MadCap's Game Reviews - "Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order"

So, here we are again. Back in 2016, I expressed some concerns about everyone freaking out as if it were Armageddon when EA got the exclusive license to produce Star Wars video games. Given the company's complete lack of humanity and propensity for firing off live rounds from an automatic assault weapon into their feet, I could definitely understand the worry. However, it was something we could get past and look forward to better things in the future.

...then The Last Jedi happened. Though that really isn't the fault of EA (something that's already come up frighteningly often in this review).

For a while, me personally, my hope for Star Wars being good again was at an all-time low. I skipped out on playing Battlefront II (which I've heard mixed things about, though I still hold the first one is really, really not good) and, on that same note, I will say that I was a bit unfair to The Force Unleashed in my review of the first EA Battlefront. Having played some of it again, I really ought to go back and give it and its sequel a proper retrospective. Maybe that'll be a goal for 2020. Either way, following Rian Johnson's magnum anus of a film, I was not hoping for much.

Then, the hype came...from Twitter more than anywhere else, so thanks for that you magnificent ladies and gents. That brings us to the present and Jedi Fallen Order, a birthday gift that I was happy to get a hold of. A single player experience, no microtransactions, and no always online system. I have to admit, I was intrigued. And customizable lightsaber? Even up to the color of the blade? I was there! So I put it into my PS4 when I wasn't playing Outer Worlds (that review will be next week) and I was transported back to a galaxy far, far away.

Put into the shoes of fugitive Jedi Cal Kestis, I started on the planet of Bracca as a scrapper and found myself thrown into the intricate plot of a fallen Jedi to recover a lost holocron that contains the names of Force-sensitive children. With it, a new generation of Jedi can begin their training and some hope to defeat the Empire might be kindled.

Pretty much every post-Prequel, pre-Original trilogy story in the lot.

Much of Cal's story is told via flashbacks to his time as a padawan during the Clone Wars (usually coupled with him getting a new Force power for progression's sake). I felt more for Cal in those moments leading up to the implementation of Order 66 than I did for the entire parade of "Hey, I think I saw that Jedi before in a background scene!" parade of deaths that happened in Revenge of the Sith. Even within the story itself, you can really feel Cal's pain and cheer for his eventual triumph in many a scene.

This has a lot to do with the acting of Cameron Monaghan (I'd make a Joker reference, but I didn't watch Gotham) as well as the writing. Considering the group included Chris Avellone, however, this shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone. The story deals a lot with pain, loss, regret, and what you do to overcome it. If I had to sum up the theme in one word, it would be "Choices". Characters have made choices that have led to regrets, or that have robbed other people of their choices. Some of them fall to the Dark Side or find themselves trapped by their own choices while unable to move on. In the Jedi way, though, Cal finds a way to.

To learn from the past, but not be ruled by it. Not succumb to it and the despair and pain it caused you.

Y'know, that lesson that some idiots out there still insist that The Last Jedi was trying to tell even though it clearly wasn't.

"I chucked Rian Johnson into the airlock. Now what?"

Speaking of using the power of the dark side, let's get into the combat. Cal is a Jedi, after all, so lightsaber combat is your bread and butter. In the beginning, Cal wields a saber given to him by his master. The game is all third-person and saber attacks get broken up into the usual melee attacks of light and heavy, depending on your button press. While there are some combos available, I found myself rarely needing to use them in order to defeat all your standard enemies. Blocking lets you deflect blaster bolts (timed correctly, you can even defeat opponents with their own shots) as well as block most melee attacks. There's dodging, too, to avoid the unblockable attacks. Blocking does take up a bit of stamina, however, so be mindful of that.

And yes, you can get a double-bladed lightsaber add-on. It's in Dathomir. It's good for crowd control, but I'm not really a fan of the double-bladed saber. I've always thought it was kind of ridiculous. Sorry, Ray Parks. I will say I liked it when I unlocked the special attack late in the game that involved pulling the saber into two separate halves to slam down on your opponent with both sides, thinking I'd unlocked a dual-wielding mode. Alas, no such luck.

Your stats are determined by skill points, garnered by completing quests and defeating enemies. You can use the save points scattered through each of the game worlds to save scum and basically create an endless buffet of skill points if you're willing to grind. Depending on your level of patience, you can have enough skill points to max out your skill tree within a few hours of playing. However, it's important to note that certain tiers of the tree do not unlock before you complete certain parts of the story line.

The Force Powers are some of what you're expect from the Jedi - pushes, pulls, and leaps. Cal does possess one somewhat unique ability - Force slow. It does exactly what you think it does, making opponents easier to hit while making it harder for them to hit you. It's definitely handy in some scenarios where enemies are ganging up on you, just remember to keep an eye on your Force meter!

This brings me, regrettably, to one of the things I really don't care for in this game: the puzzles. Now, I like to think I'm not an idiot, but the puzzles vary from being simplistic to needlessly and ridiculously complex with only very minor clues as to what you're supposed to do. It can be frustrating, particularly if you get stuck in an area where it's clear what you're supposed to do, just not how you're supposed to do it. I only had to look up one puzzle because of how absolutely maddening it was and after trying multiple different methods, and the solution was "you have to cut the cord".

Are you kidding me?

Assisting in most of Cal's endeavors is a droid by the name of BD-1. It hacks, helps with the platforming, and fulfills the Star Wars "cuteness" quota by being absolutely adorable, while having a story all his own that is very touching and heavily echoes Cal's own. In fact, as I said before, most of the main cast manages to do that in one way or another - be it the fallen Jedi, the greasy smuggler, or the Nightsister.

Yeah, the Nightsisters have been brought back...one of them, anyway. Always nice to see the old EU still getting acknowledgement. Now if Disney would just throw the Sequel Trilogy out and bring that back so we can-aaaaaaand I'm getting off-topic again.

The main point that I've been getting to is that, with only that one minor issue with the puzzles that I can very easily overlook, Jedi Fallen Order is absolutely fantastic. It's a perfect single-player experience that is absolutely dripping with atmosphere and a great story to go with it, something that teaches about learning from the consequences of your choices and becoming a better person as a result of it.

Maybe that's the real reason why Lucasfilm didn't want to do it.

Okay, sorry, had to get one last cheap shot in.

So, EA, for once you did something right. Literally nothing about this game besides publishing it (and not throwing a ridiculous amount of microtransactions and paid DLC onto it) can be credited to you, but I'll at least give you that. Keep Respawn Entertainment around for the sequel or for the next game and we'll love you for it.

["Binary Suns" intensifies]

Seriously. That's not a joke. Give me more of this, and I will dig the crap out of it!

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is now available from Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.

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