Soft Spoiler Level Note: I talk about things from the trailer and images that were released pre-release and previews. I also talk about some general observations of background characters and general personalities of characters without story spoilers. However if you consider any of this Spoilers then you might wanna come back after you played!
When I first saw the trailer for Jedi: Fallen Order, my breath caught. I actually nearly peed myself with excitement right there in the break room at work. I DID squeak and make noises unbefitting of a Grown Ass Adult™. Yet when I saw it was being made by EA, I was admittedly a bit nervous.
However, once EA came out with assurances that it would be a story mode only and no loot boxes, I let myself become optimistic….
… AND BUY A NEW GRAPHICS CARD TO HANDLE IT YAAAAAS! (Which I will have to review LATER!) Because for the first time in YEARS, I pre-ordered a game. For PC, and made sure I got myself a controller to play it on. Because I wanted to play this on my gaming rig that I build myself for the pretty graphics but still have the controller experience that the game was designed for.
Initially I was a bit “Hmmm” on another white, male, protagonist. HOWEVER I felt better the more I looked into the cast and found a fairly decent amount of variety in the supporting cast. The guy/gal ratio ended up being pretty much on point to about half-ISH. Although I would have to count to be certain. But even in the background NPCs there were tons of people of different ethnicities and lots of women! The antagonist is even a BADASS woman.
All of that said, I INSTANTLY fell in love with Cal. I mean LOOK AT HIS FACE. My ovaries exploded in a cloud of I NEED TO MOM YOU.
Cal is a fun protagonist. He’s a great Jedi in the making. Despite his sad, puppy, adolescent eyes, he’s a good kiddo at heart. He does have some teenage moments, but I think that just drives home that he’s still young and thinks like a teen. Something which is important. I actually like that you can’t really change who the character is because frankly this is an adventure game, not an RPG. Something I loved was that the story creators allowed him to have feelings much more than anger. He’s got this tenderness about him that’s really carving the way for a new line of male heroes in a world that’s over saturated with one stereotype of guy. He’s been through trauma, but he copes without instantly going to anger. He even cried once. Which was actually shocking.
Another thing that really stood out to me is his tenderness with his droid companion, BD-1. (BD stands for Buddy Droid, I just learned and we thought he couldn’t get cuter!!) This little creature loves and depends on him and Cal gives it back and then some. I feel it goes beyond the man and his dog troupe. Cal goes out of his way to care for this little droid physically and emotionally, he cheers him up, compliments him, checks in on him, and treats him with genuine love. This stuff is really paving the way for more characters which depict non-toxic masculinity.
As for the game play, I found it a lot of fun. I noted earlier that this wasn’t an RPG, but it wasn’t really an action game either. Even though it had a strong adventure and story focus, this game does NOT shy away from the badass combat system. I found the light saber combat to be easily the best I’ve ever encountered in a game. They kept it simple, yet broke beyond simple button mashing. You can mix it up with Force powers, or just light saber combos, or a combination there of and really do some fun things.
What I enjoyed the most beyond the story, however, was the exploring! There’s chests all over the place in all of these nooks and crannies that reward you going around and just admiring how BEAUTIFUL this game is. Not to mention a pretty great (but sometimes a little funky) 3D holomap system that you can move around and help your very lost ass out of the temple that you’ve been doing puzzles in for the past three hours. (Who me? Lost in a game? Never!)
The graphics in this game are BREATHTAKING. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t played a lot of games that have come out in the past year or so, but the RTX series graphics and even my 1660Ti do DAMN well to bring this game to the next level. From the first cut scene, my breath just left me. I couldn’t actually believe that I was playing a GAME. This was movie quality cut scenes and the characters were actors with motion capture. Every twitch of the eye was beautifully captured which only ended up pulling you into the story that much more. The reflections in the water and on metal surfaces. The little DETAILS they put in clothing and weathering of buildings and such are jaw dropping.
Besides the occasional over dramatic rag-doll physics getting stuck or the fact that Cal looks like he gels his hair in layers (now you won’t un-see it, sorrynotsorry), the physics engine is really on point. Even down to the basic ray tracing in the game and shadow effects, they were all brilliant. Besides those mentioned above, the only time I lost some reality was that bubble seemed to move through water as dark blurbs rather than ones of light. However, I was playing with a 1660Ti and not one of the fancy RTX enhanced Ray-Tracing for the extra light realize. That said, I was never pulled out of the flow of the game because of these things. Consider them ‘things I noted’ rather than ‘things Im complaining about.’
The ONLY thing I will complain about are the GAWD DAMNED WALL RUNS! Holy crap guys! I am not a controller yeeter and I nearly performed a ‘big mad yeet’ (as the kids call it) with a couple these wall runs. I was seriously muttering the Jedi Code and pretend coaching my padawan ass through emotional control. That said, it is entirely possible that it was an operator error. I don’t have a tone of good movement or feeling in my hands, so maybe I wasn’t pushing things at the EXACT correct angle, but GAWED DAMN! So who knows? Did anyone else have issue with this? I could be just me!!
Last but not least I want to give some SERIOUS kudos to the sound team for this game as well. Every squishy foot step was perfect. The surround sound was perfectly formatted. Just like how the small visual details make a huge impact, so did the sounds. But it went more than just the foot falls on different types of terrain, it was the little clicks with BD, it was the voice modulations the troopers made with their witty banter, it was the ruffle of your clothing! There were just so MANY little details that I just had to take a moment to give them a HURRAY!
Also; Using the band: The HU, was a BOLD and BADASS choice. I recognized them instantly! (Look them up if you aren’t familiar!)
Overall I give this game a 5/5 stars. This is seriously a game that has appealed to me in every way. I liked really everything about it. EA really did a damn good job with this game and I hope we will get a Fallen Order 2. Which if you ask me seems pretty damn likely.
I for one, will be pre-ordering it the day it’s available.
Thanks for reading and…
May the Force be with you, Always.
Glitter and Games 