Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

With the divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker carving up the cinematic box-office like a lightsaber-wielding fat kid at the Christmas buffet, it comes down to the biggest entertainment industry in the world to really deliver the Star Wars goods in 2019. Set five years after Revenge of the Sith and the Jedi Purge, we take on the role of Cal Kestis, Jedi padawan, and survivor of the Clone Wars, a conflict that cost his master, Jaro Tapal, his life when his clone unit turned on him and his student.

However, Cal has been making a humble living scrapping starships on the planet Bracca, until the Empire and Sith Inquisitors come looking for a Force-sensitive being hiding out there. Within moments, the inquisitors sniff out Cal, ending in him fleeing from the Ninth Sister, the hunter seeking this young jedi, ending in his escape with the aide of Cere Junda, a former jedi that has cut herself off from the Force, and Greez Dritus, captain of the Mantis, a freighter that Cere has hired in her quest to locate a holocron containing the locations of all Force-sensitive children scattered across the galaxy.

So, with that MacGuffin firmly in place, Cal and co. set off on a search to access the lost tombs of the Zeffo, a race responsible for building temples and tombs for Cal to work his way through, solving puzzles, whilst mastering the Force, and levelling up his connection to the Force, enabling a bevy of Jedi-appropriate perks to help him on his journey.

The game is a deep-dive into Star Wars lore, drawing from the canon of movies, novels, and TV series, with enough appropriate Easter eggs throughout the game to whet the palate of even the most die-hard of fans.

The question is, is it a good Star Wars game, just a good game overall? For my preference, it's the latter. Fallen Order falls into the category of being a decent game that doesn't do anything revolutionary, but what it does enough it does very well. The game is like a combination between Uncharted and Dark Souls, with the lightsaber fights being the best I have ever experienced in a game. This makes you feel like you are wielding one of the legendary blades, with each strike, parry, dodge, and block being crucial to survival. In particular, your skill with a lightsaber often becomes the difference between life and death, with only a couple of wrong moves costing you your life. It's a steep learning curve, and the more challenging the foe, the sweeter the victory.

There is enough variety in the puzzles and settings to keep the game fresh and alive. Whilst it is the story that really kept me enthralled, with its swaggering mastery of the lore, Fallen Order feels like a trip through a living, breathing Star Wars universe where I could imagine that the galaxy far, far away was reachable from within the confines of the game's settings.

Before the release of Fallen Order, I expected it to share DNA with LucasArts' last released Star Wars game that was The Force Unleashed, but that was merely me being deceived by aesthetics, whereas having played the game I would liken it more to one of the entries from the Jedi Knight series, in particular it resonated along the lines of Jedi Outcast, the last hurrah of Kyle Katarn, before the shroud of Disney fell across the Star Wars universe and he was exiled to non-canon status.

Graphically, the game is without equal this side of the year. There's so much polish that it becomes blinding with just how beautiful a Star Wars game can be. Every nook and cranny of the used universe has been produced and feels in place with the original aesthetics of George Lucas' brainchild. There are some moments in the game, that thanks to the advances of modern graphics, left me feeling a sense of awe and wonder, especially the levels on Chewbacca's home planet of Kashyyyk, a world of vibrant beauty and danger. Top that off with some fine motion capture performances and voice work, and we are nothing short of some fantastically authentic Star Wars moments.

Whilst the soundtrack doesn't do anything amazing, strictly recycling the tunes of John Williams' original work, it does the job well enough to immerse you.

The game could be considered a strong contender for Game of the Year, with its challenging and inventive levels, well-written narrative, and immersion into a familiar, yet new setting, it's a decent romp with enough value to keep you coming back for more.

I put around 15 hours into finishing the game, and even at full price it gives a great entertainment-per-hour value.