Elliot Tobias
Managing Editor
“Star Wars” is an incredible franchise, and it’s been a long time since a single-player game has been included. “Star Wars” fans have had a rough time with the games in general lately, especially with the flop that was 2017’s ‘Star Wars Battlefront II,’ so we were pretty excited for “Fallen Order” to release, despite Electronic Arts’ involvement.
“Fallen Order” has a lot to offer. To start, it’s actually set in the canonical universe of “Star Wars” with its own cozy spot roughly five years after Episode III. “Fallen Order” has its ups and downs just as any game, but the good heavily outweighs the bad.
First and foremost, this game is beautiful. The planets are unique, offering a different atmosphere and ecosystem for each location. Moving through each planet is fun and interesting, and the layout of the game frequently draws the player to corners and hidden spaces, allowing exploration of as much of the land as possible. It’s incredible to see the amount of in-depth worldbuilding the developers at Respawn Entertainment put into this.
The game follows Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan being hunted by the Second Sister and the Ninth Sister. Kestis is tasked with rebuilding the fallen Jedi Order. Throughout the game, the player jumps from planet to planet to find integral pieces to help in his journey. Kestis visits eight different planets over the course of the game, some of which are known to fans of the franchise.
As he travels through the galaxy, Kestis learns different skills in order to access new areas on earlier planets. The map will also tell the player what areas they can or cannot access at the moment. This helps the playability of the game tremendously. The ability to return to previous planets and discover newer things opens up hours of gameplay for the player to experience.
Traversing the terrain on each planet is fun because of these skills and the smoothness of the controls. Kestis moves fluidly when it comes to his acrobatics and the use of his trusty lightsaber. He doesn’t use blasters, but that saber does wonders against all the enemies he will face.
The enemies can be difficult. The dodge-attack-parry tactics used in this game are very similar to a Soulsborne title, which can make combat slower, but rarely boring. Kestis will face off with many different types of enemies from plants to people. Of course, Stormtroopers are included with horrid accuracy and quotes to make the combat more entertaining. While there are moments of slower, more difficult combat, it’s hardly ever taxing to fight.
One of the downfalls of the game to many players, including myself, has been the collectibles. Starting out, the collectibles seem cool and interesting, especially to include in a “Star Wars” game – think of the possibilities! Unfortunately, I think the collectibles were a bit too much. It got to the point that I was ignoring collectible items because there were so many variations of the same thing with a different skin or texture design. If it didn’t give me a stat upgrade, I moved on. This overload made finding the items feel less rewarding and more like they were placed in “hidden” spaces just to draw the player into every corner of the game. The uniqueness of this aspect wears out very quickly.
Another thing that wears out quickly for me had to be Kestis’ character. Starting out, I was interested in where Cal Kestis came from and who he was as a person involved in this intricate universe, but as the game progressed, he turned out to be the same old Good-Guy-Jedi that “Star Wars” frequently offers. His character feels bland and static at points throughout the game. Despite this, however, he’s a likeable character.
“Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” is definitely a game I’d suggest to “Star Wars” fans. It’s hard to play this game and not get some form of giddy about the worlds, mechanics and wielding a lightsaber. It’s the first single-player story-driven “Star Wars” game we’ve had in a long time, and I’m happily giving it a 9/10. Anyone who enjoys “Star Wars” should definitely try this game out if you haven’t already.