Video games: ‘Fallen Order’ takes galaxy-spanning Jedi jaunt – Boulder Daily Camera

It’s a dark time for the Jedi. The Emperor’s horrific Order 66 has led to the termination of Jedi across the Galaxy. Those that remain have gone into hiding, fearful for their lives.

This is where “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” begins, following the events of “Revenge of the Sith” and still years away from “A New Hope.”

On a scrapper planet, Cal Kestis spends his days tearing apart wrecked ships and hiding in the shadows. Until one fateful day he’s forced (see what I did there) to use his Jedi powers, propelling him on a galaxy-spanning adventure to places both familiar and new.

It’s been a long time since fans have received a single-player “Star Wars” adventure, and longer since they got a good one. (Courtesy photo)

It’s been a long time since fans have received a single-player “Star Wars” adventure, and longer since they got a good one. “Fallen Order” scratches that itch for a substantive adventure with a strong story, excellent action and visuals so beautiful you’ll swear the programmers went on location to Kashyyk.

The game comes courtesy of Respawn Entertainment, the developer behind the excellent “Titanfall” games, and like those games, “Fallen Order” is no cakewalk.

Upon starting the game player choose from Jedi Knight, Jedi Master and Jedi Grandmaster difficulties. There is also a hidden story difficulty for those struggling with Jedi Knight.

Choose your difficulty wisely. Combat is fluid and exciting, but difficult. On the hardest settings it gives “Dark Souls” a run for its money, and even on lowly Jedi Knight I found myself dying more than I’d like to admit.

Fortunately, the occasional death did nothing to hamper my enjoyment of the combat. Cal swings a lightsaber like a pro, slicing through enemies and sending projectiles hurling back to their point of origin with ease.

Cal also hones his force abilities as the game progresses, from being able to slow foes down in order to get in a better attack position, to signature abilities like Force Push that comes in handy with objects that need a shove and baddies standing too close to an edge.

Combat is uniformly excellent through the game, though it only makes up about a third of what you’ll be doing.

Combat is fluid and exciting, but difficult in “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.” (Courtesy photo)

“Fallen Order” features numerous planets to explore, each with its own secrets to discover. To traverse these diverse locales, Cal has his trusty lightsaber, a handy droid partner named BD-1 (Buddy for short), a robot so adorable that you will want to adopt one for yourself.

Tools aside, Cal also sports some mad parkour skills allowing him to slog through swamps, forests and even sprawling cityscapes.

The controls could use a little polish. Sometimes, it seems like unnecessary button-presses were included for no reason other than making things extra complicated. For instance, to climb up vines Cal must run to the wall and press a button to jump. He must then press the left-trigger to climb, rather than just move with the directional stick once on the wall.

It’s little eccentricities like this that keep “Fallen Order” from being the masterpiece it nearly was. And it doesn’t help that the mapping system comes off as awkward, making it far too easy to get lost. Once you get used to the controls, traversing the various worlds is a hoot, and you’ll feel great every time you find an elusive chest or secret door.

In the game, Cal has his trusty lightsaber and a handy droid partner named BD-1 (Buddy for short). (Courtesy photo)

The emotionally engaging story holds the game together. Cal’s mission, to locate a hidden Jedi holocron that holds the locations for sensitive children around the galaxy, feels urgent and real to those who have invested time caring about the “Star Wars” universe.

I expect Electronic Arts is hard at work to fix a few of the wonkier things about “Fallen Order,” which effect the score I’ve given it. Things like long load times and environmental pop-up are rumored to be receiving a patch soon, which will be enough to raise this score a bit.

But even without these fixes, the game plays great. They are merely distractions that bring the experience down a notch.

Ultimately, “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” may fall a little short of where fans hoped it would be, but it’s still a highly satisfying adventure for wannabe Jedis everywhere.