"Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order"/Electronic Arts
- Electronic Arts' "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" is a single-player game designed to invoke the same spirit of mythic adventure that inspired the first generation of "Star Wars" fans back in 1977.
- While recent "Star Wars" games have been focused on online multiplayer, "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" is a story-driven experience that returns to the roots of the franchise.
- The game stars Jedi-in-training Cal Kestis as he works to repair his connection to the force and restore the Jedi order.
- "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
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Electronic Arts has launched just a handful of "Star Wars" games since acquiring the publishing rights from Disney in 2014, focusing on online multiplayer games in genres with mass appeal.
But the newly released "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" feels like a direct response to critics who accused EA of trying to capitalize on the "Star Wars" fanbase with generic games and microtransactions.
"Fallen Order" returns to a story-driven experience that's both recognizable and intimate for "Star Wars" movie fans, moving away from the large-scale online multiplayer that defined "Star Wars: Battlefront" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic.
EA's "Star Wars: Battlefront 2" was widely criticized for its generic military gameplay and shallow single-player experience. The game garnered attention from lawmakers for its initial plans to include costly in-game purchases for iconic characters like Darth Vader, and a comment from EA's support team defending those microtransactions eventually became the most disliked comment in the history of Reddit. Sales fell well short of expectations as a result of the controversy.
In October 2017, a month before "Star Wars: Battlefront 2" was released, EA announced it would shutter development studio Visceral Entertainment, and revamp development on a single-player "Star Wars" game the studio was working on. The announcement left some questioning whether single-player adventure games were still viable for major video game companies.
However, "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" eventually surfaced under the helm of Respawn Entertainment, the same studio that launched EA's wildly popular "Apex Legends" earlier this year.
Unlike most major studio releases this year, "Fallen Order" is completely forgoing downloadable content, season passes, or any other form of microtransactions at launch. Instead, the game is a single-player adventure focused on delivering a complete experience and telling a new story in the "Star Wars" universe.
It's a gamble on EA's part, since the won't be any downloadable content to boost the game's sales in the future. But it also shows a degree of confidence in delivering a quality product that millions of "Star Wars" fans can appreciate on a personal level, without the need for online play or constant updates.
Here's a closer look at "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order."
