1 person found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 26.5 hrs on record
Posted: 27 Jan, 2022 @ 12:13am
Updated: 27 Jan, 2022 @ 12:34am

A 3D Metroidvania Game?! Set in the Star Wars Universe?!
Basic premise/Story

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and directed by Stig Asmussen. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order starts five years after the events of the 3rd film in the star wars film universe. Where you play as Cal Kestis. A Jedi in hiding who has taken up the job of a scrapper who salvages ships. After an unfortunate incident, Cal has to escape the planet and becomes hunted by inquisitors all while trying to restore the Jedi fallen order and complete his training as a Jedi.

The Force is With You. Remember that at All Times
Unique Gameplay

First, let’s start with my criticisms of the game. Mainly two points:

Hints could be better given. Instead of the main objective. An option to flat out give the solution or some mechanism to clue the player in would be nice.

The game isn’t well optimized. And what I mean here is that I had uncommon freezes throughout my playthrough. Probably 3-5+. And 3 of those created a crash where I had to end the program and had to redo my current progress until I encountered a meditation spot. Which are locations where I could safely save and heal.

Aside from these two points of criticism, I found the overall game to be a new fresh take on the Star Wars IP.

The game features very fun combat. The classic force pull or force push is just some of the staple Jedi powers, I loved to abuse my enemies so much. Never gets old pushing a stormtrooper off a cliff for instance. You can go further on your Jedi abilities by allocating skill points to unlock new moves, passives or upgrade base health and force powers. Which is viable and helped make the combat fresh and exciting. The exp you also earn felt generous and balanced, not feeling too little to buy upgrades. Nor too large to buy a lot of upgrades. I felt motivated to kill enemies to earn more experience to unlock new abilities. And it was worth the endeavor.

Metroidvania aspect is done very well. I wasn’t too tired nor rolled my eyes once again going back to old planets I visited previously. The new areas you couldn’t traverse/discover early on provided huge/medium/small wow factors which made me suitably impressed at how much was hidden in each world and the level design to get around them.
The presentation of the story was a bit slow in the beginning. Managed to keep my interest afloat after the introductory and beginning world. There is enough content here to keep you interested like the backtracking to previously discovered worlds to find hidden secrets or new areas you couldn’t unlock early on.

The boss fights I felt were done in a manner I felt was challenging, but not head bashing to the wall. These fights were fun and didn’t recycle the same format every time. Upping the stakes by providing new sequences and set pieces leading up to it. Which I found to be fitting and natural at times. Likewise, the Metroidvania aspect of exploration helps a great deal in balancing high intense action sequences with a slow break to catch your break. There are save points available throughout called meditation points, so players shouldn’t be too worried about losing progress. I barely lost due to a handy save point nearby. Just remember to keep an eye out for these on your mini-map. They’re not all too hard to miss, but you can forget them at times when you overextend in fights.

A New Star Wars Chapter Begins
Final thoughts/Ruminations

Overall I felt the story was pretty good. Cal’s journey as he travels through different planets and meets new people is interesting as are the crew members alongside him which makes the journey immersive and not boring at all. There is a sense of urgency to Cal’s action and he isn’t a flat protagonist at all. Nor are the other members of the crew. He has struggles and the game explores this in a manner I found both satisfying and intriguing to see what becomes of him. Graphics are splendid and each new world you encounter is eye candy. The soundtrack is awesome and the voice acting, while limited at times, still manages to hit enough emotional range in the spectrum to be more than satisfying to me. Despite my two points of criticism on the game. I still firmly believe this is one of the best 3D Metroidvania games I’ve had the pleasure of playing. As a whole package, Fallen Order will surprise you while keeping you on your toes. I greatly look forward to a sequel to see how far Cal’s journey will take him and his allies.

Total Times Beaten: 1
Score: 8/10
Date Finished: 1/5/22
Date Edited: N/A
Hours Played: 26.5 hours
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