We have finally arrived at the long-awaited moment, which is the one in which we find ourselves judging Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Needless to say, the game created by Respawn Entertainment it had attracted the attention of the public, despite its launch window also featuring other important titles such as Pokémon e Death Stranding. This is thanks not only to the importance of the brand in general, but also to the fact that after so many years Star Wars fans can finally rejoin a single player adventure, where story and gameplay come together to create a compelling and not tiring story. Let's immediately remove the elephant from the room then: the work of the creators of Titanfall is not without defects, some of these even quite mangy, but overall it is a product that will satisfy both fans and players less accustomed to this. genre of videogames. Jedi Fallen Order it takes its cues from other products, from the mechanics of the Uncharted environmental puzzles to the Souls combat system, although, frankly speaking, it is closer to Sekiro. Everything is seasoned with a progression in style Metroidvania and a good dose of fan service, managed in an excellent way. The end result, however, as a whole, has its ups and downs, but it's a good start from which to start again in case EA choose to grant a Callus a new opportunity.
In a galaxy far, far away ...
The story of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order it was widely cleared before the official release. However, in this review we will not reveal anything more, so as not to spoil your taste for discovery. The protagonist of the adventure is the young padawan Callus, survived theorder 66 and who now lives in hiding on a controlled planet of the empire. Its cover will not last long and, once discovered, it will be hunted by none other than theInquisition, an order Sith under the control of the terrible Darth Veder. Cal will be chasing Cal throughout the game Second Sister, a very dangerous Sith, skilled with the lightsaber and who, by characteristics, is one that tends to make the prey fall into its trap. Cal will have to complete her path to become a true Jedi by surviving and escaping the Inquisition, more than determined to get rid of him.
The plot therefore does not shine in a particular way for its originality, even if, as has been made known in the past, the whole story has been approved by the Star Wars division of the Disney, so that the story explained these events in a coherent and precise way without creating irregularities in the narrative continuum of the saga. This forced the developers to study the history of the brand's universe, choosing the time of the destruction of the Jedi order gave the team ample room for maneuver, as it's a moment within Star Wars mythology that lends itself perfectly to creating or linking new storylines.
However the story, although interesting, never really takes off, despite the many magical moments that you will find yourself experiencing. In fact, more than once we were thrilled with what was happening on screen, only to return to the normal routine of the game. What is missing is a major change of pace, and even if this happens a bit timidly in the final part of the game. Really too little for what was expected, with a somewhat hasty result when, perhaps, it would have been better to reach the end with a more pressing heartbeat. In broad terms, however, we are satisfied with the general writing of the plot, the one spelled out by Respawn is a tale that knows a lot about a good starting point.
Despite the courage in wanting to tell stories related to that particular historical period, what emerges is that the development house lacked a bit of courage, there is the fear of making a mistake or distorting a product like Star Wars. Respawn therefore preferred to stay behind the walls of fan service: not that this approach is wrong or bad, far from it, but in order to excel, something more was necessarily needed. Cal will probably remain in the hearts of fans, as well as the Second Sister, but the other supporting actors were left very little space, when instead it would have been better to take advantage of the Jedi Fallen Order parenthesis to deepen the rest of the cast with greater care.
From young padawan to Jedi master
The growth path that it will face Callus will be full of pitfalls: after the tragic order 66 the protagonist had to close himself to the Force to survive, although not entirely. During the story you will find yourself having to regain all the lost skills, a kind of new training. In fact, if in the first hours of the game the combinations at your disposal may seem sparse, you will have to change your mind once you get to about half, where the maturation process of the young padawan will begin to be palpable. The above is connected to the protagonist's leveling system, managed through a clear and functional skill tree. Here, you will have the option to increment three branches: Force, Laser sword e Defense.
Thanks to the Force you can temporarily block groups of enemies, repel them with a strong shock wave or draw them towards you. These three simple moves, as you progress, will increase their effect and effectiveness, proving essential during the most demanding encounters. The Lightsaber will allow you to unlock more and more scenic shots, worthy of a real Jedi. Lastly, Defense will help you increase your dodging and blocking skills. While the title has been heavily compared to the Souls, we are holding a product that is actually much closer to Sekiro, also from FromSoftware. Unfortunately this is precisely where the donkey falls, where the Respawn production should show the music and, instead, does not stand the pressure.
The gameplay in general is presented as technical, rhythmic and capable of giving excellent feedback to the player. Here, we can say that leaving out the very good feeling pad in the hand, for the rest it is very far from the From work. In fact, in addition to an enemy lock that is not always very precise, sometimes even harmful, the parade has a slight input lag which inevitably undermines the experience. Precise blocks become extremely rare and dangerous to execute, which inevitably pushes the user to take advantage of dodging much more. What has just been said, however, can be helped by the fact that thanks to the skills you will get, you will become powerful in a short time, if you chew this particular type of video game you do not have the slightest problem in moving forward in the experience. This is because within the adventure, unfortunately, you will always find the same types of enemies, which in the long run makes all situations legible. We would have liked that the development house had concentrated its forces on improving this side of production, with more attention paid to the proposed opponents. Also because of this the sense of repetitiveness becomes very strong, intelligently broken due to its conclusion. Evidently the team knew that the excessive monotony of the enemies would lead to tire the user after a few hours, flying low with a more contained game campaign was the right move.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is at its best in lightsaber duels, where everything changes. Although the technical problems also affect these phases, the spectacularity and beauty of the clashes are worth all the wait: in these cases you will feel like real Jedi priors, committed to fighting between life and death. The feedback from these fights is absolute, you will feel the force flowing between you. This goes in direct contrast with the partial feeling that you will have in clashing with normal enemies when the campaign is underway, really too little to satisfy the great offensive skills.
Copy, but change something
“Copy, but change something”, how many times have we heard this phrase on the school desks? Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has nothing particularly original inside it, on the contrary, being a title mainly focused on fan service he limited himself to applying already solid and consolidated mechanics in the collective imagination, like the environmental puzzles and the climbing system heavily taken from the Uncharted. These phases seemed fun and rewarding, none too unbalanced or complex. Solving these puzzles will take some time, but nothing really impossible. In any case, if you really can't get over the issue, you will be given the opportunity to ask for help. To this there is a style progression system to be added Metroidvania, where as you unlock upgrades or other, if you return to the previous areas or planets you will be able to enter previously inaccessible places. Too bad that this second exploration does not bring anything to a playful level, resulting in a mere excuse for completism, given that apart from the aesthetic changes to customize Cal, the Mantis, BD-1 and the lightsaber, you will find little and nothing really useful. Jedi Fallen Order also borrows the structure called "bonfire": in the planets there will be dedicated areas where Cal can meditate within a Jedi circle, here you can increase your skills or, if you decide to rest, you can recover health points and Stim (which function exactly like the Estus)… as long as the defeated enemies return to their original positions. The choice to regenerate the opponents, although justified by the playful structure of the work, slightly breaks the immersion even if you quickly get used to it.
Precisely in this respect, the production seems quite sparse, there are many things to be obtained: from the modifications to the lightsaber, to the Mantis (or the ship that will accompany you through space), the clothes of Cal and the appearance of BD-1 , little droid who will follow you faithfully. These customizations are not particularly beautiful, and they give nothing but aesthetic pleasure. However, obtaining these items will soon be the only reason that will push you to explore, too little to be able to truly entertain the player. This ties in double with the level design of the worlds and the look of Metroidvania already mentioned above. You will be called to go back to the planets already explored, to unlock alternate paths previously blocked, accessible at a later time thanks to specific skills obtained during the progression of the main story. This expedient, in theory, would serve precisely to give meaning to exploration, stimulating curiosity and desire for discovery. Too bad that it is the game itself that will make you necessarily go back to travel these roads, so as to let you know them directly thanks to the plot.
Gradually also BD-1 will get in on the action: this little droid is literally the mascot of the game, a mechanical puppy that will watch your back with sweetness and a lot of determination. He will get upgrades as he progresses through the story, from the ability to ride ropes in reverse to powering off generators and much more. This little creature will be the backbone that will allow you to unlock paths and shortcuts, and later on it will also be slightly useful in clashes. Its greatest usefulness, however, is the projection of the area in a holographic map: the very articulated level design leads to a slight disorientation, the BD-1 map will allow you to see the various paths clearly and precisely, so that you always know where to go and find the areas still to be beaten more easily. The structure of the planets is intricate, even if the proposed environments are not very varied: basically they all look a bit alike, but in each of them you will find some “unique” element.
On a technical level Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order isn't particularly clean, we have tested the game on For PS4 and we encountered obvious problems: leaving out the sometimes dancer frame rate, we have to take into account that often textures load late, such as map rendering. The background in the distance is then tremendously blurred, so much so that often, especially in some specific areas, it becomes almost impossible to see just beyond our character. All this, in the long run, undermines the whole experience, even if not too much. All this could be easily fixed with a patch, but for now they are problems that remain and we must take into account.
In conclusion we can say that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a great place to start, Respawn had the arduous task of dealing with such a game, and we must say that although not brilliantly it managed to pass the test. The feeling is that no one has wanted to tread the hand, proposing game concepts already established within the market without distorting the soul of the experience. All aspiring Jedi masters are sure to find their match, it's a pity that everything ends a bit too hastily due to logical shortcomings, which makes it difficult for the player to tastefully assimilate what is happening on the screen. If the development house decided to exploit the newly created bases in the future for a possible second chapter, it would certainly be excellent, but there are some aspects, such as the real weight given to exploration, which absolutely need a "plus" in order to compete with other such sacred monsters. For us, the EA title “is smart but doesn't apply”, although playing Cal was fun and in some cases exciting. We hope that this new videogame path of the brand is only the first stage of something that will evolve and improve over time, because after all, net of defects, we are always thirsty for this type of Star Wars.
