As much as I love the Star Wars movies (and I love them a lot), you have to admit that Stormtroopers have always been a bit... meh. Sure, they look cool in their shiny white armour, but there's not all that much to them beyond that.
With the exception of a small number of them, Stormtroopers are essentially little more than faceless goons that are there to alternate between getting cut down by the heroes and being useless with a blaster unless the plot demands they hit something. Hell, even the ones who get more screen-time - like Captain Phasma - end up being completely useless.
I get that this is kind of the point of them - they're ultimately fodder to move the plot along - but I often forget that there are supposed to be actual people under those helmets, and that's a shame. We're also told that they're supposed to be among the best of the best, but that never really comes across, does it?
The good news is that with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn is attempting to inject some new life into the Stormtroopers. According to PC Gamer, the developer has gone so far as to create unique "personalities" for each one, so if you tangle with a whole squad of them you'll find that individual troopers react differently to your presence and attacks.
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"Under the helmet they have personalities, and so we've kind of given them nicknames and call signs," Fallen Order narrative lead Aaron Contreras explained.
"So it looks like a horde of faceless grunts. And they are because they're Stormtroopers, but they each have a specific personality and they'll interact with each other in ways that are specific to their personality. [So] when one's left alone, it could be the guy who's terrified or it could [be] a guy who's super gung-ho and he's like, 'Now it's my time to shine and take out a Jedi!'"
Contreras even revealed that Stormtroopers can work together and behave in unpredictable ways. For example, one of the more eagle-eyed troopers could alert his buddies that they're out of ranged support if you take out all of a squad's snipers, forcing both the enemy and you as the player to react on the fly and change up your tactic.
It's an ambitious-sounding system that should certainly help to keep combat from getting stale and repetitive, that's for sure.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15. We recently got the chance to go hands-on with the game for a good few hours, and came away really very impressed by what we played. We also learned all about the cool ways you can customise your character and lightsaber.
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Featured Image Credit: EA
Topics: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn Entertainment, EA