Starfield - Empty Spaces (Review) | The Jimquisition

Starfield is a shallow ocean, hiding its lack of creative ambition behind the physical size of a universe that’s minuscule where it counts.

[Jin_Sakai]

I’ve been watching lots of gameplay footage and it’s literally a loading simulator. You fly to space “loading screen” you land on a planet “loading screen” you exit your ship “loading screen” you open a door “loading screen” It will honestly put you to sleep watching people streaming the game. And don’t get me started on the dead eyed NPCs that literally stare into your soul.

[CrashMania]

Yep, there's nothing seemless about it, I think a 4/10 is harsh, I finished the story the other day and I'd rate it a 6, maybe a 6.5, not a bad game per se, but very underwhelmed is how I'd describe it for me.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I just can't fathom the 9 and 10 scores, interested to see where it'll end up score wise on metacritic, as it's definitely skewed with the selective code distribution so far

[BaughJaughs]

I bet you finished it.

[z2g]

But have you played it….

[ken2813]

The 9 out of 10 comes from Xbox players having a new game to play after a record horrible drought. If you drink only water for 3 years a new green tea will be the greatest drink ever. PS fans are sipping on different kind of Sodas so we looking at XBox fans like whatever.

[crazyCoconuts]

Yeah 4/10 means flat out broke, it's obviously not that bad. Gotta throw out the outliers

[notachance]

yeah definitely not a 4/10.. I'm 6 hours in and I'd rate it 6-7/10.
It truly gets boring fast, and I don't know why but there seems a bit too much loading screen between plays even though I always use fast travel in other games too, but they're never as annoying as the one here.

It's fallout 4 in space.. literally, there's nothing different to the gameplay from their previous games other than space dogfight.

[Rdeal]

Sounds like you rushed through the story so that explains why your score it so low and if you followed a decent critic score site like opencritic, you would see it has a lot more reviews with a higher score

[LordoftheCritics]

Jim's final attempt at relevancy.

[CrashMania]

@rdeal

I had an early copy and did not rush the story, I never rush games like this. I tried to enjoy the exploration but when it's mostly just procedurally generated barren wastelands with repetitive actvitis it got old for me fast.

[andydalum]

I feel for many including myself that rate the game as a 9 or a 10 because of all the game elements combined make it that fun for us. Between designing our own ships, our own settlements, NG+ variants, exploration yes it exists even though many claim it doesn't, gunplay is good (much better than fallout 4). I love being able to store whatever I want on my ships, I love being able to take everything I can see mostly. If you only focus on the main story and that's it I could see people thinking it's a great game. I find it hard to believe anyone who enjoys alot of the different aspects of the game would be that low on it.

[outsider1624]

So i was right all along. There's nothing unique experience about it as Mr.obscure put it.

[thesoftware730]

So this review, from 1 site I never heard of makes you right?

wow.

[outsider1624]

@software
I was talking about obscure's comment about being a unique experience when he hyped it. As i replied there's nothing unique about it..

[neutralgamer1992]

Software

You never heard of Jim Sterling ?

[LightofDarkness]

Hot take: TES and Fallout are also pretty mid as a whole. BGS just keep cranking out the same basic game and it’s always been quite shallow, certainly after Morrowind.

[Crows90]

Yes Morrowind was incredible. Their games have only gotten shallower and shallower.

My hot take is the following...maybe starfield not being open world is a good thing. Do we even want them to go assassin's creed on their games?

I prefer smaller areas with more content. Too much walking in these planets though.

[neutralgamer1992]

Light

It’s not hot take. Fallout new Vegas was the best and it wasn’t even developed by Bethesda. If you look at it fallout 3 was their best work and since than they have been good not great

Fallout is TES with guns
TES is fallout without guns
Starfield is fallout in space

[BaughJaughs]

Literally don’t understand the word literally.

[execution17]

That's what's putting me off from playing. So many loading screens when I'm just getting handed fetch quests or go to that planet in another solar system and kill a leader but first I need to chart a path with means going to a bunch of other systems first which means even more loading screens and menus

[Traecy]

LOL!! I noticed the bugged eye npcs, looking like they're tweaked off of meth.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Just like Jim was when he wrote this review, lol

[z2g]

You should try actually playing games before forming opinions by watching others play. I’ve been playing it for 5 days straight and having a lot of fun. Maybe it’s not for you but watching videos isn’t experiencing the game.

[EvertonFC]

I agree starfield doesn't stream well with lots of loading screens and inventory management, must seem boring to watch, however other types of games do well and can still be experienced watching.
I just don't think starfield is one of them watchable games with the points I mentioned above.

[chronoforce]

As Bethesda have demonstrated for decades, it is possible to have fun with their games despite all the issues present in them. They can't even properly procedurally generate interiors, I have already visited several duplicated abandoned robot research facilities. How hard could it have been to create some more variation?

There are load screens everywhere, how on earth can there be a load screen when walking into a shop? Bethesda have been making the same game for decades but every step forward, is another 2 steps back.

[BaughJaughs]

There are a heap of people that are watching hamfisted videos of other people trying to make the game look bad and forming their opinion from that. If you like Skyrim/fallout then you are very likely to enjoy this. I’m having a blast and the game gets better and better the longer you play

[ironmonkey]

Basically skyrim

[S2Killinit]

I wish. But Skyrim was inspired. This isnt imo

[DaleCooper]

Honestly, there are a lot of loading screens (quick, but many) and menu navigation. That definitely detracts from the core gameplay, which is classic Bethesda RPG and still fun. I'm only a few hours in and will keep playing. Currently it's landing at about an 8 out of 10 for me, and this score is only because the missions have been a lot of fun. Navigating the map and space exploration is quite cumbersome and, frankly, boring. Other games have found a good balance with navigating planets, flying in and out of atmospheres, and generally have better exploration on planets*. It makes me realize Bethesda's engine doesn't match well with true open "worlds" gameplay.

* Elite Dangerous, Starlink, Outer Worlds, No Man's Sky

[thesoftware730]

How do you manage to comment first on every article, especially ones related to SF?

Bro, you really need to get out more.

Nonsense review lol.

[cammandogreen]

You are the one complaining about every comment he makes, take your own advice.

[BaughJaughs]

It is nonsense. Jim sterling is trying to stay relevant by a publishing a ridiculous review.

[SyntheticForm]

He's mad about how Bethesda "treat trans people."

[Old_Scout]

Their faces are just tired.

[ChasterMies]

The later, negative reviews reminds of the recent articles involving Rotten Tomatoes. Studios would have early screenings for friendly critics, some of whom were paid by the studios’ PR teams, to pump up the early Tomatometer rating. Then when the larger audience of critics could see the movie, the score would drop. But the studios got their great Tomatometer rating for the first weekend. Anyway, don’t be surprised by the less than enthusiastic response from later reviews.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Jin must have wrote this lol….crazy review

Luckily there is now a PC mod that lets you put in a PlayStation boot sequence in the game.

[VersusDMC]

Why do people keep bringing playstation into this? He gave death stranding a 7 and forespoken a 5. A playstation logo on the game wouldn't help it.

[__SteakDeck__]

@VersusDMC He also gave FF 16 a 7.5.

[Lightning77]

Maybe Jimbo needs to get a new hobby he clearly doesn't like gaming and doesn't play to have fun it seems. She also has countless hate vids on how bad AAA gaming is. There's definitely truth to some of the stuff that she says however her hate with AAA gaming often reflects her scores across most AAA games now no matter how good said AAA game is she always find something wrong with it. A very extreme pessimist in the gaming space.

[outsider1624]

Naah..keep it. Xbox needs it more than PS does.

[Traecy]

Pretty much.

[shinoff2183]

@jznrpg

Wtf lol. I'm cracking up

[MatrixxGT]

Not his fault he’s never felt a vagina since he was born. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[jznrpg]

are you the watcher of his penis to know this ?

[MrDead]

He was married. Seems more like your comment is projection.

[CrashMania]

Jim was married for quite some years so that doesn't really add up does it? I also fail to see how that relates in any way to reviewing a game? lol

[darthv72]

...Jinquisition...?

[Sonic1881]

Denial is hitting you hard. The review scores is starting to drop

https://www.metacritic.com/...

[ziggyzinfirion]

That is a surprising drop. last time I checked it was 88 with 50 reviews. It further went down to 85 when 11 new reviews came in. I can only imagine if this had 110+ review.

[gold_drake]

whos jin tho? haha

[Gunstar75]

Sterling's review was not at all influencer by his perception of how a trans staff member reported transphobic bullying at BGS? No. Not at all 👍

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Sure...its gotta be that and not the game isn't game that good.
When I watched my boy play starfield via discord on gamepass and when he took his weapon and started shooting around people as they just didn't react unless a bullet hit them. yeeeeeah, Cyberpunk looked better than this game ..within 20 seconds at a city, I'm sitting there looking at everyone either standing or walking...thats it though...so unrealistic and uncanny as the game facial animations.
You guys enjoy your subpar space RPG.
Looks like Baldurs Gate and LoZ are the only real contenders for GOTY so far.

[Vengeance1138]

Oh wow! This review just made the XSX version Metascore take a dive! Down to 85 now.

[__SteakDeck__]

@Vengeance1138 Yeah Jim is known to do this. I think his 7.5 of FF 16 is what brought the Meta score down from 88 to 87.

[Vengeance1138]

Seems Metacritic has as much integrity as Rotten Tomatoes right now lol Really shouldn't allow just anyone's review to count towards the Metascore.

[shinoff2183]

7, 7 5 seems about what I'd rate ff16 to.

[Sonic1881]

It's worse for Xbox though because they need more games with higher review scores. Sony has been doing that for decades now

[DOMination-]

"Yeah Jim is known to do this. I think his 7.5 of FF 16 is what brought the Meta score down from 88 to 87."

Serious stuff..

[solideagle]

I didn't know it was on Meta...

[darthv72]

...one point is a dive???

[__SteakDeck__]

@Vengeance1138 Jim isn’t just “anyone” he’s a respected journalist and reviewer.

[Vengeance1138]

LOL good one! I nearly spat out my drink I laughed so hard.

[ravens52]

Think that'd be a double edge sword with all those 10/10s and 5/5s.

[MarkSony2]

Ah! Good news. Now we are seeing the real scores come through

[tagzskie]

@vengeance1138 if werent for xboxaddict, generacion xbox, somosxbox, mondxbox and other xboxes reviewer this game doesnt review high though. Its a good game compare to other released by xbox and im happy for them.

[Tedakin]

A nosedive and it's still higher than Hogwart's Legacy, Ghost of Tsushima and many other "masterpieces".

[ziggyzinfirion]

@Tekadin
Ghost of Tsushima - 83 Meta/ 122 Reviews
Hogwarts Legacy - 84 Meta/ 94 Reviews
Final Fantasy XVI - 87 Meta/ 143 Reviews
Forbidden West - 88 Meta/ 126 Reviews
GoW: Ragnarok - 94 Meta/ 140 Reviews
Elden Ring - 96 Meta/ 85 Reviews

Starfield - 85 Meta/ 61 Reviews

You may also want to consider the total number of reviews. Starfield is sitting at 85 with only 61 reviews.

[anast]

The meta dropped to 85 for critics and is a stable 6.1 for users. The game isn't good. To think Todd has been planning this game for 25 years...

[Aloymetal]

It's all to hype their games, The whole thing about Halo half a billion$ to make was just bs and the same goes for Sf, 25 yrs planning/ making...Bunch of lies from them.

[MatrixxGT]

Meta critic must be that new Sony exclusive everyone’s playing.

[Old McGroin]

@ anast

85 out of 100 means a game isn't good now? Seriously, some of the takes on here are ridiculous. And if you take user scores on Metacritic seriously...maybe stop commenting on public forums.

[EvertonFC]

Nobody is saying it isn't good, just not a 9 or 10 game.
It's a solid 8 for me with some improvements needed to the enemy AI and map over haul via an update would bump it up to a 9.
Reviewers are on crack for 10s.

[aconnellan]

@everton

“Nobody is saying it isn’t good”

Plenty of people are saying it isn’t good, and using fringe scores to justify their position

[Cernunnos]

When they say "planned for 25 years", what they mean is, sometime 25 years ago one of them said: "It would cool to do a space game once".

[MarkSony2]

25 years in the making . Have you seen how good the AI is and how great the NPC's look? Bethesda in a league of their own🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣

[EvertonFC]

Heavy rain, la noire and other titles have better facial animations and detail and that's 2 gens ago.
The copy and paste trees also look shite.
Enjoyed the story and writing though but I don't think it's a stunning looking game overall, it's kinda all over the place gfx wise, some parts look great then other area poor looking.

[pezking]

have you played it?

plus jim starting saying he was a woman when it became trendy to do so, who cares what he thinks.

[Good-Smurf]

Average user score of Series X version on metacritic right now are at 6.1
I guess we're playing a different game than all the critics and gaming sites as they clearly played one early with "Benefits"

[__SteakDeck__]

It would be lower than 85, if it wasn’t for those sites with an Xbox to their name that gave it 9’s and 10’s.

[Reaper22_]

Same goes for Sony games. You guys are just butt hurt because an xbox game is getting good scores and it's not on playstation.

[Tedakin]

But you don't have an issue with Meristation giving it's a 5.4?

[andy85]

@Reaper22 isn't really the case though. PushSquare gave Forspoken a 6/10

[ocelot07]

It would probably be lower if there was more reviews. 61 so far and at 85. If it had the same amount of reviews as say Spiderman or god of war they both have over 100 reviews. If starfield had over 100 reviews it could be lower than 85 or even be higher than 85.

[Old McGroin]

@ Good-Smurf

Yes, because you can really trust aggregate scores that are open to the public and literally anyone can come along and give it a zero and a sterling review, like this one for example:

"This is another "game pass"quality game.
I realy want it to shine,but STAREFILD is not a good game at all. Simple is that!"

Christ.

[Eonjay]

Starfield is the 12th best game on Xbox Series for the year so far but the 1st most hyped.
I predicted a low 80s high 70 when all the reviews come in. I didn't say much about the game because it always looked mediocre and I think an 80 should be considered an unmitigated success for something so poor looking.

[blackblades]

Heres the rating system
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Amazing
8 - Great
7 - Good
6 - Okay
5 - Medicore
4 - Bad
3 - Aweful
2 - Painful
1 - Unbearable

So I guess it's at an okay game still not bad yet

[randomvoice]

85 on metacritics and going down. Now you see why they didn't send review codes out to a lot of outlets including many in Europe. Most of the XSX reviews have Xbox sites inflating the scores as usual.

[Reaper22_]

Going down because of fraudulent reviews from some sites. But it still doesn't matter because the game is already a success and still getting good scores and a sure GOTY contender.

[RupeeHoarder]

Not a GOTY contender. This game isn’t a top 5 nominee.

[Soulsborne]

Bro must have been asleep throughout 2023 if he thinking Garfield is GOTY material....

[BaughJaughs]

Jim is a failure, his opinion is 3/10

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Someone salty huh.

[z2g]

This is a troll review comparatively to practically every other review. Even ign giving it a seven said it was irresistible after a slow beginning.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Nah he actually had some pretty good takes here. I'd give it a solid 5 maybe a 6. But damn sure not more then that.

[z2g]

And yet it’s at 85 on metacritic.,.,

[MarkSony2]

Good review, fair score

[zero_jp]

For anyone who thinks Jim is being unfair. He destroyed Death Stranding as well. Though he did rate it higher.

But this is par for the course with him. He will let huge games have it and go full on auto cannon.

No one is safe.

[shinoff2183]

One thing I'm kinda disappointed in is the lack of things to read. I loved going around in fallout and reading notes and computers. Not so much in this. So far most computers aren't accessible and the books are repetitive as can be. That's part of the reason I think even with the delay I still think it wasn't 100 percent complete. I still really enjoy it

[TheColbertinator]

Jim is a troll so this is typical of him/her whatever

[Binarycode]

Facts

[Binarycode]

I would like to know the Answer to this question. Why did you buy or stay with xbox and not Sony this gen.

A) You've Always been with xbox, so just stayed with same company.
B) Your friends bought xbox, so you did as well.
C) You don't like Sony because it's a Japanese company and MS is American
D) Your GF ordered you to buy and xbox.
E) You forget why you went in and bought the first thing on sale.
F) ALL PS5's were Sold out, so it was your only choice.
G) You thought of buying a Switch, but realized it was in fact a potato.
H) You were struck by lightning on your way into the store and as you fell, You grabbed an xbox and the guy assumed you wanted it.

Only honest answers please:)

[Destiny1080]

''It’s the sheer lack of imagination that truly makes Starfield so sad to play''
''you can’t land on a planet without a menu and loading screens''
''identical buildings / identical encounters / identical caves . there’s one cave that's been recycled hundreds of times''
''I found an incendiary shotgun within the first few hours that was so laughably strong I could take down level 80 aliens while being at level 20''
''enemies mostly just stand and accept a pummeling''
''there’s no real local maps, you’ll forever be trying to remember where all the shops are''
''the controls for building stuff is awkward as all hell''
''NPCs bumble around with little more than a handful of catchphrases to offer''
''missions devolve into tiresome fetch quests''

[Deathdeliverer]

Gahdamn…. He set this mf on fire…. Sadly, much of it can’t be disputed. The 10 scores completely blow me away. It’s insanity.

[terstomp]

His conclusion is correct...
"If you believe Bethesda doesn’t need to exhibit growth as an artistic outlet and hasn’t had to change a thing about the way it’s made games since 2008, I can safely say you’ll adore Starfield because it’s all that a Bethesda game has always been... and literally nothing more. Starfield is a shallow ocean, hiding its lack of creative ambition behind the physical size of a universe that’s minuscule where it counts."

[goldwyncq]

Jimmy lost all credibility to me after his BotW review.

[green]

"To call Starfield the least broken Bethesda game is akin to calling any single TERF the least embarrassing fascist. Then again, given how Zenimax and Bethesda seem to treat trans employees, that comparison may hit too close to home. "

Wtf!!!!

[Hofstaderman]

So this game is currently scored lower than FF16. My how the turned have tables lol

[UltimateOwnage]

The word I have to describe what I feel about the StarField experience so far is “sterile”. It’s a good game but it does feel more empty than a fictional experience should IMO. I hoped they would stop pretending this is a space simulation and make it a Bethesda game with grit, charm and that silly Bethesda flair that made last games really fun to goof off in. As it stands it has the flaws of No Man’s Sky feeling devoid of character due to being too big, without the density of a plot experience that Skyrim had, and lacks the intuitive and much better conceived planet to space travel experience of No Mans Sky.

[Tedakin]

I mean I know it's not for everyone... but a 4?

[Tedakin]

It would be fascinating to see an alternate reality where Starfield was never made Xbox exclusive to see what the absolute surrounding it would be like. I bet there would be little to none.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Pretty much

[ziggyzinfirion]

Highly doubt it. Just look at Fallout 76.

[RupeeHoarder]

If this was multiplatform it would have gotten worse scores and Bethesda’s worst game after Fallout 76 (which it is). Xbox fan sites are pumping it up.

[mkis007]

The engine should have been replaced or rebuilt from scratch. There are too many fade to blacks for the game this wants to be. The nvme should have been used better.

Thankfully ive found my stride playing it, mostly for the gravity physics...watching dead enemies fall slowly or spin in the air has a certain catharsis to it. If only they would have found ways to trick you into thinking you were not loading this could have been much greater. At the very least they should have made the solar systems completely navigable if you wished...all it would have required is their starships to move fast between planets like eve or rebel galaxy...they could have picked the speed so it wasnt boring.

If you want a reflection of the wide range of scores...drop the top and bottom 10% of scores.

[hard joe]

bethesda relying on modders to do their job
again
?

[DarthZoolu]

Cope harder! Talking about a loading screen simulator when y’all were playing a walking simulator like it was the best game ever. We still gonna play the hell out of this game while y’all sit online being salty.

[ziggyzinfirion]

A bit harsh for a score. I would give it around 7 to be honest.

[Redgehammer]

I see his opinions are as flaccid as usual. A 4 is ridiculous.

[alexkarkar]

Great review. Still i think he was to generous with the score. The game is a solid 2 out of 10, an abysmall regurgitating of the same old stuff and nothing more. It's tragic that the masses love this stuff. It's because of them there are so few good games, damn them to hell.

[Ninver]

Lol

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Lmfao. 😎👍

[RhinoGamer88]

All, is Starfield similar to Cyberpunk 2077? That game required months to get great. Granted, Starfield is much more ambitious, but I think this game will be magic in 2-3 months after several patches and mod support. Frankly, Skyrim only became awesome to me thanks to the great mods on offer.

[RupeeHoarder]

2-3 months? Highly doubtful as cyberpunk was simply incomplete and riddled with bugs. Starfield is not riddled with game breaking bugs and devs are backing their stance on design decisions publicly. This game will only change dramatically on the PC with the mod community.

[Fonsecap]

He gave it 4, for me is a 2/10, because its not only the loading screens but the optimization doesn't exist, you literally try to get the game.running better fiddling with graphics settings and it doesn't do nothing, it improves 1 or 2 fps at most.

[Viljong]

Starfield low settings is above ultra of other games. It looks stunning what are you talking about. Theres not many graphic settings either. No texture settings for an example. They always look very high resolution and textured.

[Father__Merrin]

Just started this morning 2h in it's. It bad but it's too fiddldy as your all the time hitting star to jump to different areas and load load load it's non stop

[Viljong]

I give it 95/100 if people actually had attention spans today not everything would seem booring without flashing lights and shit going on all the time with instructions on screen and "meta" guides online for how to play your game step by step becouse you are too simple to play a videogame without "c0ckmOngre4l669" from reddit telling you how to do so.
Im ashamed of playstation community(n4g etc) toxity againts games they cant play and pure pettyness. We get an epic singleplayer game with Alot to do and is polished to the bone all around without mtx which have tons of content triple a quality all around. Starfield greatness is up there with Elden Ring and God of War and it have more flesh than those games combined, given specially Elden Ring is goty masterpiece with tons of replay value. Gow not so much, its excellent game for the 30hour run, but thats it. 30 hours in starfield is mere the begining. Its like playing a movie. It have the best recipe. Rpg with better roleplay and dialogue than best fallout games. Epic lootershooter with tons of content. Spacetravel, spacecombat. So much to explore. There are so much ground to cover and places to find on planets. Theres content all over you never come across on your first playthroughs.

Clickbaits and this level of toxity only proof how starfield hit the nerve of those people who cant play it.

Like being said as a gamer you own it to yourself to play this game, even if its just from cloud streaming. If it was from sony to playstation this would been the game of the decade. And i own series x, PS5 and PC so my opinion is not 1 sided. Im mad becouse when we the gamers get something nice pettyness shit on it becouse people defend their console companys like its life on the line.

You cant deny Bethesda greatness. Ghostwire Tokyo and Starfield withing less than 2 years apart. One failure called redfall on the middle. Bethesda proved to be up there with the best.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Yeah keep riding that Todd Howard ride. Good for you man. You want a cookie?

[darksky]

There is a reason Bethesda only sent review copies to select media outlets before the launch. They knew the game will get panned by a fair few unbiased reviewers so only chose those who favour their games or Xbox consoles.

[il-JumperMT]

forspoken world is more full than starfield but it got ripped apart for being empty.

[EazyC]

I used to love Jim Sterling about 10 years ago, but I am shocked that he is now trans! Has he been like this for long?

[ocelot07]

About 2-3 years.

[jonivtec]

4/10 is hard..6 is legit....more of the same whitout the same...let alone the optimisation....30 fps on serie X....missing lot a feature on pc...and the game dont look great....

[talocaca]

My husband just started playing (maybe 3 hours in or so). We have a Series S but mostly play PS5.

The loading screens truly stand out....they appear in the most random places. Open a door? Loading. Go somewhere? Loading.

All the characters look kinda wonky as well (early PS4 levels). Hoping it gets better.....but certainly not a 10.

[Flewid638]

Never been so bored with a game. As a sci-fi & space nerd I really wanted this to be good. Uninstalled after 15hrs.

[BrainSyphoned]

7.5/10 maybe. Just don't want to play it though so /shrug