Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

This is a game any fan of the Jedi Order or Star Wars in general has been waiting for! I wish you could slice enemies in half or cut off their arms. However Disney made the stipulation that Respawn could not show dismemberment of humanoid figures.

For me I didn't really have high hope's for this game to be anything to shout about. I was looking forward to it but was abit skeptical at the same time. I am so glad I got this game on release because it is totally epic! From the gorgeous and expansive worlds to the in depth character customisation. The seamless fighting style and transitions to other planets is beautiful. This game is for the fans. If you are like me and are skeptical because it's an EA game and there history with microtransactions and the sort. Don't be, this is for us. May the force be with you.

I'm someone who was really burned out of Star Wars thanks to the many movies with questionable quality that came after the original trilogy, and thanks to the low-effort games that EA has released in the past couple of years.

But this game is a breath of fresh air. It's exceptionally well made, it combines a lot of gameplay elements wonderfully from some of my favourite genres, it's truly a joy to play and it reignited my love and hope for Star Wars again. This is my New Hope.

You can really tell that the many artists, developers and writers put their heart and soul into making this game. These people actually understand what was so special about the original movies and in general, about Star Wars. This game is a work of passion.

The atmosphere is strong, the soundtrack is mesmerizing and evokes the same feelings as those old movies did with their own music. The characters are well written and likeable, the world is rich and full of mysteries and interesting places waiting to be explored.

In terms of gameplay, the best way to describe Fallen Order would be that it's a lovechild between Uncharted and Sekiro, coupled with a Metroidvania-style level-design and progression. The exploration is rewarding, the combat is tactical, deep, fast-paced, and satisfying, and there's always a strong sense of progression.

Buy this game, or rent it using Origin Access Premiere (like I did). It deserves it, we should support great games like this.

Seriously, how can a game's story be waaaay better than the whole new trilogy?

The game is very well made, annoying at times when you cannot get up when fighting bosses or bigger creatures, but it wasn't a massive problem, it should be challenging at times. Overall beautiful, well acted, good story, fun, a pleasant surprise. After the fails that were, in my opinion, the new trilogy and the new battlefront titles, this was like a breath of fresh air. Well done!

Thanks to EA for bringing the world a Star Wars game that is more than just a bitty, online-only punch-up. As a fan of old titles like 'Knight of the Old Republic', a single-player, immersive adventure like this was just the ticket for me. That said, the game is not without its problems. If EA is planning more like this, I'd like to offer some constructive criticism.

First - combat difficulty levels. I'm an old fart and my gamer reflexes are very mid-table by some standards. That said, I'm generally far above the easy-peasy modes, which is where I spend a lot of my Fallen Order time. It's just too difficult to time parries and use force powers - particularly against animals - without getting killed, a lot. I learned the game's ways eventually but I'm still mostly limited to 'Jedi Knight' level. Even on my second run-through, I can't nail a boss scene without taking it all the way down to kindergarten level. An unfortunate effect of all this is that a cagey, defensive combat style which avoids frequent death and tedious back-tracking also stops you generating and using the force powers which are really the key appeal of the game.

Second - interminable cut-scenes that go on and on and on and can't be skipped. Please give the gamer the choice about whether they want to watch the cinematic links. They don't always enrich and can simply frustrate.

Third - puzzles. As an Assassin's Creed aficionado, I quickly learned that the third-person mayhem of Fallen Order is only superficially similar to AC Odyssey, et al. Not only is the combat trickier and less intuitive, but there is far more head-scratching and problem-solving to be tackled simply to get from A to B. I learned to enjoy this aspect - apart from one or two scenes I simply couldn't crack without YouTube. I'd ask EA to make the cutesier problems a bit less obstuse. Examining one room for twenty minutes isn't my idea of a good time, nor is repeatedly failing an impossible jump because I'm new to the game and don't realise I'll be coming back to the location later with more powers.

That's it. This game comes pretty close to classic, but the frustration needs to be dialled down.