On paper, Jedi Survivor checks all of my boxes. The continuing story of Jedi Cal Kestis was easily one of my most anticipated games of this year. On the surface, this sophomore outing seems to be an ambitious leap from its predecessor. It's built on the foundation of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, taking a step forward in every way. Survivor introduces new force powers, lightsaber combat styles, and an expanded story. Unfortunately, my ongoing battle with its myriad of technical issues gets in the way of its greatness. It launches with abysmal performance on both PC and console. The Respawn Star Wars title rolled out with low fps, screen tearing, stuttering, and more.
EA responded after the PC version was review blasted on Steam, you can read the statement above. The statement offers a respectable, "were aware, and were fixing it" post via Twitter. While the post seems the indicate that the problem is caused by "imbalanced pc configurations" even users with high end systems were having problems. This also doesnt account for the poor performance of the console versions. In an analysis video, Digital Foundry said that it was the worst port of 2023 and should have never been sold in the state where it was released.
After six patches (the last one being released in June), The PC version still suffers from a horrendous frame rate, often dipping down to less than 30 frames per second, even on lowered settings. Like many PC ports released recently, such as Callisto Protocol, the game doesn't seem to be utilizing the full power of a rig's CPU, causing a bottleneck. The result means that lowering the resolution doesn't seem to improve performance. On the console side, the performance isn't much better, although the PS5 version appears to the best way to play Survivor. There is still screen tearing and stuttering, even when the game isn't doing much to justify the frame drops.
While many of these issues are not game-breaking, many are immersion-breaking, which is worse in many ways. This includes frame drops and stutters while loading into or out of a cut scene, Cal freezing in mid-air after a jump, and some ghosting around Cal's face. The frame rate issue is not due to console limitations either. By comparison, the Resident Evil 4 remake runs at a locked 60 fps and performs just fine, with no noticeable glitches. Even the opening animation runs poorly, hitching and struggling in its 10-second run time. One of the sequel's new features, a side quest line that allows Cal to seek out Bounty Hunter targets, is currently unplayable.
Adding to the frustration of many gamers is the lack of consistent response from publisher EA, who has held a 10-year deal to make Star Wars games since 2013 exclusively. Community engagement has thus far been non-existent, with no official response from EA on when or even if another patch is coming. This seems to be par for the course for the publisher. The recently released Dead Space Remake still is plagued by stutters on PC, with the survival horror title receiving only one patch to date and no communication since then.
Jedi Survivor seems to be the latest in a recent crop of AAA games that seem to be rated highly despite these problems. While game reviewers are often give a preview build to base their rating on, its troubling why these performance problems aren't addressed by most media outlets. While these issues are mentioned in some capacity, they seemed to be down played or flat out ignored, although there are a few exceptions.
"The sophomore outing from Repawn is a performance mess, with cutscenes causing your frame rate to dip into the teens," Forbes' coverage comes with a warning. Over at Kinda Funny, Andy Cortez asserts that the game "cannot run well at all." Blessing. Adeloe Jr. added that despite enjoying the gameplay, there are many moments where the game is "barely holding itself together."
Jedi Survivor currently has an 85 on Metacritic, with lots of 8s, 9s, and 100s. The User score is far less kind, sitting at a 59. The user reviews dip as low as a zero. So it seems this game has no shortage of critical praise and one outlet contemplating when we might get some DLC.
So the question remains where does the fault lie? EA is certainly not the most beloved publisher in the world and has been under fire for many anti-consumer practices, such as the micro transactions in Battlefront 2.
IIGN, in a recent interview with Developer Chet Faliszek (of Portal 2 fame) it was asked why a day zero patch happens. Fallazek says that you "pick a date to ship the game,, maybe six months away." He goes onto say that often they can fix perf (aka performance) later, just for now focus on making it fun. The question remains how much fun are you really having if the game isn't running well. It seems that publishers have a responsibility to not only its fans but its customers as well. Publishers like EA need to put more a level of importance on performance. Until then, gamers will continue to be glorified beta testers with an attached $70 price tag every month.
(28 April, 2023). Kain, E. "A Major Warning For 'Star Wars Jedi Survivor' Fans Before you buy the game." Innovation, Games. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2023/04/28/a-major-warning-for-star-wars-jedi-survivor-fans-before-you-buy-the-game/
(May, 2023.). Star Wars Jedi Survivor Day 1 Patch and Why These Are So Common. [Video.]. Youtube. IGN. https://youtu.be/S6wrB1EXDIA
www.twitter.com/EAStarWars
(May, 2023). Star Wars Jedi Survivor Review: Kinda Funny GamesCast. [Video]. YouTube. Kinda Funny. https://youtu.be/d3IpGO_BQgo
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