PC Gamer - UK 2020-04)

L

iking Star Wars is like
being the coveted
child in a custody
battle. My Last Jedi
dad insists the things I
love are bad for me and has
replaced my Coke with kombucha.
My Rise of Skywalker mum is
responding by feeding me energy
drinks until I resemble a taurine-
fattened mallard. I loathe them
both. Can Fallen Order fix me?

Not initially. It won’t launch on
Steam, so I have to download it twice
and try again with Origin open – the
sort of frustrating false start that feels
like trying to tear a new sheet on
cheap toilet roll. It works eventually

• I have no idea how – and Fallen
  Order finally gets off to the start I
  longed for. Stirring music, twisted
  metal structures, and soaring flybys
  all make me realise how low my bar
  is when it comes to Star Wars. Show
  me some mangled Venator-class Star
  Destroyers and I’m entranced; drop
  in a Seperatist Control Ship and I’m
  yours forever. It’s a properly brilliant
  intro: sweeping and cinematic, with
  enough narrative set-up to make me
  care about Cal having to leave his old
  world behind. I can even forgive the

use of “Press [F] to use The Force”,

perhaps the clumsiest on-screen

prompt since we all paid our respects

in Advanced Warfare.

So far, so wonderfully daft. The

environment shears and collapses in

a way that always leaves me with

something to climb – perhaps that’s

The Force – and Stormtroopers panic

as I hack them down. But it’s also

stern. Melee combat is punishing

when I get the timing wrong, and

that makes things more rewarding

when they go right. The combat is

flashy enough to make Darth Maul

look like a wheezy pensioner, and

there’s nothing quite like deflecting

blaster bolts back at grunts dim

enough to shoot at me. I already feel

like a Jedi – albeit a bit more like the

work experience Padawan who still

has to serve the masters blue milk.

DAY SABER

I just want to guzzle it all down like a

rich cosmic smoothie. I love locking

lightsabers with the Imperial

Inquisitor. I take the time to stop and

listen to the sound of the alarms of

Rebel spaceships – gentler than their

Imperial counterparts (“Yes, we are

going to die, but please try not to

panic”). And I devour all the little

touches that feel like the work of

informed, invested creators. How

come no game until now has let me

light dark places with my lightsaber?

I can even forgive Cal for crimping

out melodies on a hallikset.

Most of all, there’s a sense that

however much I love or hate what

Star Wars is doing at the cinema,

there’s enough care and attention

elsewhere to make me forget.

KOTOR was my first proper

experience of the expanded universe,

and while I don’t feel like I’ve come

full circle with Fallen Order, it’s good

enough to make me realise it’s the

operatic sci-fi world I love most.

MATT ELLIOTT

THIS MONTH

Discovered his own difficult

Origin story.

ALSO PLAYED

Total War Saga: Thrones of

Britannia, Trick y Towe r s

LearningtolovelaserwizardsagaininSTARWARSJEDI:FALLENORDER

“I feel like a Jedi – albeit a bit more

like the work experience Padawan”

I JUST WANT TO GUZZLE IT

ALL DOWN LIKE A RICH

COSMIC SMOOTHIE

Changed this to green

the first chance I got.

“It’s cool if I bring my guitar to

your house party, yeah?”

Fallen Order even made me care

about a ship from the prequels.

EXTRA LIFE

NOW PLAYING (^) I UPDATE I MOD SPOTLIGHT I HOW TO I DIARY I WHY I LOVE I REINSTALL I M U S T P L A Y