Welcome Late to the Party, a series where I write about a game (Often well after the game has been out) I have recently finished. Because of my hectic work and school schedule, it’s rare that I’ll complete a game in a timely fashion. While what I write will never be timely, I’d still like to express my thoughts on the game in some capacity. Think of it as a mini review, or just my brief thoughts on what I liked or disliked about a game. Let’s start with Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order.

Upon its announcement I was initially skeptical of Jedi Fallen Order because EA has not been reliable with the Star Wars License during their time with it. But as we saw more gameplay and more details emerged, my curiosity grew. To start, Respawn being the developer behind Jedi Fallen Order was encouraging because of the excellent work they’ve done with the Titanfall franchise. Secondly, I’m a big fan of the TV show Shameless so Cameron Monaghan playing Cal Kestis was a cool selling point for me. Last, my favorite thing about Star Wars is the infinite number of stories you can tell, and since I’ve only watched the films, it was incredibly exciting to me to see a story that involves the events that immediately follow Order 66 and the betrayal of the Jedi. I finally got around to beating Fallen Order last month, so I want to write a bit about it.

Likes:

My favorite aspect of Jedi Fallen Order was far and away the characters. I found Cal and Cere to be more interesting than I expected and their struggles with letting go of the past really resonated with me. They each feel the consequences of their actions and struggle with accepting the idea that some things are sometimes just out of our control. I’ve always seen Jedi to typically be one-dimensional or only focused on the force and combating the dark side. But I think this was a welcomed nuance to what I’ve been familiar with and I’m happy to see a more human approach taken for these vulnerable Jedi.  Each time I ventured to a new planet or returned to another I was eager to hear the next bit of dialogue from Cere and Greez. You really come to appreciate your crew mates and the relationship you form. I mentioned it before but it’s worth noting that I also liked the premise of the story. I’ve always been curious by the idea of seeing how some of the surviving Jedi live out their days after the events of Order 66 and Revenge of the Sith. It’s an interesting time seeing the Empire in its early days before A New Hope and the events that follow.

I thought the customization in this game was great. Being able to play with different lightsaber designs was a treat and I like the different combinations you could go for with Cal’s Ponchos and BD-1’s skins. I must have changed the color combinations at least half a dozen times. I do wish, however, that the customization went deeper than aesthetics. For example, maybe lightsaber hilts can increase Cal’s damage against Stormtroopers, or his poncho reduces melee damage. I think these would incentivize mixing and matching different lightsaber parts and character skins to cater to the player’s interests in buffs.

Dislikes:

My biggest complaint with Jedi Fallen Order is easily navigating the map. I hope in the inevitable sequel they implement some kind of fast travel because I found myself getting lost more often than I’d like and it became annoying to backtrack 20 minutes so I could grab a chest that wasn’t accessible before. I like the idea of revisiting old areas, especially when I have a new power or means to access an area I couldn’t before, but planning out the trek to a new area always felt confusing. I found myself getting lost and confused among the many interwoven pathways and corridors that would lead me one way when I wanted to go another. I think the option to track your current path or have an arrow that points to the main story objective would help. I remember an instance on the planet Zeffo where I lost progress after the game didn’t save when I thought it did. It was frustrating because I lost a few health and force upgrades, so I made an effort to retrace my steps. It wasn’t as easy as I thought and I ended up spending way more time trying to find the exact path I originally took before. I finally got back on track with the help of a Youtube video, but I wish the map were easier to understand.

A smaller complaint I have is with the game’s combat. For the most part it felt awesome to easily slice through Stormtroopers and push an enemy off a cliff with an emphatic force push. But there were times when I was swarmed by enemies and trying to escape their barrage of attacks felt impossible. I’d get stuck against the wall and it was frustrating because there was nowhere to run to without getting hit. It just felt clunky at times, especially when I’d get trapped.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Jedi Fallen Order. I thought the characters were memorable and it was exciting to see where the story took place in the Star Wars universe. I hope there are some minor changes with the sequel, like deeper gear customization and a map that’s easier to navigate. But for the most part I’m excited to see what Respawn does with Cal and the rest of the Mantis crew. As always, thank you so much for reading!