Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review

Exceptional

by Jaffar Mohammed

Completed as of writing this review: Base Game /w some optional things

Let me start off by saying that I have NOT watched any of the Star Wars films, shows and haven’t played any of the games except for Classic LEGO Star Wars. This IS my first entry into anything seriously Star Wars related. And funnily enough, this is also my 1st ever Souls-like game.

With that out of the way, I’d say this game was amazing! This is the first time when I felt that a fairly recent game with AAA budget can actually be a worthwhile experience! The gameplay was challenging but mostly fair at Jedi Master difficulty, the characters are very like-able and the presentation… man, the presentation! Everything really feels polished, without any complaints. Sure, you can argue about the balancing of each enemy, like the goats I encountered at the 2nd chapter or whatever, who gave a lot of damage but that would be too much of nit-picking. The exploration aspect was also entertaining. Yes, there’s still a case where most of the base game can hold your hand since it’s AAA we’re talking about, but it was not as automatic as other AAA games I played because there was still the challenge. I also don’t remember the last time when a game took me 20 hours to beat, usually that would be 10 hours. The optimization of PC version could’ve been better though, as this game requires an SSD to not have constant stuttering.

But there’s a reason why I can’t call it 10/10 though as the gameplay was not anything unique that much. It is good on it’s own, but I didn’t feel much satisfaction after beating most of the bosses, more like a “ok, nice” kind of feel. That’s not a bad thing, I’m just saying that this game didn’t pick me as much as it can pick others. Star Wars fans especially, damn there was a lot of lore related stuff left for them. So much in fact, that I eventually just skipped descriptions of stuff I scanned because I’m not a fan of this franchise and so I don’t care much about the lore. However, the story for me was good, really nicely crafted I would say. I’m glad this game wasn’t robbed after the Battlefront II drama back in the days. This is the first time where I could say that this game is worth it’s full price, even though I bought it for dirt cheap during a sale before sequel’s release. Pick it up whenever you think about it, you will like it I’m sure!

I’m not a Star Wars fan. I think the movies are okay, never liked the games, and never read any books. But Jedi: Fallen Order? This game absolutely rocks. If the entire Star Wars universe were given this degree of polish, I would be all over it.

First off, Jedi: Fallen Order defies conventional genres. Some might call it a souls-like, but that would be ignoring so much of what Fallen Order has to offer. It has elements from Soulsborne games, but also those of Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, and Zelda. It’s best to call it an adventure game and leave it at that.

The game follows the story of Cal, a Jedi-in-hiding immediately following the Clone Wars and “Order 66” stuff. While you start relatively weak, by the end of the game you feel like a full-blown Jedi Knight capable of dealing with crowds of enemies with ease. After a short linear stint, the game opens up to a somewhat open-world adventure across several planets. The story focuses on the mystery of the ancient Jedi order and the magic of the cosmos in a way that the films never quite did. The locales range from Imperial factories to monster-ridden jungles, with some great monster design to boot. I was also impressed by the fact that you stayed in Cal’s perspective throughout most of the journey, even when boarding and flying in your ship. You’re given some freedom as to the order you tackle things in, but practically you follow the story with some short diversions to fight a hidden boss, get Health/Force/Stim upgrades, or get cosmetics for your suit, poncho, ship, robot companion, and lightsaber. I wish the lightsaber parts weren’t purely cosmetic and had a gameplay effect, however minor. You could barely see your lightsaber during gameplay (except for the color), so it felt like a pointlessly overdeveloped system.

BD-1, your robot companion, is adorable. The Titanfall devs knew how to animate a robot, and their talent is on full display. He’s more charming than the stiff droids Star Wars typically sports, displays a wide array of emotion, and his subtitles are even bursting with character. I honestly couldn’t see this game without BD-1 now that I’ve finished it.

Combat is reminiscent of Sekiro’s parry-focused combat. It even features health-protecting stamina bars, “frame-perfect” blocking acting as a parry, and “healing stims” that refill when resting. It’s got its own flavor, though, aided by the Force-abilities Cal has access to. Pull, Push, Slow, Jump, Throw, and some other special lightsaber abilities give just the right amount of depth to the 20 hour experience. The one-on-one combat is where the lightsaber combat shines the most, but deflecting lasers and dealing with hoards of stormtroopers was extremely satisfying too.

Ofcourse, none of this would have come together without the sound design. It’s cinema-tier sound design, plain and simple. Multiple times my partner thought I was starting up a movie when I was starting up the game, and all the signature Star Wars sounds are blended and mixed perfectly. Add that to Respawn’s talent in making machinery and explosive action setpieces, and you get an award-winning combination. Besides audio, the game is technically very well done, achieving a solid 1080p60fps on my increasingly dated hardware. I was even able to run it on the Steam Deck without a hitch.

I got Fallen Order on sale, but I wouldn’t have felt bad paying full price for it. I recommended it to all fans of Star Wars, but also to fans of sci-fi in general, even if you don’t typically like the film. I can’t wait for the sequel and where it takes Cal (and his unlikely band of friends) next.