role-play going out with my companion wife, I can't dress her up because there's absolutely no style for women, and that lack of variety led into many of my other role-playing experiences.

Finally, I'll speak about characters. They are ok. They are all just not at all well written. Now if like me you choose to take on a female companion as a wife, then get ready to be criticized for almost every little thing you do or don't do! If you want to be a space pirate, then you'll be hated. Unless I was Mr. Perfect all the time, I would hear about it from Sarah. There is no companion who is like down for anything or everything. It's just another limitation and lack of variety in personalities.

I'm sure there are plenty of other mechanics and systems in this game I'm forgetting to mention, but honestly, I'm tired and a little disappointed to review this any further.

I really wanted to love this game being the massive Bethesda fan I am, but because of the games limitations, restrictions, lack of variety, and subpar writing, it detracts from the experience. Though even after all that, I can not deny the amount of fun I did have, and the game does contain that Bethesda charm, so for that, I can be a bit lenient. But Bethesda, you have used up the last of my good graces. You are better than this. You have done better, and you should do better. So please, please don't screw up Elder Scrolls VI.

Final score: 6/10 3/5

Played on Xbox Series X and PC.

After five long years of waiting and rampant speculation, Starfield finally released this year on September 6th. Was it worth the wait?

Positives: Starfield has some of Bethesda's best cities out of all of their games, New Atlantis, Akila City, Neon, Paradiso, Cydonia and New Homestead are all extremely interesting areas with tons of side missions to do.

The combat in this game is very easy to get used to and is extremely fun.

The amount of content you get in this game is what you expect when you pay £70/$70. It's truly a testament of how much bethesda love making video games and their passion for them.

Faction quests are also fantastic in this game, the UC Vanguard quest line being my favourite had an incredible movie like story with great action set pieces. The Crimson Fleet storyline was so much fun playing as an undercover agent trying to damage them from within. The Freestar Collective quest line has this awesome mandolorian feel to it as you become a space ranger. The Ryujin Industries quest line is probably the weakest of the bunch but still has great moments as you climb the slippery corporate ladder to get to the top.

Negatives: Starfield feels extremely outdated. Facial animations and controls are very early 2010s and the game just doesn't flow very fluidly. The bethesda "jank" is just unacceptable these days.

The abundance of loading screens is ridiculous, it is so immersion breaking when you have to load everywhere.

Starfield unfortunately suffers from the typical bad bethesda main story. It is extremely uninteresting and the amount of missions that are just fetch quests is ridiculous and time wasting.

The companions in the game are just flat out boring, there are no companions with personalities (except Andreja) everyone is just objectively good and morally righteous, it's so annoying. If you had bad karma in fallout 3, you would attract companions that were also scum bags, why not bring this back?!?

Exploration outside of the main cities is really disappointing. There is absolutely nothing to see and do, no interesting planets or Easter eggs. It makes the game feel so small and artificial.

Lore in this game isn't that interesting either, it's not bad but nowhere near the level of elder scrolls and fallout. It is very generic.

Overall Starfield is a good game that is held down by Bethesda's outdated game design, mediocre writing and old engine. Here's hoping Bethesda listen to a lot of the criticisms for Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5.

Never before has a video game been able to give that sense of depth that space as a starfield can give. I'll say it right away for the most demanding, this is not a game that is worth its high expectations but it is so vast, complex and original that it is still worth a high rating and a purchase. Unfortunately, a fluctuating frame rate and 30fps resolution have weakened Starfield to the point of making some define it as a big disappointment, but that's not the case. Bethesda certainly promised something unattainable which was not achieved but the production remains solid, original and well studied, with an exaggerated amount of things to do and secondary missions to discover. Not excellent but certainly excellent, worth trying!

Other than the faces of people (and a few bugs which most games have today unfortunately), this game is absolutely incredible. I'm almost 100 hours in and really feel as i'm just getting into the thick of it. There's is literally so much to do in this game and all of the environments are beautiful. I was a little disappointed when I found out that there wouldn't be as much in space (or "In the Starfield" as they call it in game) but the rest of the game definitely makes up for it. Maybe it's because I have been waiting for a game exactly like this forever, but it's definitely my new favorite game.