After the utterly pointless Guide of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, I used to be able to name it quits on the reside motion Star Wars TV choices, and I could not have predicted {that a} character who I might utterly forgotten about may convey me again into the fold. However right here we’re. Andor is the very best factor to occur to Star Wars in ages, and I want what made it particular might be utilized to extra Star Wars video games.
Loads of video games from a galaxy far, far-off have stolen my coronary heart, from classics like KotOR, Darkish Forces and Rogue Squadron. I’ve even discovered lots to love within the newer stuff. I nonetheless play Star Wars: The Outdated Republic, and whereas it was solely absent likeable characters, I nonetheless largely loved Fallen Order. However after 30 years of devouring Star Wars media, I am a bit bored of it.
Jedi, Sith, stormtroopers—all the enduring stuff—are all so acquainted that there is little or no in the best way of recent story potential. Overfamiliarity has killed my curiosity. Andor sidesteps this problem by, effectively, ignoring all of the stuff you’d anticipate it to indicate off. As a substitute of faceless stormtroopers, it is obtained flawed company safety goons and conflicted naval officers. It is the peak of the Empire’s energy, however you can rely what number of TIE fighters you see on one hand.
Because of this once you do see one thing acquainted, it packs extra of a punch. The few instances Cassian Andor spots a TIE, they’re particular moments. I’ve seen 1,000,000 of them blow up, and contributed to that quantity myself, however watching a single unaccompanied fighter flying over some hiding rebels crammed me with dread and gave me a a lot deeper appreciation of how menacing they appear and sound.
So Andor is not determined to flee the recognisable stuff; it simply makes use of some restraint to ensure they have an effect. And there is nonetheless a wee little bit of fan service, too, like attending to see a fella munching some cereal in blue milk.
Andor himself can be an unconventional Star Wars protagonist. The primary time we meet him in each Rogue One and his personal present, he is murdering folks—not as a result of he is attempting to eradicate evil from the galaxy, and never as a result of he is a badass bounty hunter, however as a result of he is a morally conflicted survivor.
It is a facet of Star Wars we not often get to see, particularly on this element, and video games really feel like an excellent higher house to discover this.
It is a facet of Star Wars we not often get to see, particularly on this element, and video games really feel like an excellent higher house to discover this. Andor is not your common bloke, however in comparison with characters like Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker, he is simply an abnormal man. Han Solo is the closest comparability I can consider in the case of the key characters, however he is nonetheless very a lot an archetype—the charming rogue—whereas Andor is tougher to pin down. And I am determined to play that type of character. One with nuance and complexity.
Even when Andor reintroduces us to Mon Mothma, we get to see her in a brand new mild. She’s this massively essential determine, however since she does not get to swing a lightsaber or shoot 100 stormtroopers with a blaster, the flicks push her off to the facet, turning her into this unknowable entity who often tells folks what to do. In Andor, she’s a savvy politician caught in a shitty marriage with a child who hates her, and always she has to put on this masks, pretending to be a loyal servant of the empire, all whereas looking for alternatives to sneak off and fund the nascent rise up.
I perceive the need to make use of the acquainted as a hook for a sport, however Andor reveals us how that may be finished whereas nonetheless providing one thing new. And video games, with their extra versatile scope and run-time, have much more room to mess around with this. However they so not often hassle. We simply get cardboard cutouts. Who’s Fallen Order’s Cal, apart from a ginger Luke? He is only a good boy who’s a bit unhappy about all of the unhealthy stuff occurring and is adept within the Drive. I spent over 30 hours with him and that is essentially the most significant description I can muster.
Most video games lack an identification or imaginative and prescient that goes past simply being Star Wars, however there’s an entire galaxy on the market ready to be mined. That is possible why I like KotOR 2 greater than every other Star Wars adaptation. It is nonetheless in the end centered on Jedi and Sith, however Obsidian was fascinated by digging deeper into what makes these magical monks tick. It is a treatise on the Drive itself, exploring the precise philosophy behind the Jedi and Sith. And it is ambiguous, eschewing the juvenile morality of most Star Wars media. Sadly, it is an exception.
For Andor, the flicks and expanded universe are instruments to be deployed when they’re wanted, reasonably than the complete cause for its existence. It is a spy thriller that simply so occurs to share a universe with A New Hope, The Mandalorian and all the remaining, reasonably than being a Star Wars present first.
After I see video games buying and selling in nostalgia and fan service, it reeks of a insecurity in their very own tales. If they don’t seem to be adequate to face on their very own with out legions of gormless stormtroopers and a kaleidoscope of lightsabers, then they most likely aren’t adequate interval.
