"Star wars. Jedi: Fallen Order is the start of a new Jedi series based on the Star Wars universe, which is part of the second Star Wars canon (aka the new canon called The One, from Disney). This is the first major story game in the new canon. The development was carried out by the Respawn Entertainment studio, for which this was the first experience in creating third-person games (also in a new genre for itself).
The most important universe for me is the Star Wars universe. I started studying it when I was 4 years old. And at the moment, I am a lore expert on this universe, knowing every paragraph of history. That’s why I was looking forward to the game like no one else. But, unfortunately, for myself, I have a game program (diary) that I follow. Reviews for foreign audiences, reviews and tops for Russian publications – they will not write themselves. That’s why I got to the game only in 2020, with a slight delay. I recently completed the game for the third time, preparing for the release of the sequel – Star Wars. Jedi: Survivor".
KOBZARFILMMS
The game turned out more or less good. But it was noticeably skewed. She is literally hanging on the edge of a cliff, holding on with all her might, and below her is the abyss of “average” and “failure.”.
What happened to the game? How the designers ruined the project? And why Star Wars fans vehemently defend Fallen Order?? Let’s analyze and analyze each component of a video game work.
1. Gameplay
The genre of the game is Action-Adventure. Gameplay mechanics: climbing system, leveling, melee weapons, character abilities, puzzles – all this is part of the genre Action-Adventure. But besides this, the game took the level design structure from the genre Platform-adventure (in common people it is called – Metroidvania). Namely, temporarily closed areas in an open location, access to which can only be obtained by purchasing special upgrades.
As a result, the developers more or less coped with everything. The game came out as a classic, basic action-adventure game with no innovations to the genre or unique ideas. At the same time. came out with basic Star Wars. Well, let’s begin a constructive analysis of each component of the gameplay.
1. Gameplay – 1.1. Complexity
For those who still don’t understand, I’ll explain: Difficulty is not graded. There is no analysis or nitpicking here on my part, on the part of the hardcore guy. There is an analysis of not only the complexity of the game itself, but also the thoughtfulness (synonymous with “complexity”) of its mechanics, and how they interact with each other.
P.S. The game was played only on hardcore (like all games).KOBZARFILMMS
In terms of difficulty, the game has two serious problems:
What’s wrong with in-game progression?? It doesn’t get any more difficult as you progress through the game. On the contrary, it becomes too easy. And here the counterargument will not work, they say: “this is how the game is intended, Cal Kestis learns, becomes more experienced, and so on”. No. It’s just the opposite – the developers are trying to make the game more difficult after the second half, but they can’t. What do we have? They just throw more opponents at them. But the opponents don’t get any better. This problem goes straight to the section of artificial intelligence, where the assessment will be substituted. The game should increase the difficulty not only by the number of opponents, but also by their artificial intelligence and behavior. This has happened in most of the main Star Wars games. If in the first act, with a certain enemy, for example, your tactic was “push the enemy,” then at the end of the game, it should become ineffective against this very specific enemy, whose artificial intelligence has adapted and no longer lends itself to.
Damn, this was even in 2002, in the same fourth part of the “Jedi Knight” series, called “Outcast”. In 2019, not implementing a basic element for Star Wars games is a huge disadvantage. Considering that the developers were moving in this direction.
Because of this, a second problem arises – pumping imbalance. Yes, it works, it’s not bad – but it’s simply boring to use, because not a single enemy can resist you, even if there are 15 of them.
1. Gameplay – 1.2. Combat System
The combat system consists of close combat, which takes place with a lightsaber, and the use of Jedi powers. The game has a normal combat system. Every technique is useful. And there are actually situations in the game where you need to use them.
1. Gameplay – 1.2. Combat System – 1.1.1. Lightsaber
The lightsaber combat system is fine. There are some individuals who blame the game for the fact that the sword in the game is like a club and not like a lightsaber. Only this complaint should not be about the game, but about the new canon in principle, because the lightsaber in all works is so.
From a gameplay point of view, you can’t touch the sword. What do we have? We have a cool solution – to give the hero, in the end, the best and most versatile lightsaber according to the lore: a double-bladed, detachable lightsaber. In fact, we have 3 fighting styles:
c) Fighting with “two” swords, but, unfortunately, only in the form of separate 2 abilities/strikes, that is, the player does not control it (fortunately, this will be corrected in the sequel and it will become independent – it will be possible to choose it at will).
As you level up, the hero will unlock new attacks and combinations. It will be possible to throw a sword, split it during battle, switch styles, etc.d. There is a sighting system that fixes the camera on one specific enemy. Compared to Sekiro, the combat system is, of course, less developed (especially for bosses, we’ll come back to this later), but still the level is not bad.
The finishing touches in the game are very beautiful, stylish and cheerful. But there is one hard roughness – this is the camera. If you kill an enemy near a wall or in a corner, she can behave catastrophically, which will cause discomfort to the player. The instant kills of enemies when you jump on them from a height are nicely done.
You have to actively use rolls in the game. Many enemies have a stamina bar that needs to be knocked down by parrying.
1. Gameplay – 1.2. Combat System – 1.2.2. Strength
In "Fallen Order", combinations https://bcgame-casino.co.uk/games/ and combinations of force abilities with lightsaber strikes are done at a good level. Question: Are they used on a regular basis?? Yes. Used during the game and are relevant for each opponent. Strength has a scale that is spent, so you need to use it wisely.
But in the end, the combat system is not up to an excellent level due to the in-game progression of enemies and poorly implemented boss battles.
1. Gameplay – 1.3. Leveling up
Pumping at first glance is impressive in scope, but in reality it is monotonous and stingy. There are 2 types of leveling in Fallen Order. The first type is plot leveling, which is inevitable. The second type is pumping of our choice, according to the tree. And now the second type is already divided into 3 branches – power leveling, character leveling and lightsaber leveling.
Leveling up your strength. The least useful of all. Abilities are simply ineffective in practice: Mass Push, Mass Slow, and Mass Pull. And the reason for this is crooked implementation. The developers decided to make them in the form of holding a key for a long time (simulating the accumulation of power). But this became the main problem. It is simply impossible to use them on a regular basis in the game. It is easier for a player to make a regular push several times than to accumulate a powerful one, because in these pitiful, at first glance, 2-3 seconds, enemies will already have time to run up to you, or they will have time to shoot at you. Only a mass push can somehow be used when the enemies don’t see you and are standing on a cliff, but this is a rare situation.
Leveling up your character. Everything is cool here. Both slowing down time when dodging an enemy and automatically deflecting shots while running are both very useful skills.
Upgrading your lightsaber. Everything is fine here too. Useless abilities (and ineffective in practice) only: pull delay and delay combos. They work on the same principle, that is, press attack again a couple of seconds after the first hit. In practice – again useless due to long timings.
As a result, not all abilities (and the whole branch) were thought through. Either they didn’t connect the controls correctly, or they didn’t calculate the timing of the animation.
1. Gameplay – 1.4. Loot and world exploration
In-game exploration is optional. You can either look for improvements for the character, be it a sword, health, strength, etc.d., Or you can search for lore information implemented in the form of notes in the database.
The only reason why you can decide to explore the world is the reward that you are given for this very exploration, namely points for leveling up..
I completed the game 100 percent every time, exploring every planet. It’s different with games – I can’t. And if you want to level up absolutely the entire tree of abilities (even though it’s not necessary), then you’ll have to explore. The alternative option (dozens of hours of killing opponents for the sake of insignificant accumulation of points) is not a rational option in terms of wasting time.
KOBZARFILMMS
As for optional exploration, the game offers containers scattered throughout the world. They contain skins for Poncho, Ship, Droid and Lightsaber. Sword customization is cool. But exploring the world for the sake of lore is not done correctly everywhere, but this is due to weak game texts, which we will return to later.
There are also rare gold-colored containers in which you can increase the supply of first aid kits in the game (they are also stims). As a result, it’s monotonous, drawn-out and there are no compelling reasons to explore the world in particular..
But what do we have in terms of interaction with this very location?? In the game you can run along walls, climb cables, climb walls, ride elevators and platforms, slide down slopes, push blocks with force.
Yes, they brought some kind of parkour into the game. By the way about him. Did you know how these 5 games changed the gaming industry?? I dedicated a separate video to this.
He is also available in my VK group
Enemies are attracted by force, moving mechanisms are frozen by force. Quite a good set. But I really miss the Jedi jump. There are also meditation points in the location, which are saves. After saving, all enemies in the location are reborn.
It can be seen that the world is a little limited and too “rough”.
1. Gameplay – 1.5. Opponents
The game, as it progresses, will demonstrate a fairly large number of opponents. A lot of living creatures, imperials, droids and so on. But there is a huge stone at the bottom… The classification of opponents in the game is poorly developed.
Roughly speaking, we have a “beetle”, a “under-cuttlefish” and a “bigger fish”, which will also act as a boss at a certain cache. Therefore, the situation is very controversial and strange. The planet Dathomir did the best job with types, as it destroyed the repeating chain and replaced half of the beetles with humanoids. Brothers of the night and sisters of the night – fresh air in the game. The most glaring problem with variety is that the bosses on each planet are copies of regular mobs, only recolored and fatter. Fortunately, the opponents differ from each other in attacks, which is a clear plus. Even the same “bugs” are different, and from a gameplay point of view they become more difficult.
The highest quality opponents are Hunter Stormtroopers and Bounty Hunters. Only with them is it possible to fully reveal the combat system. Additionally, they are able to withstand half the player’s strength abilities. All other opponents are a mere dream that cannot do anything to us, even if they take away at least a little health.
The problem of opponents from a gameplay point of view already lies in the failed artificial intelligence. They are dumb, don’t interact with each other, and so on. This applies to humanoids, not animals.
From a design point of view – again debatable. If we take the old characters, then everything with them is masterpiece. But as for the new ones… There’s a beetle, there’s a beetle, there’s a spider, there’s a toad. Overkill with economy of imagination. They are cool in themselves, but in one game it becomes stuffy because there is almost the same thing on every planet.
Barefoot. Boss combat system is broken. If you wait for a regular blow to parry, then there is a chance that you will not have time to react to “red” attacks that cannot be parried or blocked. Some of them are so fast that even with perfect timing, it’s impossible to counter them with anything, because Cal’s animations are simply slower than them. There is also a big problem with hitboxes.
As for their attacks themselves, the Bat and the 9th Sister are bad bosses. They have the most primitive and uninteresting set of attacks, an undeveloped second stage, and they do not follow the logic of alternating abilities (the boss should not make the same attack 3-4 times in a row). Second sister – will do. After 4 boss fights it becomes stuffy with her, because you already know her by heart and stupidly don’t get any impact from the battle. Plus, another problem is that she is the easiest boss and can be completed in one go (and this is the final and main boss).
The best boss in the game is Malicos. It has the most developed and high-quality second stage. The most diverse set of attacks. Unpredictable and different alternation of abilities each time. And only with it the parry system works correctly.
2. Structure – 2.1 Level design
Level design… Yeah. What does it consist of?? We have an open world divided into several sections. Each section is a separate planet. The structure and content of the world in the game is created according to the laws of the genre Platform-adventure (or in common parlance – metroidvania). When some places are shown in advance, but the way there is blocked. The level design itself is made in the form of gut-shaped levels. The game has a map that allows you to navigate the world. The world is multi-stage, that is, the levels go both down and up. The map itself is convenient, clearly conveys orientation in space, multifunctional and pleasant.
But what is the problem with level design?? Art designers and level designers killed him – they all “tried their best”. The main problem of level design is CUBISM. In the game, the designers absolutely did not bother to properly hide or disguise the polygon mesh from the players. Each location in the game is solid cubes and parallelepipeds. It kills absolutely all immersion and atmosphere. And so on every planet. Each landscape is built in the form of cubes. According to the same scheme. In the game, even the grid is the same, for all occasions, on all planets, along which the character climbs.
Make invisible walls, make impenetrable bushes. But why make abysses absolutely everywhere leading to nowhere?? This idea was a bad idea from the start.
As for the structure of the world, it is quite. Dathomir is immediately open to us. We can go there not according to the plot and understand that without improvement we can’t go further. But if the player is attentive enough, he will be rewarded for his lost time with one of the best improvements (a second blade for a lightsaber) much earlier than would be the case in linear progression. All locations come to life again in the second half of the game, when almost everything is pumped up and we can safely explore the world. Considering that the game doesn’t put a strong emphasis on this, it’s done well.
2. Structure – 2.2 Puzzles
The game places special emphasis on puzzles, but only to reveal the secrets of the tombs. They are connected to the balls. With these puzzles there are a couple more, for solving which we will be given places with hiding places. In general, there are not enough of them for the game, but they have a good idea. There is one unique puzzle with wires when we are kidnapped by thugs. But, unfortunately, they are all resolved very quickly. Personally, I’ll add that they are interesting.
3. Contents – 3.1. Plot
The plot of the game is as simple as two pennies. As straightforward as possible and without subplots. We have a completely competent, high-quality beginning and plot, a very weak, monotonous, drawn-out second act and a good third act.
Cal Kestis, a former Jedi Padawan who survived the Jedi Purge, tries to live an ordinary life, but due to a series of circumstances, the Empire discovers his true identity. After this, the hunt begins for him. He is rescued by a smuggler with a former Jedi and offers him to save the Jedi Order by finding a holocron that contains a list of force-sensitive children.
Our task is to scour the tombs in search of the key to the vault. But the game artificially stretches the plot, chasing us in circles. Due to the lack of parallel stories, the game becomes lackluster in content and narrative. The only good normal thing is the subplot of Taron Malikos’s character. It was well revealed, and it gives a second wind to the story. The plot framework itself is not bad, but it is underdeveloped.
3. Contents – 3.2. Characters
Protagonist. Cal Kestis goes through an arc of self-acceptance, acceptance of the past, and overcoming guilt. Nice character. There is good chemistry with the supporting characters. But there is not enough elaboration of character, ethical, moral and psychological aspects.
Antagonist. What can you praise for?. The second sister is the most developed and written inquisitor in the entire history of Star Wars (if we talk only about the new canon, there are much cooler characters in the old canon). She and Cal Kestis have a moral conflict and a confrontation of moral positions. But again, not everything has been brought to fruition at the script level. Namely, the timing is too short and there are few relationships with the protagonist.
Side characters. They are good. Sister Meryn, Malicos and Vader – gold in the game. Our team turned out to be quite lively, with chemistry present between them. The only downside is the character Cere, who is incredibly faded, formulaic and inexpressive in terms of relationships with other characters.