Gamertag: Predatorius2019
The Star Wars video game universe finally added a Star Wars game that doesn’t disappoint with 2019’s “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.”
While the game was published by Electronic Arts, it was developed by Respawn Entertainment and powered with the Unreal Engine.
Respawn Entertainment, founded by former Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella who spear-headed the Call of Duty franchise until 2010, was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2017, who owns the video game rights to the Star Wars franchise.
Fallen Order takes place five years after “Revenge of the Sith” when Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious gave the infamous “Order 66” leading to the Jedi genocide.
Your character, Cal Kestis, is a young Jedi padawan and is hunted through the galaxy as he tries to restore the Jedi order and regains his Jedi abilities.
The combat style reminds me of a cross between Assassin’s Creed and the Batman Arkham Series. The exploration is very similar to 2008’s Prince of Persia developed by Ubisoft.
As expected, Cal’s force abilities grow and includes some of the popular, fun abilities such as “force push,” “force pull,” “lightsaber throw” and “force slow.” Your force skills are acquired mostly through your storyline, but upgraded through the skill tree.
It’s also a mostly linear game, but leaves the ability to explore open to the player. It’s not full open world like Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed, etc. as the character is restricted to how much there is too explore and what they can or cannot do.
One area where I was disappointed, and I may have just been misinformed, but there is no option to play on the dark side of the force (as there is in the Knights of the Old Republic series).
Aside from that one draw-back, the game impressed me overall.
The game-play is smooth and while the combat system’s timing leaves some areas of frustration, overall it’s fluid and simple to learn and execute.
Fallen Order’s linear storyline is 25 hours, but the puzzles test your ability to complete it that quickly unassisted by a guide or YouTube. I promise I’ve already spent more than that on my playthrough and I haven’t finished it.
There is a lot of customizable features in the game from the look of your lightsaber hilt (and colors of “blade”) to Cal’s outfit and skins for BD-1 (your companion droid).
Visually the game is beautiful, which is to be expected from the Unreal Engine, and has areas with plenty of background “noise.” One example of this is on the imperial-occupied planets as Cal is climbing the outside of imperial bases you can see and hear TIE fighters flying by.
Here are some reviews of the game:
IGN’s Dan Stapleton, “It’s been ages since we got a great single-player Star Wars action game, but Jedi: Fallen Order makes up for a lot of lost time. A strong cast sells a dark story while keeping things fun and loyal to Star Wars lore, and fast, challenging combat mixes with energetic platforming, decent puzzles, and diverse locations to explore for an all-around amazing game. 9/10.”
GameInformer’s Andrew Reiner, “Despite these numerous little problems, Respawn’s maiden voyage with Star Wars is largely a success. I couldn’t put this game down, both for the thrill of exploring and wanting to see where the story took me next. The inspirations taken from Dark Souls, Uncharted, and Metroid Prime unite to create something unique that just happens to work incredibly well for this beloved license. Like most starships in this universe, Jedi: Fallen Order could use a little polish, but the rust doesn’t hold it back from roaring with excitement. 8.75/10”
“Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has a string of wisely chosen influences, and it delivers on the long-overdue promise of a fun Jedi action-adventure. Bugs and design wrinkles irritate.” -Metacritic User (Metacritic overall averaged at an 80)
Negative reviews: “Annoying. Combat is difficult and camera doesn’t seem to stay with targets. Controls are awkward and way-finding is bad. Map is difficult to read and offers no assistance in finding directions.” -Metacritic User
“If you have played the force unleashed and the uncharted series this game will make you feel like you are trying to convince yourself that it isn’t an abomination in regards to those two titles. With an amazing beginning, all following levels are the epitome of boring. Force powers have been toned down to make you feel like one of the weakest Jedi in all the series. But the main point: Making a Star Wars game boring is a true achievement in itself.”- Metacritic User
