psycho_gamer's Full Review: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for Xbox
When it was announced that Bio Ware (the folks behind the Baulders Gate series, which many consider to be some of the best role playing games around) were, in conjunction with Lucas Arts, developing a deep and immersive Star Wars RPG, I'll be honest with you, first I thought, "Oh man, this will be awesome!" Then reality struck me upside the head like a cinder block as I was playing Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. That reality was, Star Wars games for the most part, generally speaking that is, suck. There are exceptions no doubt, like the brilliant Rogue Squadron series on Nintendo consoles and the TIE fighter series on the PC, but for the most part, they are always huge, glistening disappointments.
But being the faithful, eternally hopeful Star Wars fan that I am, I went and picked up Knights of the Old Republic (or KOTOR if you want to fit in on the gaming message boards, don't want you to look foolish) the day it was released. Like Yoda himself, you can't judge a book by it's cover, or size matters not, or... oh forget it, I am horrible at metaphors. What I am trying to say is, that despite having the Star Wars name on it, which is usually the kiss of death as it relates to video game quality, KOTOR is one of the finest examples of everything done well and with that little extra thought behind it in a game. Easily the best game on the Xbox besides the revered and I dare say worshipped Halo and without a doubt the best RPG of its kind available I dare say on any of the current next generation consoles.
Story
The game takes place 4000 years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. You're probably shaking that head of yours thinking how will that work? To be honest, time is really irreverent in this instance. Sure it takes place 4000 years ago, but everything familiar about the Star Wars universe is in there, blasters, droids, lightsabers, ships and space travel. All there.
KOTOR is set during the time when the Jedi were everywhere in the galaxy and weren't just limited to a whiny farm boy and the ghost of an old man. The oppressive force in the galaxy is not the well known Empire but rather a group called The Sith which is comprised of fallen Jedi who have forsaken the light side of the force for the dark side. Booo!
Anyway, without giving away any of the story, as it is one good story, you are charged with learning the ways of the force and traveling around the galaxy performing various missions and tasks as they relate to the story. I would say more about the story, but to give away any of it would be a disservice to you and to the game.
Game Play
The game as you know is an RPG. But at first glance, it can look much like an action game. This is what the kids call "real time turn based battles" or something equally as smart sounding. What this means is that the battles all play out in real time, no Final Fantasy X like fighting menu system. The end result can either be as deep or as shallow as you like. You can either push a button and have your character attack and watch the battles play themselves out, or you can more strategically plan out the battles by queuing up 3 commands at a time for each party member.
As you progress through the game you will gain experience points that you may use to learn new abilities or feats. The way you build up your character is totally in your hands. The choices you make and the way you talk and act towards others will determine your alliance with either the dark or the light side of the force. As you talk to people, response choices are given to you at the bottom of the screen, which one you choose determines what will happen next. Should you choose "Kill them all" you will obviously gain some dark sideage. On the filp side, choose "Spare them and give them 100 credits each", you will undoubtedly gain some light side points.
Stray too far over that evil line of the dark side and your character will start to look differently, more evil I suppose. People will react differently to you, and the game will be different. In fact there are two distinct endings, one for the light side and one for the dark. Now that's Star Wars goodness.
Sound
The game supports "in game 5.1 Dolby Digital" which kicks butt if you have a 5.1 system. If not, the game will still sound great just not wet your pants great. The music takes on the familiar Star Wars tone, and all sounds excellent. All the blaster fire, lightsabers whooshing and Wookies growling are all dead on. The one thing that is truly remarkable about KOTOR is that all of the characters, both playable and non playable in the game are voice acted and voice acted well. It's amazing to see just how much dialogue they crammed in to this game.
Graphics
The environments in the game all look outstanding. In your travels you will visit many different worlds, and all of them are different and distinct. The NPC (non playable character) models on the other hand are repeated quite often and most all look alike somehow. The player character models are rendered nicely and show all the different equipable items you may have put on your player. The animation in the game is so so. Not bad, but nothing special. The lightsaber duels on the other hand look like they are straight from the movies, beautifully animated and fun to just sit back and watch.
Graphically speaking, KOTOR is nothing to write home about, but also holds its own in most ways.
Overall
Overall, if you like Star Wars, you are probably already playing this game. If you like RPGs and are not a huge fan of Star Wars, you may be one of the few holdouts. My advice, if you like video games in general and own an Xbox, KOTOR is a must own game. It has set several sales records for the Xbox and there is little doubt why. This is one fine game and deserving of a close look for Game of the Year. Bio Ware, yay!
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