Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is a game that Star Wars fans everywhere have been waiting to see. EA didn’t have a conference this year but they opened up their E3 streaming offerings with Respawn’s big new single player Star Wars game, and people are a bit divisive on what was shown off.
I personally came away with some positive feelings following the 15-minute gameplay session. After the first time watching it, I enjoyed what I saw and was excited to see and hear more, but that’s not really what happened, unfortunately. The details about upgrades and skill points were sparse, and story details were basically nonexistent. There’s still a lot to learn in regards to what Jedi: Fallen Order has to offer, and the more I watch the gameplay session the more I feel that we weren’t given enough for a game that is coming out on November 15th of this year.
The lead-in to the gameplay demo put emphasis on the fact that the person playing the game was a “pro” player. This made me think we were going to see some intense combat and maybe some really challenging portions of the game but that wasn’t the case at all. The majority of the time was spent fighting generic stormtrooper enemies. If they would’ve at least teased a large scale boss fight at the end I might’ve come away more excited, but I can’t help but think that the gameplay portion we saw was a small portion of what was likely shown behind doors.
Putting all of my negative feelings aside, I really enjoyed the presentation and just how much this game felt like Star Wars to me. This game gives me Force Unleashed vibes with much deeper combat mechanics. The combat looks smooth, and that was a big question for me going into the demo. Lightsaber combat has to be hard to accomplish and get right but it looks promising here. The environments look good, climbing and running on the walls looks fun, and using the force is clearly going to be a key element throughout the entirety of this game and rightfully so, it is a game about Jedi after all. The game also seems far less linear than I had anticipated. The player pulls out a map which insinuates there’s a lot to explore. I assume the game is divided up between open slices throughout that can be explored, and I’m really excited to see how it’s implemented.
EA hasn’t done much with the Star Wars games they’ve released, and I think this is a good opportunity to earn some goodwill from players. I understand there will be no microtransactions which is great. Battlefront 2 was essentially a game where figuring out how and where to spend your money was essential to your overall success, and players didn’t respond well.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seems like a step in the right direction. The gameplay looks fun and engaging, and as happy as I was to see everything, I just wished they had shown or even talked about more. I will definitely be looking forward to getting my hands on the game this fall, and our crew on the ground can get their hands on it even sooner.
