The hard way of the Jedi.
It has been more than a year and a half since E3 of 2018, Respawn Entertainment, almost capped, announced that it was developing Star Wars. Jedi Fallen Order. Little thing for so much expectation. In April 2019, something was shown in the form of a video that didn't show much either. And the fears were beginning to be evident. Jedi Star Wars: Fallen Order has not had the best staging when it comes to ads, and even during E3 2019, when gameplay was shown, it left many people cold. But some of us were able to try it and we saw that it had potential. And today two things are confirmed. The first, that we have a great Star Wars game. The second, that Respawn Entertainment is always a guarantee.
In recent months several weight names have been mentioned to define what this Star Wars title is. Uncharted, Souls and Metroid series are the three most referenced series. This may seem like a double-edged sword, because on the one hand they are very good starting points to expect a high game, but on the other the requirement is maximum. That is why what has been done with Jedi Fallen Order has merit. Because it is capable of absorbing mechanics and elements derived from great references of adventure and Action RPG, adapting it to the Star Wars universe and doing almost everything sovereignly well.
It is true that something obvious can be attributed to this title: it does not invent the wheel or revolutionize any type of format. But also that fitting all the pieces to make it a fun, varied and rhythmic action adventure is not easy. And that everything feels Star Wars, either. Therein lies the great success of the game. Being able to create a powerful adventure that slips not only among the best games of the license, but also stands out within its genre. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order is worth it whether you like Star Wars or not.
Cal Kestis and the Jedi Way
The plot revolves around Cal Kestis, a young man who works humbly for a living in a world ravaged by the Empire. The plot is located after the events of the Revenge of the Sith, with all that this entails and the near extinction of the Jedi and their Order. But Kestis hides a secret: it was Padawan of a Jedi Master. This, which ends up being uncovered, ends up letting him escape through the hairs of certain death and meeting Cere Junda, a former Jedi who managed to escape from the Purge of Order 66, and the pilot Greez Ditus, owner of the Mantis ship. Together with them we begin a path to complete our development as a Jedi and, also, try to rebuild the devastated Order in the events we already know.
We will not go into more argumental details to avoid spoils, but it is important to say that our first measures will meet BD-1, the nice droid that will accompany us everywhere and that in addition to being key in the playable, it is at the plot level . Unfortunately, the staging and the starting point of the plot do not just take off as we would like.
The path of Cal Kestis is full of trips and turns that lack a great blow of effect, and the sensation at the plot level is that it ends up somewhat wasted. Surely the argument, which does not explode or have a powerful outcome, is its weakest point in the game. It fits well in the Star Wars universe, license lovers will find references to the moment and place (between episode III and IV) that serve to sketch a smile, but it will not be a constant either. Of course, the plot pushes us to visit (and revisit) several planets with their flora, fauna and dangers. And that's where Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order submits a candidate for everything.
The Jedi Force: exploration and leaps
But after a few guided measures, with platform to one side and another, the good begins. Once we are in the Mantis ship and we go to the first of the planets. A small world opens up before us – far more extensive than it seems at first glance – where we navigate with jumps, catching outgoing and using various mechanisms. When we finally have BD-1, we also see the map of the game. That it is a three-dimensional map that we can move in a thousand ways to Metroid Prime is no accident. Already in our first objective, to reach a specific place, we see that we follow a path while we observe that there are several places that we cannot access. And it is that the exploration will be constant.
One of the best compliments to Jedi Fallen Order, let alone the only one, is that we will consult the map very often. To see where we are going, to consult places that we have not visited and to try to trace how to get to that area that seems inaccessible. The title maintains a main objective that we will always have marked and we can continue to follow, but the way to reach it is what breaks the concept of linear adventure.
We will fail jumps trying to reach the other side, we will go on roads that we think are the right ones and we will end up with extras, treasures or some secret enemies. We will open the map again, we will try another way … And it turns out that it will be blocked: as in Metroid or Zelda, two names that we cite because they have been mentioned by Respawn itself, until we get improvements and new skills we can not access everything the map.
The skills can be of two types. Some physical, such as the ability to run on the walls or double jump. Others, related to the Force. At first we can stop objects and enemies, but we lack more actions. When we can push with force, we can break certain walls, knock down structures and move objects. There is also the ability to drag objects and elements to us. Thanks to this, for example, we can take ropes to which we do not jump. This means that little by little we are combining all kinds of actions to move forward, making sure that the platform is clearly inspired by Uncharted, but that it has its own vicissitudes thanks to the mechanics of Cal Kestis.
We will jump and run along a wall, we will reach a rope and we will push ourselves which tarzan. When we jump to the next, we must use force to bring it closer if we do not want to fall into the void, and we will end up falling on the mainland … And if it can be by pressing X and killing an unsuspecting enemy from the air. The variants are multiple, since the use of force to stop mechanisms and pass between them, or even stop large structures in motion, hang on them and then let them start to reach other places, is constant.
In this sense, it is important to emphasize that on all planets, except for a specific moment when we go to a site, we are then forced to return to the ship without a quick trip or ellipsis of any kind. But the system is so well embedded that on the way back we find new roads, shortcuts and detours that allow us, on the one hand, to rediscover areas that we had not seen; and on the other, not having the feeling of undoing the path traveled. Of course, the game penalizes little the falls or failures in the jumps, taking away little life and leaving us just before the jump that we have failed, unlike the death in combat that sends you to the last checkpoint where we have rested.
The design of planets (fans will recognize some of them, others have been created for the game), with its various levels of height, its secret paths, its exponential growth in size as we gain skills, it's great. And it reminds a lot of the Souls saga, with those paths and structures that end up revolving around the fires, here known as meditation points that serve to recover life, equip skills, restore the number of stimulants (healing objects) and save. Also, by the way, it makes the enemies that we have overcome reappear. There will be few occasions when it will seem that we are far away, but when opening a hatch, pulling a rope down or deviating inside a cave … we will connect with the checkpoint we had left behind. All this on large planets, which we will visit more than once and that will always offer us more land to explore when we return.
It is tremendously satisfying to see how new skills make us connect with sites that we have been through before: "Ok, now I can go there." And the game invites you to fly to places already seen. Doors, paths that seem impossible, even diving under the sea open a world that seemed hidden in our first pass through each of the planets.
Souls lightly
And in the middle of all these roads, what? Well, the Empire. And the fauna of the Star Wars universe. Cal Kestis is equipped with his laser sword, with strength and with some skills that we can assign to BD-1 at certain times. The combat system is also familiar to us, although with an agile and consistent touch. We can block attacks and shots, return them even at the right time, hit with a normal attack and do it with a more powerful one that uses a Force bar. To all this, we can use force to stop enemies, stop bullets, push them … With great simplicity and with a lock on system that works without problems.
The great key element of combat is in the reaction. The enemies have two bars: life and resistance. As long as they have full resistance, they will not be at the mercy of us, although we can take their lives if we attack them when they fail. Therefore, the parry here is key. They attack us, we parry and lose resistance – or directly run out – at which point it is ideal to attack. We can also reduce resistance by hitting several times while blocking. It is not the only thing we can do, since many times it is best to dodge attacks with the corresponding button and then counterattack in that vulnerability window. In fact, almost all enemies have unblocking attacks. Point out that our resistance bar is reduced by blocking, but not when we make movements or attack, and that there are enemies that can break it with a couple of blows.
And so the fighting unfolds, dancing with the enemies swords up, blocking distant shots, parrys, dodging … And making perfect dodges. If we press B at the right time, Kestis makes a small evasive move that leaves him in a counterattack position. This, which can be improved with the ability to slow down time when we make a perfect dodge, is ideal for punishing the strongest enemies, since with normal dodges they recover their guard too soon.
We will meet all kinds of stoormtropers. With guns, with submachine guns, flamethrowers, melee weapons … And the elite versions, which give us demanding one-on-one fighting and have different patterns depending on the weapon they carry. Enemies like these or medium-sized robots raise the level of demand, although during the first half of adventure the title is affordable.
The thing changes later, with the arrival of new types of enemies. Some attack in groups from several fronts, and others such as the Brothers of the Night (where Darth Maul comes from for example) are very hard and, there, the level is raised of demand in a remarkable way. When we have three of them we have a problem. Because its resistance drops little, its pattern for parry is different and this is not like Batman: here, if you are not in front of who is attacking, no matter how much you squeeze the parry, if they are assaulting you in the back, they harm you.
Death is more present in the second part of the game – and the final section asks to have learned – and this punishes us with returning to the last point of meditation and having lost the experience, unless we hit the enemy that has killed us previously. There is no lack of large vehicles such as the AT-ST or some ships and droids to complete the Empire's army. If we add to this that on the majority of the planet there are interference of beasts of all kinds, small (you will hate spiders) and giants, in the midst of fighting, the result is that although we are facing an agile and generous combat system, it will touch focus to overcome several challenges.
At this point it is worth stopping at the final bosses. Normally, one-on-one battles where laser sword battles are the order of the day and patterns that have reached midlife change. It is true that several of them are not at the level of the rest of the game, but also that others are surprising and demanding. Especially, again, in the second half. The problem of the former is that they are presupposed an entity and importance that we do not recognize either, because we have barely interacted with them, and that their employers are not the most complex and some of them are not even necessary to end them. In the final section, for plot reasons and according to which locations gain in importance.
In fact, Respawn Entertainment seems very focused on offering an experience according to all players. We were told before the review and in the game it is indicated: there are four levels of difficulty, being the weakest not recommended because it is a walk, and being between the second and third level all the juice of the title. We have been campaigning interspersing these difficulty levels. In normal, Jedi Knight, the game already has demanding moments and of course, crushing attacks means dying. In the third difficulty, Jedi Master, it still costs more and is a challenge. The difference between levels is based on three attributes: the window we have to do the parrys, the damage we receive and the aggressiveness of the enemies. To give you an idea, on the third level of difficulty, two or three strokes mean death. For other games is "Jedi Grand Master", with a millimeter parry and the maximum aggressiveness and maximum damage possible of the enemies.
Customization and extras
To deal with all this we have a skill tree focused on three elements: survival, the laser sword and strength. As we kill enemies, find secrets or study documents – in the form of a BD-1 scan – we add experience that gives us points of ability to assign. New combinations with the sword, which has three positions and is a show when we deploy it to the fullest, improvements in life, in the use and expenditure of force, etc. Some attacks are key – such as improving perfect dodging – and other skills can help us passively if we need more vitality or more strength. They are not too large trees, nor can we create different builds. It is not something that the game pretends, since its conception is focused on adventure in an obvious way.
On the other hand, the extras and elements we have to explore if we want to achieve 100% are more context. Boxes that give us aesthetic elements (ponchos and costumes for the protagonist, colors for the Mantis, for BD-1, accessories for the laser sword), as well as documents that contextualize what happened there or enhancers to have more life or have more stimulants . It is true, at this point, that seeking 100% of the title can cause real interest to decline. Finishing the campaign is about 75-80%, depending on what we deviate more or less consciously. That remaining 20% is reduced to this type of extras and the presence, yes, of beasts or secret final bosses that have their substance of finding and conquering, but that also do not provide key rewards for the adventure. In total, the main campaign moves above 15 hours and 100%, above 20.
On an audiovisual level, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order has a powerful artistic direction, focused on making everything we see familiar. Both the fauna and flora of the exteriors and the interiors of structures of the Empire, the design of BD-1 or the costumes of the protagonists put us fully in what a Star Wars videogame means, although at the technical level it has improvable things, like certain designs (those wookies) and some facial expressions. Some animations are also improvable, especially in certain crashes and jumps. The soundtrack brand of the house and the special effects, which know to accompany in moments of tranquility and offer the necessary epic in the great combats (everything that sounds is very familiar in style to what we know of the license, and it is appreciated) , as well as a good dubbing, complete a title that, of course, is not saved from some technical errors such as some framerate drains and a couple of crashes that we suffer at certain times, in addition to some textures that take time to load at certain times. In Xbox One X allows us to activate a performance mode blocking 1080p to reach 60 fps, something that is appreciated at the level of fluidity, although the rate is not always maintained and the game suffers when the camera covers a lot of horizon.
CONCLUSION
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order is one of the great adventures that this year leaves us, and it is no small thing to say this in full 2019. Respawn Entertainment consolidates, if it was not already, with a guarantee developer. So true is that the title starring Cal Kestis does not revolutionize or reinvent anything in the adventure genre as everything he proposes does very well and, in addition, he knows how to adapt to the possibilities of the Star Wars universe and, more specifically, to what it means to control a Jedi. The best part of the game is that all the pieces work: the balance between platform and exploration, the backtracking and the excellent level design, as well as a simple but solid combat and a growing difficulty and adaptable to each type of player. The plot is not at the product level and has some technical problems, but its semi-open development and the good fit of all the elements make the Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order a game to take into account. Whether or not you are a fan of the LucasArts universe.
THE BEST
- Level design: we will check the map often, we have backtracking, secrets to explore …
- The unlocking system of new paths and shortcuts as we move forward and gain skills
- Simple but effective combat: controlling the laser sword is a joy and we have several skills to combine
- Wide variety of situations in which Plataformeo is concerned
- The Star Wars scent that is breathed in every corner, document, enemy …
- The soundtrack
WORST
- The plot does not just take off or hook enough
- Some technical problems
- Completing 100% does not report too many rewards
Excellent
A benchmark title in its genre, which stands out above its competitors and that you will enjoy from beginning to end, surely several times. A game destined to become a classic over the years.
