Rating of
4/5
The Force is Strong Once Again
Chris Kavan - wrote on 11/24/24
While Star Wars is one of the biggest franchises around, Star Wars games - especially decent ones - are few and far between. You can mention the Super Star Wars/Empire/Jedi games from the Super NES days, Shadows of the Empire and fan favorites Knights of the Old Republic aka KOTR (and its sequel). I never got into the MMO (despite owning the super special edition) or the Battlefront games. The Force Unleashed games were only so-so. When Respawn (also responsible for Titanfall and Apex Legends) brought in Fallen Order it was amidst a long drought of truly inspired Star Wars titles. Luckily, thanks to an original story, some great graphics and inspired use of force abilities - Fallen Order was a breath of fresh air and truly helped usher in a new age for the Star Wars license.
Looks and Stuff: The game is impressive with several planet to explore from the heavily forested Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk to the frozen Jedi crystal home of Ilum to the swampy and deadly Dathomir (home of Darth Maul and witches). The plants all have their own personalities and the enemy variety throughout keeps you on your toes. You get basic stormtroopers, more dangerous purge troopers and whole lot of dangerous flora and fauna to deal with. Voice acting is top-notch with Cameron Monaghan (who I remember from Gotham) as the main character, Cal Kestis with Debra Wilson voicing his new mentor Cere Junda, Daniel Roebuck voices the four-armed pilot Greez Dritus and Elizabeth Grullon as the main villain in padawan-turned inquisitor Trilla Suduri. Forest Whitaker even shows up for a short bit reprising his role as Saw Gerrera and Ben Burtt is even here voicing Cal's droid sidekick BD-1. The music is sweeping and very much in line with John William's score and even the idle chatter among stormtroopers is hilariously on point. I had no major issues along the way - I fell through the world once and suffered a few crashes (though I blame my aging computer and not the game) but nothing game-breaking in any way.
Story: Cal Kestis managed to survive Order 66 as a young padawan but not without watching his master fall. He has flown under the radar ever since and at the beginning of the game works as a ship-breaker/scrapper on the planet Bracca. But as fate would have it, he is caught on camera (or probe droid as it were) saving his friend by using the force, drawing the eyes of the Empire with two inquisitors The Second Sister and Ninth Sister, sent to purge him. His friend sacrifices himself so Cal can escape and he does - thanks to the intervention of former Jedi Knight Cere Junda and hired pilot Greez Dritus who were monitoring Imperial channels. Cere, however, didn't rescue Cal for nothing and informs him of an ancient temple on the planet Bogano - one that caught the attention of her old master, Eno Cordova. Much like Count Dooku, Cordova didn't care much for the Jedi Council but rather than turn to the dark side, he turned his attention to the ancient Zeffo - a force sensitive race. Utilizing their knowledge, Cordova hid a holocron inside their temple. This contains information regarding force-sensitive children spread across the galaxy and in order to access it, they will have to follow Cordova's path. Cal is introduced to BD-1, Cordova's old droid and it becomes a partner to him on his journey. Along the way, Cal will remember his old lessons and gradually gain back the abilities he allowed to go dormant - as well as crafting his own lightsaber. But the inquisitors will not give up their mission, either, and work to stop him and get ahold of the holocron for their master - Darth Vader. From helping Saw Gerrera and the wookies of Kashyyyk to encountering one of the last force witches and a dark Jedi on Dathomir - Cal will have no end of adventures along the way.
Gameplay: Fallen Order is a third-person action/adventure 3D platformer. Combat takes some pages from the souls games (a lot of blocking and dodging) but isn't nearly as punishing. Plus the force abilities you unlock really give combat a fun twist as you can push, pull and slow along with using your lightsaber to reflect back bolts or even throw it if you're feeling frisky. The game also has plenty of exploration - and you can visit planets at will as unlocking story events or abilities allows you to access previously inaccessible areas. One thing I really wish the game had was a fast-travel system. The game gives you plenty of meditation spots along the way - but travel is strictly running, jumping, climbing and the like. If you do die, you spawn back at the last meditation spot you were at and, in an interesting turn, you must kill the enemy who defeated you to get your experience back (though you never lose actual powers/points). Meditation spots also allow you to refill all force/health and stims (think med kits) but at the cost of re-spawning all enemies in that level. This is also where you spent experience to unlock new abilities. BD-1 is more than just a plucky droid sidekick - he can also heal you (stims are found throughout the game up to a max of 10), open chests and, eventually, let you slice into locked areas and even hack enemy droids.
The game does a good job of providing a nice challenge without being so punishing you want to quit. The final boss battle was the only time I got frustrated - but realized I SHOULD have collected all the stim upgrades first (I only had six of the 10 at the time - big mistake) and it would have made things so much better. Still, I certainly died a lot - sometimes in stupid, stupid ways and other times because I encountered something new and didn't know the pattern. Exploration mostly affords you with new lightsaber parts, poncho colors, ship colors and BD-1 colors but you can also collect Force echoes along the way that expand upon the lore. All in all, there is a lot to do and one game I didn't mind at all completing 100%.
Replay value: The game does offer a new game plus mode (luckily no achievements are tied to that) but otherwise, aside from tracking down all the collectibles, it's a one-and-done kind of game.
Final Verdict: Star Wars fans should love this and even people who want a decent action/adventure game should have fun with this.
Presentation: 5/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replay: 2/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
Time Played: 37h
Cheevos: 100% (39/39)
