A shining example of what the Switch 2 can do.
By Ameer Ammar
This is a review of the quality of the Switch 2 port, and not the Star Wars Outlaws game experience itself.
Star Wars Outlaws on the PS5/XSX/PC was a great graphical showcase by the folk at Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, Beautifully rendered environments with ray traced lighting and shadows, huge vistas and variety in environments that made the game one of Ubisoft's best graphically by far. It ran well on all the systems it released on at launch and looked gorgeous when played on a 4K HDR enabled display especially, it was definitely a major high-point of the experience.
Going into the Switch 2 Port, you expect many drawbacks like disabled ray tracing, low resolutions, massively lowered graphical settings, things like that are just what you expect when you go from a home console device to a tiny, handheld one that you can just take anywhere, What is most shocking about Star Wars Outlaws is that it avoids nearly *all* of these drawbacks on the Switch 2.
Put it simply, Star Wars Outlaws is the most impressive port on the Switch 2 that I've tried by far, Ray-Tracing is actually implemented here which I cannot stop raving about how impressive that is to achieve on such a little device. The best point of comparison for this version isn't a last gen device, but actually the Xbox Series S, With the Switch 2 even outshining that version of Star Wars Outlaws in a few spots like lighting in specific areas.
In handheld mode, the game is rendering at 1080p (Upscaled by DLSS) and looks fairly sharp on the small device, in docked, it is upscaled all the way up to 1440p. Meaning that for most people, the graphics here are more than just acceptable, The Switch 2 is a great place to experience Outlaws.
The biggest drawback of this version is the 30FPS lock, but this is something that I don't see Switch 2 owners really caring about, this is a handheld device so expecting it to push all the way to 60FPS in a game that looks like this is unrealistic,
It is also important to note that the 30FPS is completely locked on the Switch 2, you are not looking at any frame pacing issues or frame drops during combat, in the prologue around one specific crowded fight sequence, I was not able to spot a single FPS drop even with massive explosions and particle effects.
Load times are fast, with the seamless transitions during travel from ground to space fully intact and still quite quick. Gyro Aiming is here as well which is a perfect fit for space combat in specific and Mouse controls were also accounted for, so you can use the right joycon as a mouse and aim that way, it is a surpsingly fun way to aim and quite accurate as well especially in comparison to the thumbsticks.
Touch controls are utilized in the menus and the menus seem to run at 60FPS (at least from what my eyes can tell), So things like navigating the various equipment menus feel easier as a result of the touch controls during Handheld mode.
One of my favorite aspects here is Ubisoft's cloud saves system, meaning that you can get your saves over from any other platform over to the Switch 2 and vice versa, so if you enjoy gaming on the go but prefer to play on the PS5 at home, you can very easily transfer your save over without much effort at all. So I was able to continue but 40+ hours save from my PS5 right away on the Switch 2 and check out the DLCs I missed without needing to restart the entire game. A great Quality-of-Life feature here.
Overall, Star Wars Outlaws' Switch 2 version is a marvel to witness, to think such a tiny device can handle a game that looks this great is simply impressive. If you haven't played Outlaws yet and want to experience it on a handheld device or simply prefer the Switch 2 over other platforms, this is a great way to experience the game as long as you're fine with the 30FPS output, aside from that, the visuals here are fantastic for the platforms, making the Switch 2 version overall one of the best ports I have experienced so far on the system.
Special Thanks to Ubisoft for providing a review copy to check out this port.