The game is, very clearly, extremely limited due to the Creation Engine 2. The gameplay, though more 'fluid' and 'responsive' than ever, still felt a little dated. Games such as the now ancient Mass Effect series did a lot of what Starfield was doing waaaay better. That's not to say that StarField had nothing going for it, to the contrary, its just more difficult to create something great when you have the Creation Engine ball and chain weighing you down.
The game is extremely limited by the knuckleheads, who led the designers. Here is a partial (!) list of what was fucked up, seriously in the game:
- mission structure reminds me of 90s, early 2000s. Repetitive, people talk too much, you have no options to fuck up people you don't like, hell, you don't even have the option to kill despicable people, like the guvnor of Neon, or that despicably scumsucking bitch who tells you to go fetch coffee. I mean who created these missions? Was the individual beaten as a child or what the fuck is going on here?
- everyone uses you, you can't use anyone... just the usual, go fetch based missions.
- they forced the spacefight aspect into the game, but it feels like it was an afterthought at best.
- they borrowed the xwing/tie fighter aspects of the space fights, and they failed implementing it in a proper way. Encounters look like this: get the circle pop up, then keep the fire button pressed, watch as enemies die... I mean why on earth they spent a lot of time implementing this, if the end result feels like a spacesim for 3 year olds? no challenge, boring, bland, superficial. the targeting mode unlockable with the skill tree... ridiculous.
- you can find a legendary equipment set at the very beginning of the game. you don't have any incentive to replace it, since it works and nothing you find is better, but you look the same throughout the game : DDD
- the ship builder is nice, but what for? since the dogfights are too easy, there is nothing that forces people to even touch it.
- the ending, this is what you've done is a slapdashed, horribly overlooked shitberg, a large mass of turd. even fallout 2 had better summary of your actions. thank you for playing 50 hours, we don't give a fuck is the message : D.
- mission breaking bugs after several patches. you literally stand there and cannot continue your journey. Skip it, start over? Nonexisting support. Drop that fucking discord already.
- the starmonkeys are ridiculous. we are the bigdicks, they say... then you walk over and slap them, and they die... pffffff.... you can also oneshot their highly advanced ship too : DDD
- the temples, after the 3rd one (and there are 20+ more) are useless. why all these powers, if you run out missions/story midway?
- you are aligned with faction X, yet, if you kill them, no repercussions...
- fps combat also got fucked up. too many weapons (although the weapons look and feel fucking awesome, but the mediocre sound effects kill the fun), enemies act like idiots,
- Idiotic game mechanics, like the O2 meter... or the totally unnecessary skills... WHYYY?
- characters are like empty dolls with an embedded speaking chip. their actions do not arouse any emotion in you, hell, some even deserve the Dobermann treatment.
- INVENTORY MANAGEMENT! Everpresent angst because you are carrying too much. Can't sort shit, hard to find things etc. Get the fuck out of here.
- Unique weapon names, so it is harder to find how many of the same weapon you have. So you have 3 shotguns:
Bigdik SHOTGUN
Sixbarrelfun SHOTGUN
SHOTGUN
Instead of:
SHOTGUN, Bigdik
SHOTGUN, Sixbarrelfun
SHOTGUN
I mean do the people, who created this game, ever played it from start to finish? And if so, how come these never popped up on their radar as warning signs?
A total mess, not tested, a fuckup of gargantuan proportions. Left hand doesn't know what the other does.
And all these little things fuck up your overall experience. No matter how great the game looks, how friggin cool the equipment and weapons are, how captivating some (!) of the missions are when the small things make your life miserable playing.
And people expect that this flawed beauty gets 90+, for what? With this big of a budget, with 10+ years of experience? 65/100 max