(AfroGamers.com) So, I went into three pros from Outriders that I felt really made the game fun for a newcomer like myself. For the past few weeks, it’s been my primary co-op game. Of course, all games have some flaws. Some are tolerable but you know they’re there while others will really burn your biscuits.
We’re going to look at three cons in Outriders and it’s a mix of programming and gameplay. Let’s dive in.
Motion Is a Problem in Outriders
Technically this is a minor issue but a recurring one because of how annoying it is. The motion in the game can be really good when it’s an open space with few obstacles. However, sometimes when presented with obstacles, your character seems to forget how to transverse it.
Part of this lies in some mechanics such as running to take cover only for the character to stand there and eat bullets instead of ducking. That’s a common issue that can cause a combat wipe with you and your party having to start over. Sometimes it from the beginning of a particular leg in a mission and other times you’re just outside that part and don’t have to mow through enemies.
The other instance is just getting over obstacles in general. In some battles you’re able to jump over barricades or cover of a certain height—easily. Hell, you might even be able to scale a small ledge to get to a higher level in the battle. However, there are times where your character will stand at a ledge or whatever of similar height to others you’ve jumped over only for you to combat roll.
That degree of inconsistency in something that should be allowed regardless is a bit frustrating in and out of combat. Even worse is if you’re running and suddenly stop because of an obstacle your Outrider, a thawed-out super-powered super soldier should be able to just walk over.
The Radar Tells You Little
There isn’t a minimap as you’ll see in most games but a radar map. This thing doesn’t show paths or anything useful. It’s just a circle with the radar cone pointed north. Red dots indicate enemies, white dots or arrows are points of interest that are outside of your proximity, and yellow anything is related to missions or mission objectives.
Now that wouldn’t be a problem if Outriders just dropped you into instance after instance for missions. Instead, you have to travel everywhere by foot until you reach as banner marker and can fast travel—which is necessary in this game because why rip and run around the map then have to refer to the actual map?
It would’ve been easier to just have a minimap in the corner. When playing, my brother is usually the squad leader and responsible for moving the team to and from missions. He played Outriders when it originally dropped and knows the plot, mechanics, bosses, and typically develops our strategy for dealing with enemies.
In short, he’s very experienced with this game but the map and having to locate where to go exactly for our next objective can be a problem. The minimap/radar map doesn’t help and sometimes level design can provide an extra hindrance to our evening adventures.
The Attack Range for Elites is Ridiculous
The enemies in Outriders tend to provide the right amount of challenge. The World Tier system scales the enemies in difficulty which allows for higher tier loot from drops. When scaled the enemies are typically a few levels higher than the players. That isn’t the problem—although there are a few.
Your regular grunt enemies and, heavies, and captain-level elites can be handled with skill and strategy alone or in a team. However, there are elites and heavies that have these insane attack ranges. A reasonable one are the Ironclads and some captains who use your standard guns and the minimum.
Many have an area of effect stomp or something to clear out players who are really going to town on them. The remedy is always to run or roll out of the red attack circle around or in front of them. It becomes a problem when fighting the monster elites who can have a far-reaching attack in addition to calling in more and more grunts or adds.
The best solutions are to be mindful of your distance from the elites or interrupt them whenever you can. Trying run from the attack when you’re close up and shooting the boss is pretty much a waste of time in most cases. A devastator has the sturdiness to stay close enough and continue damaging the boss a little longer but not everyone wants to run a devastator.
Bonus: Spitting and Melee Enemies
A quick bonus, while they’re not a con and are just as they are in the game. Melee enemies—human and monster—as well as spitters—monsters—can hit ridiculously hard. You really have to pay attention when the melee enemies come out because they close distance fast and hit hard as hell. Not only that but they never come alone.
With that said, they’re far less annoying than spitters who can either be ground-based or flying but have range and power. The flying ones are the worse but they’re both equally annoying and not particularly fun to fight. However, once you take them out you really feel like you accomplished something.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.