Starfield

(Based on Patch 1.8.86) Pros

• Art design suitable for the concept of space exploration.

• Exceptional soundtrack quality.

• Large volume of game.

• Fresh new type of new game plus mode.

• Large selections of weapons.

• Significantly improved game engine.

• A procedural generation system that operates more naturally than other games.

Cons

• Boring main quests
• Not a good AI
• An uncertain game concept that is neither a space opera with a rich story nor an adventure where exploration is the main goal.

• Awkward character animation.

• Still bad optimization and frequent stuttering.

Conclusion The game that sparked doubts about the future of Xbox.

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Negatives: Starfield feels extremely outdated.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.

The scope and vision cannot be grander. And Starfield indeed looks grand from the first minutes. The various mechanics and systems built into the game, from spaceship building to planetary exploration, are truly amazing, enough to fill multiple decent games.

But that's where the positives end. Starfield produces almost no gel, either in the form of a good story or cohesive world building, to hold its different parts together. The grand scope becomes pointless and bleak when there is no narrative to drive it. The various mechanics do not talk to each other and start to feel redundant very early. The saddest thing is when you push yourself to invest in some of them and they are proven to be redundant by the end of the game.

Bethesda seems to think that just because it's the first universe in 20 years for Bethesda (it's Bethesda!), players will just stick around for hundreds and hundreds of hours until they eventually truly appreciate all that's built within this grand scope. That's hubris. I felt a tinge of nostalgia I completed the game. Then I immediately deleted it and all my saves. What a disappointment.

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.