This game is rather unbelievable. For a few reasons.
It's a good Star Wars Game. Actually....It's kind of a GREAT Star Wars game.
It's a single player game from EA, that is good, that doesn't have microtransactions, and was just left alone to be a good game without typical EA bullshit.
So Jedi Fallen Order is a third person action game that takes influence from everywhere. But mostly it plays like the Tomb Raider reboots had a baby with a Dark Souls game. Character movement is very very smooth, from jumping to wall running to climbing, traversing the world just feels good. Though the levels are small (as they are broken up by different planets) each area does have that Souls-like feeling of "if you can see it, you can probably get there somehow".
The game also looks amazing, the cuts scenes all feel like they are in-engine and the game feels and looks like you are watching a Star Wars film. It's really really good, and easily has to be the best looking game all year just in the way they've nailed how much it looks and feels like Star Wars. Even the smaller details in the environment, like little native wildlife running around as you explore a cave or whatever, or the sounds of the ships flying around and the buzz of your lightsaber.
Combat is more Sekiro than Dark Souls, mainly due to the emphasis on parrying attacks rather than dodging and the lack of a stamina bar. You could wail on the attack button till the cows come home, but you'll die so it isn't a good idea. The parry is king and that's told to you by the way they put difficulty in the game.
Hey guys look this developer put easy, normal, hard, and extreme difficulties in a Souls inspired game!
So the obvious thing with difficulty modes is the damage taken and the damage given. But the way the game tells you how important parrying is going to be is that the diffculties change your parry window timing. On Story mode difficulty (easy) your parry window is approx seven hour and eight minutes. On extreme the parry window is the blink of an eye, and if you miss you die in like 1 hit.
Additionally during combat, the enemies will glow red when they are about to do an attack that will fuck you dead, so again like Sekiro these are indications that getting the hell outta the way is the score here not parrying. Dodge, jump, or Sprint the fuck outta the way and you should be fine. How this is where the combat starts to show it's not the game it completely wants to be. You see, dodging is unresponsive and very very short. You sometimes have to spam dodge to get it to work or to get far enough away from an attack to avoid it, which makes it very counter-intuitive to use especially considering the mindset the game puts you in. I don't know if there just isn't invincibility frames with the dodge or what, but it feels worthless even against normal enemies and normal attacks. That really hurts combat for me because it makes the combat flow feel janky and off.
Otherwise the rest of the Souls formula is here, there are bonfires, enemies respawn when you rest at a bonfire or when you die, and you lose all exp. However instead of having to go pick up your exp or killing a nearby enemy who randomly picked your soul pile up, you just have to get back to the enemy that killed you and hit him once. Which I really like because if you die to a boss, you don't have to spend a minute running around the room to grab your lost exp, and letting the boss have free reign on your ballsack until you are ready to go toe to toe again. Instead you just go into the boss fight and fight it normally, because you'll recover everything so long as you can get a single hit against him.
So overall Jedi Fallen Order is good, it's great even. It's got a few problems, but they aren't too much of a big deal once you get used to it. If you are looking for your good single player Star Wars game, here it is.
It's a good Star Wars Game. Actually....It's kind of a GREAT Star Wars game.
It's a single player game from EA, that is good, that doesn't have microtransactions, and was just left alone to be a good game without typical EA bullshit.
So Jedi Fallen Order is a third person action game that takes influence from everywhere. But mostly it plays like the Tomb Raider reboots had a baby with a Dark Souls game. Character movement is very very smooth, from jumping to wall running to climbing, traversing the world just feels good. Though the levels are small (as they are broken up by different planets) each area does have that Souls-like feeling of "if you can see it, you can probably get there somehow".
The game also looks amazing, the cuts scenes all feel like they are in-engine and the game feels and looks like you are watching a Star Wars film. It's really really good, and easily has to be the best looking game all year just in the way they've nailed how much it looks and feels like Star Wars. Even the smaller details in the environment, like little native wildlife running around as you explore a cave or whatever, or the sounds of the ships flying around and the buzz of your lightsaber.
Combat is more Sekiro than Dark Souls, mainly due to the emphasis on parrying attacks rather than dodging and the lack of a stamina bar. You could wail on the attack button till the cows come home, but you'll die so it isn't a good idea. The parry is king and that's told to you by the way they put difficulty in the game.
Hey guys look this developer put easy, normal, hard, and extreme difficulties in a Souls inspired game!
So the obvious thing with difficulty modes is the damage taken and the damage given. But the way the game tells you how important parrying is going to be is that the diffculties change your parry window timing. On Story mode difficulty (easy) your parry window is approx seven hour and eight minutes. On extreme the parry window is the blink of an eye, and if you miss you die in like 1 hit.
Additionally during combat, the enemies will glow red when they are about to do an attack that will fuck you dead, so again like Sekiro these are indications that getting the hell outta the way is the score here not parrying. Dodge, jump, or Sprint the fuck outta the way and you should be fine. How this is where the combat starts to show it's not the game it completely wants to be. You see, dodging is unresponsive and very very short. You sometimes have to spam dodge to get it to work or to get far enough away from an attack to avoid it, which makes it very counter-intuitive to use especially considering the mindset the game puts you in. I don't know if there just isn't invincibility frames with the dodge or what, but it feels worthless even against normal enemies and normal attacks. That really hurts combat for me because it makes the combat flow feel janky and off.
Otherwise the rest of the Souls formula is here, there are bonfires, enemies respawn when you rest at a bonfire or when you die, and you lose all exp. However instead of having to go pick up your exp or killing a nearby enemy who randomly picked your soul pile up, you just have to get back to the enemy that killed you and hit him once. Which I really like because if you die to a boss, you don't have to spend a minute running around the room to grab your lost exp, and letting the boss have free reign on your ballsack until you are ready to go toe to toe again. Instead you just go into the boss fight and fight it normally, because you'll recover everything so long as you can get a single hit against him.
So overall Jedi Fallen Order is good, it's great even. It's got a few problems, but they aren't too much of a big deal once you get used to it. If you are looking for your good single player Star Wars game, here it is.
