Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review: Respawn almost swept me off my feet

Yes, we have fast travel now.

OK. Now that we’ve wrapped up the most important parts of our review, let’s get started properly.

Writing a video game review is a bit like a whirlwind vacation romance. Everything moves so fast that traditional metrics can’t accurately measure the experience. You and your new obsession pack the whole relationship into a very compressed time frame, and as a result, the emotions can run a little hotter than you might expect. I sat down and said, “What the hell just happened?”

at some point in my time Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. In another game, after banging my head on a boss fight for over 30 minutes, I turned off the game, pointed at my PlayStation 5, said “shit, shit, you”, and yelled into bed. Occasionally, he would make a piercing “Woo!”Literally took me when I turned my grappling hook vault into an air dash finished Stormtrooper. Occasionally, while being bombarded with blaster fire, I saw a room with 10 enemies that were expected to fight at once. Say “No, bro” out loud. and walk for a while. There were story beats that I never really thought were coming.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a well-known dusty buy and sell game in my PlayStation library, but I spent an entire weekend preparing for this review before even touching it. Jedi: SurvivorTo my surprise, I encountered not only many fun characters, fun but monotonous story beats, rather engaging puzzle rooms and Uncharted-esque climbing, but also a serious parade of obstacles. A huge map with no fast travel (as you can guess from the intro of this review) was a major ‘why?! However, I felt that the combat was also surprisingly bad.Large group fights with multiple melee enemies coming from four different angles were the norm, often while stormtrooper phalanxes rained down blaster fire that disrupted attacks. Jedi: Fallen Order don’t let it end.

If I’m resorting to the whirlwind romance analogy, I basically dated someone who was intriguing but annoying. I told him to lose my number. The younger brother may have learned from his older brother’s mistakes, but he is repeating them.

But I’ll call my brother back—really. If you set some ground rules first.

Jedi: Survivor A more polished, thoughtful and complete game than Jedi: Fallen OrderProtagonist Cal Kestis already has all the Jedi abilities he collected by the end of the first game, so he actually feels like a Jedi from the start. Jedi: Fallen Orderdoesn’t always make a big difference, but it allows you to more effectively tailor your approach to fighting enemy mobs. what were you thinking?), and the sequel’s critical path is Jedi: Fallen Order, these useful upgrades often required tedious backtracking.This was made worse by the lack of fast travel. TRUE I bother you. )

Image: Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts

everything i loved Jedi: Fallen Order is also back. I love Jedi stories, and Cal is at least a likable protagonist who doesn’t make any serious mistakes that test my patience. Casting NPCs that gradually assemble — this process involves: Jedi: Fallen Order Banding together — they range from interest-loving wills to fisherman aliens with a Scottish accent about two feet tall, each with their own interesting interactions and Cal. mass effect 2 Atmosphere of (re)assembling teams as they race to collect MacGuffins to save the galaxy.

Jedi: SurvivorThe plot itself doesn’t surprise you with unexpected twists and turns, with perhaps one exception that not only genuinely surprises, but also sends the story to places you never expected. It doesn’t have to be what it should be. Jedi: Survivor‘s core narrative is largely a vehicle to take you to new places and get to its true focus, with Cal joining the other key cast members, especially returning character Merrin and new allies. is developing a relationship with Bode Akuna.

The total number of planets you have visited Jedi: Survivor It’s not very tall (six, some of which are quite small), it’s a visually pleasing game, and Jedi Parkour makes his way through jungles and floating sky ruins while using force powers and gadgets to get around. , which is usually a good time. The majority of the game takes place on the planet Kobo, the quintessential Star Wars “New His Mexico in Space”. You can freely explore Kobo, including Breath of the Wild– Puzzle dungeons like unlocking new passive skills — a nice change from Jedi: Fallen Order‘s hidden treasures are mostly superficial. (Also, one of the first things I found in Koboh’s treasure chest was a mullet.

But it’s not all peaches, it’s uh… blue milk. Improved compared to Jedi: Fallen Orderbut it certainly isn’t RepairedFighting several enemies at once can give you a great sense of control if you know the all-important parry timing (the higher the difficulty of the battle, the wider the parry window. , says a lot about the importance of the mechanism). Each saber stance feels different, both aesthetically and athletically. In a pirate-like blaster stance, Cal attacks with quick fencing-esque jabs interspersed with rapid fire, but the heavy, powerful attacks in his claymore-like crossguard stance carry real weight. I’m here.

Image: Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts

However, as the game progresses, battles against hordes of enemies become continually more frequent, melee swarms steadily pounding the block meter, and laser fire smashing combos from afar. Intolerable. This goes without saying about your boss.they usually don’t so The default Jedi Knight difficulty is bad, but some of the late-game multi-stage boss fights really, really tested my patience. While getting smaller and smaller, bosses’ attack strings (often with unblockable attacks that do a lot of damage) got longer and longer.

at the worst case, Jedi: SurvivorCombat felt like a chore and didn’t let me enjoy my favorite part of the game. in short, literally everything elseAs a saving grace, though, Respawn has thoughtfully placed the meditation spots (the game’s equivalent of Dark Souls bonfires) to ensure that the combat gauntlets and bosses are never stuck back-to-back.

Regarding game quality, one of the metrics I use to review games is “How much time do you spend thinking about the game, especially when you’re not doing review work?” Jedi: Survivor In the six days I spent with it, I scored pretty high time on that front. I wanted to explore each planet and see what was there. I wanted to recruit more colorful Space Rogues to Pylon’s Saloon, Cal’s unofficial base in Kobo.

Image: Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts

But if you’re going to meet this guy again…the basic rules are sure.I played Jedi: Survivor I left it on the default difficulty for review purposes, but I probably would have enjoyed it more with an easier setting. Like the characters, locations, and battle animations that make the Jedi movies and TV series so cool.

That’s why I did Jedi: Survivor sweep me off my feet? Shall I introduce him to my mom and talk about getting a condo? Probably not.First, we need To discuss that beard before moving in together. With that said, what if he hits me again on our second date? It’s easy if I choose where to go. After all, healthy relationships are about boundaries.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor It releases on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on April 28th. The game was reviewed on PS5 using a pre-release download code provided by Electronic Arts. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.