4/5 ★ – madisongh2's review of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

It’s taken me well over a year to actually complete Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for multiple reasons: there are so many opportunities for exploration I got sidetracked, I played it on a mode that made it hard for a basic gamer like myself to complete, and sometimes, the puzzles were just annoyingly difficult to solve. This game is a mixed bag between pure genius and frustratingly poor: for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed my play-through… but the there are just too many negatives that really limit this from being something truly extraordinary. Positives: - The storyline is undeniably engaging, emotional, and fun. Considering this is canon to the Star Wars universe, it’s an extremely interesting period of time to explore: post-Order 66, but pre-A New Hope. - The characters in this are fantastic, from the diversity of new additions, to the return of familiar faces. Cal Kestis is a great lead, and one I hope appears in the movie/live-action universe, especially alongside BD-1. - The variety of planets is fun, if slightly annoying when you constantly return to old places. For the most part, it’s a delight to explore some new places and some familiar within the universe. - The references to The Clone Wars are brilliant additions to the game! - The style of the game, for the most part, is genuinely enjoyable to play. The abilities you progressively unlock are useful and motivating to return to older locations, and the freedom to explore is tons of fun. - The finale of the game, the escape from the Interrogation Chamber and Darth Vader, is thrilling, intense, and a great ending. It leaves so much more to be desired for Cal and his crew. - The ability to customise your lightsaber, BD-1, ship, and costuming is a great addition to the game. I loved choosing the colour of my saber! Negatives: - Whilst I respect the variety of planets and locations, the graphics and overall style of the game is pretty poor, and honestly, ugly. - There are annoying moments within the game where it glitches. I had to restart levels multiple times due to Cal glitching in walls. - As previously mentioned, some of the puzzles are undeniably irritating, specifically the Zeffo temple one. They are designed to keep the game engaging, but end up being downright annoying. - Some of the skills don’t make sense or work fully correctly. For example, sometimes BD-1 doesn’t provide a stim. Also, referring to Dathomir, there is one wall you are meant to force push that took me far longer than necessary due to how ridiculously short of a time space you had. - The checkpoints within the game are annoying, in terms of having to spawn back at points that are miles behind where you died. - The final boss fight against Trilla, whilst enjoyable in terms of storyline, is ridiculous to play. You get punished for being too offensive, but then have a short time space to defend against her power moves. Rather than fighting her with freedom, you are confined to learning her moves in order, before then simply dodging to defeat her.