One Star Wars Outlaws Minigame Hearkens Back to Knights of…

Star Wars Outlaws is the first open-world Star Wars game in quite some time, and as such, it has a bevy of features that the franchise's more recent video game adaptations have rarely touched. For instance, while Star Wars Jedi: Survivor featured a Holotactics minigame, Star Wars Outlaws features over five different subgames, some of which are surprisingly extensive. In just its opening hour, Star Wars Outlaws will give players two separate lockpicking minigames, a Fathier betting minigame, and a substantial Sabacc card game. And that's just scratching the surface.

Some of Star Wars Outlaws' minigames stand out from the others by taking a slightly more meta approach. In Star Wars Outlaws, players can find two in-universe arcade cabinets. The first of these is a first-person space shooter, and the second might be a subtle reference to one of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's most memorable moments.

How One Star Wars Outlaws Minigame References Knights of the Old Republic

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Swoop Minigame Explained

Towards the end of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Taris tutorial level, the player's quest to find the kidnapped Jedi Bastila finally comes to a head. The player finds Bastila imprisoned and discovers she's going to be offered as a prize to whoever wins the Tarisian Season Opener, a big Swoop race. To secure Bastila's freedom and move the plot along, players need to win this Swoop race, which begins a somewhat divisive gameplay sequence.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's Swoop racing minigame has always been a bit rough to play, and that's especially true now, over a decade since the game's release. Swoop racing requires the player to maneuver their vehicle horizontally as the screen moves towards them. To earn a high enough score to proceed, players need to hit the track's boost pads and avoid oncoming debris.

Though the minigame is accessible enough, its controls feel incredibly clunky, even by 2003 standards. It always feels as though the Swoop is moving either too fast or too slow, and there's very little room for players to recover after a stall. These issues become even more apparent during Tatooine and Manaan's Swoop races, which require precise timing and pinpoint maneuvers.

Arguably, Swoop racing was even more difficult in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 due to its introduction of a jump mechanic.

Star Wars Outlaws Features a Similar Racing Minigame

Near the very beginning of Star Wars Outlaws, players will be able to find two in-universe arcade cabinets. The first cabinet offers the aforementioned Raven 6 space shooter, while the second cabinet offers a racing game that looks rather familiar. This Star Wars Outlaws racing minigame has players maneuvering a framework craft across a horizontal axis, trying to avoid oncoming obstacles while hitting boost pads to reach the finish line as quickly as possible.

Star Wars Outlaws' racing game looks and feels very similar to Knights of the Old Republic's Swoop racing minigame, though it arguably works a little better here. Though the controls and mechanics of Outlaws' racing minigame are just as barebones as KOTOR's Swoop racing, that makes more sense here, as it's just an in-universe arcade game.

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