Jedi: Fallen Order

So I played through the campaign of Battlefront 2 first, and I thought, "Oh, that wasn't that bad, I enjoyed that". Then I played through Jedi: Fallen Order and it just put that entire game to shame that it changed the way I looked at it. I think if I had written the Battlefront 2 campaign review first, it would have been more forgiving, but in comparison to this game, its just mediocre.

Jedi: Fallen Order for me came out of nowhere. I don't pay attention to video game news as much as I do movie news so the first time I heard of this game was through the awesome trailer that dropped I think in 2018. While it was a little bit disappointing that they continued to shove stories into the time frame between Episode 3 and 4, a timeframe I think that has been done to death and we need to move away from it as soon as we can, I still thought the game looked awesome and I'd have a good time.

The result was that I had a great time... for the most part...

Jedi: Fallen Order has you playing as Jedi Apprentice Kal Kestis (voiced and motion captured by Cameron Monaghan). Kal survives Order 66 and is hiding out as a junk collector on a planet called Bracca.

But when two Imperial Inquisitors come to look for Kal, he must go on the run to avoid detection, torture, and death by the Empire.

Now I had heard about Inquisitors from people talking about the cartoons, but I never saw them in action. They might be the best and the cheapest way to wriggle out of the story stipulation that Darth Vader is the only force user left after the Purge in Revenge of the Sith. For those who don't know, they are essentially Jedi Hunters commissioned by the Empire who look for people like the hero of this game.

Kal quickly joins a group of mercenaries aboard a ship called the Stinger Mantis, one of them includes a former Jedi named Cere Junda (voiced and motion captured by Debra Wilson). Cere tells Kal that she is looking for a Jedi Holocron with the location of force sensitive children around the galaxy. She recruits Kal to join her to find the holocron and rebuild the Jedi Order to stop the Empire.

The two of them are joined by a four armed pilot by the name of Greez (voiced by Daniel Roebuck) and they go on an adventure across multiple planets looking for clues left behind by a former Jedi Master, Eno Cordova (voiced and motion captured by Tony Amendola). All the while, they are being hunted by a zealous Inquisitor called the Second Sister (voiced and motion captured by Elizabeth Grullon).

The main drive of this game is the story. Whereas Battlefront 2's campaign runs in parallel to the stories of the movies, Fallen Order understands that not every Star Wars property needs to prominently feature known characters from the trilogy or other properties. With the exception of three characters, two of them very minor, these are all new characters who do not, and will never connect to any of the movies, and probably not any TV shows. Instead the story focuses on Kal and his personal journey as he develops his powers in the force and reconciles his survivors guilt after Order 66 and its done really well... for the most part.

This is going to be a common theme with this game in that it does so many things so well that it almost hurts to mention the things that don't quite make the mark. The story is very personal, and it expands into planets and worlds that expand instead of restrict the world of Star Wars we live in. And any mention of previous characters is very minor and probably to the benefit of the story.

However, because its a video game and the new thing with video games is to avoid too linear storylines and keep things open world, the story gets a little fractured by the fact that you're traveling from planet to planet so frequently. The story feels a little disjointed at times and moments that should have emotional impacts get kind of undercut by the fact that you gotta go and do another level or get something else to really feel that impact. It doesn't happen all the time, but for some reason, this game had you traveling a lot and it would have been better to have a planet be an individual stop for quite a bit of time. As it is, you go back and forth from each planet a lot that it feels odd.

But when those emotional moments happen, they for sure happen. The game has a complete story that could (and should) have a sequel, but doesn't necessarily need to. I got attached to the characters in this game and loved the direction they went with each of them. There were a few characters that were underdeveloped or thrown in for unknown reasons, but every underdeveloped character is made up for with really well done characters like Kal, Cere, and the Second Sister.

This game does a good job at developing its characters and building up suspense to be fully expanded when you beat those level bosses. And the truth is, this is not an easy game, so when you beat bosses, it doesn't just feel rewarding from a story perspective, it feels rewarding from a personal gameplay perspective.

So overall, the story is pretty incredible. It delves deep into interesting characters, brings you to new (and old) worlds and lets you explore them, expanding, not restricting the lore, and overall it feels very fulfilling when you finish this story because its done well. There are a few detours that feel unnecessary, but overall its a great time.

The game play on the other hand takes some getting used to. Now if you've read previous video game reviews, you'll know my expertise is not gameplay mechanics. I don't know what is good, what isn't, all I know is my experience playing the game. With Battlefront 2, it was very familiar that it felt cheap. With Fallen Order, it was difficult almost to the point of being maddening.

I think when a lot of people heard about this game, they thought it was going to be a recreation of The Force Unleashed. A game that came out where it might have been difficult for two seconds and then you end up being able to wail on everyone with incredible and unlikely force powers.

Fallen Order is very different. Not only is it very different in the game play mechanics, most likened to Dark Souls where you have to be cautious of when you block, when you dodge, and when you attack, but it also limits you on how powerful your Jedi actually gets. So much that when you first start, you are the one getting wailed on for quite a bit of time. It makes upgrading necessary, but it also forces you to learn the game play mechanics to have the best experience, otherwise you'll be like me where you're playing levels over and over again because I kept on dying. But overall I liked this limitation and difficulty. The Dark Souls-like game play is an unexpectedly perfect mode to play a Star Wars game, and while I will talk about the downside, the game feels rewarding.

Now the upside of this is, eventually, when I upgraded and got better at the game, it felt very rewarding. There wasn't instant gratification which I think a lot of games do these days. This one makes you work for it and you have to strategize how you're going to approach an enemy that is giving you trouble. Are you going to go no holds bar with your double bladed lightsaber, or are you going to dodge at attack at the opportune moments. I really enjoyed how satisfying this game became.

Now the problem with it, especially when it comes to bosses is, I was replaying bosses so many times that I started to think about why I was facing these bosses and how it connected to the story probably more in depth than the game intended and it kind of interrupted the flow of the story.

I can think of one boss that I had particular trouble with that I actually did a lot of thinking on to realize that he's kind of pointless and just a placeholder for a boss on one of the planets. I actually started thinking of new ways to utilize this character and it poked a hole in the conciseness of the story writ large. It didn't ruin the game as a whole, but it is a good example of what to expect when you're playing this game. Even on regular difficulty, it gave me some trouble, and while its rewarding, it will hiccup the story.

Overall, I really like the direction they're taking with games like Jedi: Fallen Order. One thing worth noting is that unlike other Star Wars games of the past, with few exceptions that are mostly aesthetic, this is a pretty linear storied game with very little character customization. Outside of your lightsaber customization and clothes, you can't make many changes to the character and you will reach the same conclusion no matter how many times you play the game. Now some people might see this as limiting, but I see it as them giving the reigns to story tellers and incorporating good game play. It can be frustrating, but its rewarding and for the most part masterfully comprehensive. It's a good step for Star Wars games and while I liked elements of Battlefront 2, I think we'd be much better off to have the Star Wars video game franchise head in the direction of Jedi: Fallen Order rather than Battlefront 2.

But those are my thoughts on Jedi: Fallen Order. What did you think? Was the game difficult for you or am I just bad at video games? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films, TV shows, and video games I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!