Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a third person action adventure. A big deal was made during its announcement and release on how it is a single player game with no intrusive microtransactions, and that is true. EA even resisted the temptation to add them post-launch. The game follows Cal after the Jedi Order had fallen. It starts off with a fantastic beginning that showcases what you can expect from the game. That is, strong platforming, a satisfying combat system (at first glance), and large scale action set pieces.
Cal was a Jedi-in-training and ever since the Order had fallen, he was in hiding on a planet. Unfortunately, the Empire is ruthless in hunting down all remaining Jedi or anyone that is Force sensitive and had tracked him down. Upon escape, Cal joins up with Cere and Greez, whom he reluctantly trusts. He sets off with them on a journey through several planets to follow a trail of clues that provide a hope to restore the Jedi. A cute little robot, BD-1, ends up joining as a useful partner as it is able to scan enemies and collectibles as well as provide clues when you get stuck.
Platforming forms a big part of the gameplay. Cal can jump, shimmy, swing, wall-run and climb. He’s very nimble and is able to use the Force to move objects. That said, Cal doesn’t automatically grab a climbable surface, you need to press the trigger button to do that, so that can lead to some early deaths as you need to remind yourself to press the button. There are also environmental puzzles, some of which can be tough to figure out. Several of them are physics based, and can be annoying as you may know how to do it, but just can’t do it with the right timing.
Each planet that Cal visits is huge. They all have multiple pathways, although you can always tell how to move forward to progress the game, the same can’t be said for going back. You cannot fully explore a planet the first Cal visits as he will not have learnt the abilities yet. It’s designed for the player to return once Cal has gotten the necessary abilities. BD-1 provides a 3D map that initially isn’t too bad, but once the large scale of the planet comes into play, it is a mess to try and figure out a path. There is no fast travel in the game, and each planets have many one-way paths such that you can’t return if you’ve accidentally gone down that route.
The problems with the map don’t end there. It wouldn’t be so bad but you are forced to return to planets, some several times, for story progression. This means it is really easy to get confused on where you need to go next as you’ll remember some places but aren’t sure if you need to go through this area to get to the new area or not. You can’t set waypoints to help point you to the right direction. Needless to say, this aspect can be frustrating and seemingly designed to waste your time. The developers should have at least added an option to fast travel back to the ship as it is a massive chore otherwise.
The combat is mostly melee based. Cal uses his lightsaber as his main weapon to hit enemies. Just like the movies, he can not only use the lightsaber to block incoming attacks, but also to reflect those shots back to the shooter to hit them instead. It’s a nice touch. Cal will learn Force abilities such as pulling enemies in or pushing enemies away, or slowing them down. He can block attacks or time it such that he parries instead. While fun at first, the combat does end up becoming generic and boring. You’re a Jedi, but you end up with mostly melee moves. The combat isn’t as fast paced as it could be, and attack animations are given priority over dodging (i.e. you cannot cancel your attacks halfway).
There is a good variety of enemies, from standard stormtroopers, to more elite ones, to droid and natural predators of each planet. Likewise, there is a good variety of environments, from lush nature to futuristic buildings. There are RPG elements. Defeating an enemy, or finding collectibles, will provide experience to Cal. Once Cal gets enough of these, he gains a skill point which can be used to unlock new abilities, moves, or increase his life bar or Force bar.
Despite a promising start, the story becomes average for the most part. It is cool to see the Jedi elements but ultimately it boils down to a gigantic fetch quest. You don’t really get to go to that many planets. The developers had focused on larger planets (with the aforementioned confusing layouts) rather than quantity. It’s not a bad decision, just that it’s a different approach. The finale was shorter than expected, given it was a small section followed by the final boss fight. That said, there were some epic moments in it, with the final cutscene being surprisingly short and underwhelming for something that wraps up the game.
The game takes around 15 to 20 hours to finish. After which you can either start a new game carrying everything over, or return to your game to collect everything. Speaking of which, there are a lot of collectibles, and most of them are cosmetics. Cosmetics can be fun but once you end up with something you’re happy with, there’s not much excitement over finding more of them. The game generally looks good, with its weakest aspect being the character models. The game also can have random framerate slowdowns for some reason.
Overall, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a solid game. The game feels amazing at the beginning, as you realise that there is finally a great Star Wars game after all these years. Then that initial amazements starts to dial down as you realise that it’s pretty much a generic third-person action adventure with a Stars Wars skin. The combat is passable but wished that it could be faster paced and more varied with its moves, and the story definitely could have been improved. It’s still a worthwhile and fun time to play though.
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