During the EA Play 2019, we had the opportunity to attend a gameplay session of the new Electronic Arts title set on the Star Wars universe and developed by the guys from Respawn Entertainment. As you may have understood it is Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
During the morning EA had shown a gameplay session of about 12 minutes but the exclusive hands off in which we participated is a more extended version of what was shown during that morning.
Let's start by saying that the demo is the result of a game played in real time by a developer of Respawn Entertainment and that as we already know, the facts narrated on the new Respawn Entertainment title, will be set immediately after the execution of order 66 by the self-proclaimed Emperor Palpatine and for the uninitiated, Order 66 consists of the total elimination of every Jedi. At the beginning of the gameplay we find our would-be Jedi Knight, Carl Kestis, immersed in the sea of Kashyyyk, home planet of the Wookie. After a short swim session, we find ourselves climbing on an imperial AT-AT type walker. After reaching the top, with great amazement, our hero takes possession of it and begins to make a clean sweep of enemies. During this session we noticed several drops in frame rates, especially when starting to fire with the cannons, but this is completely normal since the build of the game was apparently still in alpha stage.
During the main mission, Carl was able to meet characters like Saw Gerrera coming directly from the film Rogue One and always played by the actor Forest Whitaker. Jedi Fallen Order, in fact, is a canonical episode of the new Star Wars cinematic universe and in all likelihood, it is likely that Saw's character will not be the only one returning in this title.
During the less excited phases of the game, Carl could talk to some NPCs or even go to his ship to go and explore other planets (4 were those available in the holographic star map, but we think there may be many more), leaving us to imagine possible missions secondary and greater freedom of action than it may seem. On the other hand, the developers have said that they were partly inspired by Metroid Prime for the exploration of the areas, so it will be necessary to return to different places only later.
Our protagonist will be able to run, climb walls and use force to remove the obstacles that we will find during our journey and after a session of parkour we will find ourselves facing a wave of Storm Trooper, the imperial soldiers. Here in addition to obviously using the lightsaber, we can use various powers derived from mastering the Force: we can throw enemies away or attract them to us, temporarily block them in a kind of stasis and also we have the possibility to block the laser beams of the blasters of the enemies; It is also possible to combine all these powers and create different combos. Each skill derived from the use of force will consume a portion of "mana", and this will be indicated in the center of the screen by a blue bar. To recharge it, all we have to do is fight the enemies using the lightsaber. The combat mechanics may seem like something already seen in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but these are the fighting styles that both the Jedi and Sith codes teach.
The lightsaber is every Jedi's best friend, and after the Death Star, it is the most powerful weapon in George Lucas' imagery. From what the developers have shown us, we have two types of attack available, one light and one heavy but with the lightsaber it will also be possible to deflect the rays of the enemy blasters if we put ourselves in a defensive position. The right sequence of combos, such as for example luring an enemy to you by force and then immediately using the sword, can lead to practically instant executions.
There are also parries and dodges which, if performed with the right timing, allow you to perform lethal attacks or counterattacks for enemies. In addition, the sword can also be thrown to strike opponents further away. On Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, our hero will be accompanied by a robot who will follow us and help us throughout our adventure. The BD-1 unit: it will be necessary, as well as to analyze the objects we find around and open the doors, also to provide us with the medkits necessary to restore our health; it will also help us to decipher the computers scattered around the map in order to open doors, or activate objects in order to continue our adventure.
In Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the fights seemed extremely easy to us, with an artificial intelligence practically to be reviewed at the current state of affairs: before attacking, in fact, the enemies seem to have to wait their own turn, or even find them motionless waiting for the player to make his move. During the demo we were able to witness a fair variety of enemies, ranging from different degrees of storm tropper to the local fauna of Kashyyyk made up of huge giant spiders.
During the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order course it will be possible to accumulate experience, level up and obtain skill points: to take advantage of the latter, just enter meditation mode and have access to the skill tree, but unfortunately the developers did not give us the pleasure of seeing this part. But let's imagine that the skills will mainly revolve around the powers of the force, new moves to perform with the lightsaber, passive upgrades and perhaps new ways to interact with the environment. In fact, even our trusty BD-1 will be able to develop, looking for terminals that allow him to acquire new skills that will help Carl overcome various obstacles and reach places otherwise unattainable.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seemed like a title with a lot of potential, but that still needs to show some more gameplay. The elements for an excellent Star Wars game are all there, but they need some filing and more convincing exposure than those shown during EA Play. The exploration seemed very linear to us, despite the references to the Metroidvania, as well as the combat system needs some more technicality to make it more interesting. Or more simply, we need to try it to understand what the feedback of the game pad will be in hand.
► Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an Action-Adventure type game developed by Electronic Arts Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and | , the video game was released on 15/11/2019
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 82%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review
