It is undeniable, the videogame market lacked for a long time a Singleplayer chapter dedicated to the enormous universe of Star Wars. The series has always been subject to misfortune, just look at the project of visceral Games canceled, or at the initial failure of Star Wars: Battlefront II.
And yet Electronic Arts has never given up, entrusting the Star Wars brand to the skilled hands of the guys from Respawn Entertainment, who had managed to propose a narrative of a certain depth with the second chapter of the shooter Titanfall.
With a team totally dedicated to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn Entertainment wanted to create a chapter that respected the need of longtime fans, without having to dent what is the sacrosanct main plot.
We anticipate that for us it was a journey to a galaxy far, far away, but we were almost completely satisfied with this new adventure.
The importance of the Force
The story of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order takes place five years after the events of Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, with the empire busy purging the last remaining Jedi after the execution of the famous order 66.
The protagonist of the events is a Jedi named Cal Kestis, who managed to escape that mad hunt of the empire.
After a short prologue that will introduce us to the character, we will be called to re-establish the order of the Jedi and in our adventure we will be accompanied by greez e Waxes, the latter a former Jedi Master and Knight.
Our main shoulder will be it droid BD-1, which will help us in some of the most desperate situations during our adventure, thanks to its countless gadgets and upgrades.
Respect the past, young Padawan
What we have to praise absolutely to the title developed by Respawn Entertainment, is the will to develop something that is completely respectful of the masterpiece of George Lucas, trying to intersect without any kind of problem, satisfying even the longtime fans.
The story shows a solid foundation, thanks also to an antagonist who will give us a lot of problems: the second sister.
Every character we meet in the story will almost seem like they have always been within this great universe, because they manage to homologate without too much difficulty. The quality and background of the characters is very high, even if some of them take some time to fully “reveal themselves”.
The technical path for the way of light
During our journey we have heard many rumors that called Jedi: Fallen Order a Souls-Like. We immediately deny the rumor, it is true that the title recalls some of the typical functions of the From Software titles, but in the soul it is a completely different genre and interfaces with a difficulty that is not exactly suited to that genre.
We will initially have few skills to be able to defend ourselves, relegate to classic attacks and deflect shots with our lightsaber. The story has been structured in line with the gameplay, where Cal Kestis will grow and awaken his power as the narrative continues, thus expanding the approaches during the fighting.
Among the things we liked most is the customization of the Lightsaber. We will have different parameters and pieces that we can modify to our trusty weapon, which we can find inside the chests scattered around the immense game maps.
In reality, Cal does not have a level, but an experience bar which, once filled, will allow us to obtain a point that can be spent within a skill tree.
To death we will lose our accumulated experience points, but we will be able to recover the latter by delivering a blow to the enemy who killed us (therefore not necessarily killing him), thus recovering what was stolen from us and obtaining a strength and energy bonus.
Use certain techniques it will cost us strength points, a bar that will recharge as we hit our enemy. There is also a resistance bar, which if broken it is possible to penetrate the enemy defenses with a lethal attack (same thing enemies can do with us).
The movements are very fluid, the battle controls are very well placed and the dodges do their job. The only thing we criticize are the counterattacks, not always accurate and often do not hit the mark.
The enemies will not give a lot of trouble, also because we have played the title on one of the advanced difficulties that is Jedi Master, and the only obstacle was encountered towards the end with some Bosses.
Our only cure is that of the use of Stim, of energy injections. We will have only two cures available at the beginning of the game and it will be possible to recharge them at each meditation zone.
When we go into meditation and choose to rest, enemies on the map will reappear and the stim will be reloaded again, a mechanic that is very reminiscent of the recent Souls-like.
Graphically superb
Our BD-1 droid will learn many skills along our journey that will allow us to explore previously inaccessible areas. This element does that increase replayability, forcing us to retrace paths that we have already trod, to try to get as many collectibles and chests as possible.
We will be able to explore a great vastness of worlds, all well cared for and with the presence of different races already present in the Star Wars universe. Every single planet hides unimaginable secrets that enrich the lore of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Exploration is one of the most successful elements in this title. We will also have to face some puzzles, well studied and not simple, in some ways it manages to overcome the recent Uncharted or Tomb Raider by difficulty.
The audio sector takes care of a high quality Italian dubbing, with the presence of many noteworthy voice actors in the Italian scene. Even the soundtrack perfectly follows the themes of the film saga.
The aesthetic side is meticulously taken care of, but we must point out an excessive presence of pop-ins e tedious uploads before you can access certain areas.
On the PlayStation 4 Pro version we had to contend with a framerate dancer, which was possible to undermine by selecting the Performance mode thus sacrificing the magnificent aesthetic side of production.
In our opinion, a few more months to file the defects on the title would not have hurt, the team could have achieved much higher results.
Electronic Arts was in too much of a hurry to launch production, and the price to pay is the presence of many bugs, glitches and framerate problems.
Final Comment
In conclusion, it is about one of the best titles dedicated to the Star Wars series, we have been waiting for years for a single player title of this quality and finally we were satisfied. Unfortunately, the title suffers from some glaring problems, which are already being corrected.
We would like to say that the work done by Respawn Entertainment is to be commended, he managed to give justice to a brand that has not seen a noteworthy production in the single player sector for a long time.
If you are a fan of Star Wars or are looking for a good game with good storytelling, Jedi: Fallen Order it is your case.
