So it has been quite a while now since we have had a 100% single player Star Wars game, I can’t even recall the last one to be honest.
So when Respawn announced that they were making a new single player only, no loot box, no multiplayer, no pay to win game, the industry took a moment to pick their jaws up off the floor.
EA is not known for giving us complete games. Hell, their entire business model up to 2018 was to shill every customer for as much as they thought they could get away with.
Well that was til the backlash against them over Star Wars Battlefront 2. Fans spoke out so loud and long that they actually revamped their entire loot plan, and BF2 took such a financial hit from negative press, that I am honestly stunned EA even entertained another Star Wars game.
But they really did learn, and become humble at this years E3, coming right out saying they are eliminating loot boxes and paid expansion, it was a brazen change of direction for them. One fans looked on skeptically.
But proof is in the pudding.
Here we sit a year later with one of the best Star Wars games I have ever played, second only to Knight of the Old Republic.
The story takes place in a time between Episode 3 and Episode 4. After order 66 wiped out the Jedi, but about 10 years prior to A New Hope.
With a force sensitive scrap salvager and a fallen Jedi as his teacher.
I wont give away much of the story, as it is honestly pretty great, and works very well within the confines of the universe we all know and love.
At its core, it is a really weird mix of well established genres.
It is part Tomb Raider / Uncharted in its level traversal and climbing based puzzles. With wonderfully crafted worlds (6 in total) that are all open world, yet in the fashion of Legend of Zelda, require certain items or force skill unlocked as you journey to open paths in a level you are in.
Puzzling is nothing terribly difficult, but there are a lot of secrets and alternate routes to take if you are keeping a close eye on the level.
It is part Dark Souls in it unforgiving difficulty and the way it handles death. Every time you die, you respawn back at the previous place you meditated. And thus respawns all the enemies in the area.
This makes for a real balancing act, when you are low on health, do you meditate and respawn everyone? Or do you forge on and hope you make it to the next checkpoint.
If you do get killed my an enemy, they will now glow after your respawn, and they will hold all your previously acquired and unspent experience. Pushing you to find them and kill them, or you risk losing it all.
It has a vary Final Fantasy skill tree, where you spend points you accumulate from experience, every XX amount of points you get, nets you a skill point to spend on abilities. Most ranging from 1 to 3 points to unlock.
There are a fair bit of skills to unlock as well=, about 40 in total if I recall correctly. From throwing your saber, to additional combos, force push and pull boosts, etc. All adding to your arsenal of force destruction.
Upon day 1 release, sadly the game suffered from A LOT of glitches, from disappearing droids, to not being able to complete a Platinum run of the game as the collectables were glitched.
In the coming 4 weeks post launch though, they managed to clean pretty much all of it up. Just a bit frustrating for us day one buyers.
The only downside or negative I can say about the game is, they is little to no replay value added. Once you have got a Platinum, you have honestly seen and done it all.
I understand there may be a New Game + mode coming, that would go far in extending the life of the game for sure.
Visuals in Fallen Order are top notch, with excellent use of HDR and 4k, the game is incredibly crisp and colorful. Some of it can be a little too dark at times, even with a well calibrated TV or projector, but all in all the good outweighed the bad.
Sound was stellar, but not surprisingly so considering it is Lucas magic after all. Tie Fighters buzzing overhead, wayward shots from stormtroopers who can’t hit a thing, all of it sounded on par with the films.
An excellent romp that lasted about 25-30 hours for a Platinum trophy, and a damn fine addition to the Star Wars universe.
A solid 9/10 and a must buy for any Star Wars fan out there.
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 