I had to review a game which I’ve been playing obsessively every night and day, a game that I can’t put down, a game which I could argue is THE Star Wars game of the generation… So read on intrepid adventurers for my review of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Spoiler alert, I really like it – I will attempt to speak about this from the point of view of just a game fan, not a Star Wars fan as I think any game set in the worlds of any of the properties I outright love would get an extra few points as standard.
I’m also going to attempt to avoid big story spoilers in this review, but suffice to say I am biased as the story in this game interests me greatly (this is a little spoilery). It takes place about 4 or 5 years after Episode 3, as The Empire has complete control of the galaxy. Your character, Cal, is a Padawan in hiding and pretty quickly you’re found out and end up on the run – Fortunately, a couple of rebels pick you up in a ship and fly off, as together you form a plan to track down Jedi Temples which will help the Jedi/Rebel cause. Obviously the Empire send a ‘team’ after you to stop you, and are also looking for the same things; need to have a good reason why there are troopers everywhere right! Essentially following this path unlocks new powers for Cal, tying into his own story with his master, and these powers will help you fight and explore. This is as much as I can say really; the story opens up good reasons to have to fly to different planets and explore them to find said temples, as each time you go back, a new part of the planet ‘unlocks’ (normally due to a new power), which enables you to explore much more.
The exploration never feels bothersome or forced in this game, every time the story forces you to travel elsewhere it’s always for a legit reason, for example you have to go to Kashyyk to help the Wookies at one point, and then return to help the Rebels. It all feels very… Well, very Star Wars; it doesn’t seem dumb, and it’s never an annoyance to return to a planet. I always felt excited to go back and use my new powers, and I want to Platinum this game just so I know I’ve done everything in this fun-ass world (a bit like Spiderman)… And on top of this every time you go anywhere you always get to fight…
Now folks I’ve told you how this video was wrong, and I really want to delve into this absolutely sublime combat a little more as I feel this article kind of skirted around it a fair bit; comparing to Sekiro or Dark Souls is tough if you’ve never played those games. The reason this game makes you feel like a Jedi is because it’s all about parrying, deflecting, assessing your enemies and taking fights when they’re to your advantage. Early on in the game it is undoubtedly tough – You can only slightly slow enemies with your Force, as everything else is down to your dodging and parrying – Even as you unlock more Force abilities, your timing and dodging is still paramount due to your Force being limited; it’s very fun to use, and creates great advantages when you can (eventually) Force push enemies off a ledge, but more often than not there will be other enemies remaining to deal with, meaning that your Lightsaber skills really are important.
Using the Lightsaber in this game feels solid and real; when you mess up, it’s because you’ve done something wrong and are not a very good Jedi! More often than not you can’t just run blindly into a fight, as your Lightsaber is your only real defence, meaning enemies can still attack you from behind, or easily overwhelm you – You can even get hit when blocking one laser bolt by something else. I thrived when I struggled with the combat, having to think about how to approach the battle to succeed. Not once have I felt like I’m grinding, I genuinely enjoy every battle as tough as it may be. You’ll also find yourself resting a lot to bring back enemies just to try out different ways of taking them on!
I’m going to briefly talk about the visuals and the world, and boy do I feel like I’m just exploring a new part of Star Wars. Visually the game is impressive, whether it be exploring the wilds of Kashyyk or the frozen ice caves of Bogano, all of the locations and levels feel like they’ve been ripped right out of the mind of George Lucas himself. The mixture of platforming and combat keeps you constantly entertained, and it all just looks so good, especially Cal himself; his hair mechanics genuinely impressed me! You’ll find that you just want to explore it all, and as I mentioned earlier I want to Platinum it just so I know I’ve explored everything. Looking at all of the little nods to things such as the Clone Wars, or bug-obvious Empire ship wrecks, it just doesn’t get boring… Like ever. This game will make you feel exactly how a Star Wars game should.
Now, finally, there are a few minor flaws which stop this from being a 10 / 10, which are mostly just down to gameplay. You shouldn’t have to press an extra command to scale a climbable wall; if I’m jumping at a climbing wall, I have one intention – Climbing it. There were times where the platforming didn’t ‘quite’ work, the wall running would send me in the wrong direction, or a hanging rope would be placed badly and cause me to unfairly die. There should be a fast travel option between meditation points when you’re exploring for loot, as I ran around Kashyyk about 3 times when I really didn’t need to, and following on from this I think you should at least be able to place markers so you know where you’re heading. That’s it though, apart from this, it’s a perfect game.
In summary, I genuinely think everyone should get this game; it’s up there with God of War and Spiderman for the action games of this generation – You’ll struggle to find something to hate in this game, so with this in mind I’m giving Fallen Order a:
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