Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

The storyline could have been a standard coming-of-age yarn but is instead a genuinely interesting adventure told with humor, compassion, and respect for the source material. Your character has a mystical bond with Bastila, and the two of you share some kind of connection to the Sith villains Darth Malak and Darth Revan. The game's planet-hopping adventures are driven by your exploration of these connections and how they relate to your larger goal of discovering the source of the Sith's sudden fleet. During your adventure you can explore side quests minor (such as racing swoops or gambling) and major (such as uncovering the fascinating back stories of your companions). Star Wars fans will get a kick out of the rich lore introduced in the game, particularly the Tatooine storyline that reveals the origin and history of the Sand People.

Gameplay is an abbreviated form of Wizards of the Coast's d20 Star Wars RPG game system--anyone who has played Dungeons & Dragons will be familiar with the abilities, stats, feats, and bonuses in this game. The player creates a character as a member of one of three starting classes (soldier, smuggler, scout) and then later chooses a Jedi class (guardian, consular, sentinel). Joining the player's character are other Jedi, warriors, thieves, droids, a wookiee, and even a Mandolorian. Unlike the faceless non-player characters of other games, each member of the supporting cast has an intriguing history and even agenda. Up to two of these other characters can join your character at any time. Depending on who you chose to take with you, new dialogue and even intra-party arguments come into the game (put the Mandalorian veteran with the Republic patriot and you'll see sparks fly). Combat is real-time turn-based, meaning the turns are seamless but the player has the option of pausing the action at any time to issue orders or direct any character to use a certain Force power, ability, feat, or item.

Graphics range from adequate to exceptional. Building and character models are not impressive--about what you get in GTA 3. Lightsaber graphics and environmental effects (like waving grass, clouds, and weather) bring the world to life. Battles are just brilliant, with characters pumping out blaster fire at Jedi who dash, dodge, and even deflect the bolts back toward their assailants. Complete with sounds straight out of the movies, the thrilling combat is pure Star Wars.

All in all, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a masterpiece of Star Wars gaming. The pacing, balance of action and dialogue, clever puzzles and quests, and loving attention to detail have set the bar very high for role-playing games in general and Star Wars games in particular. Consider this a must-have game.--Mike Fehlauer

Pros:

• Captivating storyline
• Clever dialogue
• Star Wars feel
• True story and dialogue support for either Light Side or Dark Side play
• Brilliant combat graphics
• Fascinating characters (the loyal--and homicidal--droid HK-47 is truly unique)

• Occasional bugs in dialogue, movie playback
• Cannot transfer equipped gear between characters while on your ship

The release date was also getting pushed back. First it was November 19, 2002 for Xbox and March 5, 2003 for the PC. Second it was February 20, 2003 for Xbox and May 26, 2003 for the PC. Third it was March 25, 2003 for Xbox and June 18, 2003 for the PC. Fourth it was May 1, 2003 for Xbox and August 16, 2003 for the PC. Now it is June 16, 2003 for Xbox and November 14, 2003 for the PC. It seems that LucasArts and Bioware want to put as much effort into this game as possible.

So what I am getting at is that they seem to get better through time. I have seen many screenshots and videos of Knights of the Old Republic and it does look very impressive. You can watch an interview of the game with previews in the backround at ...

The game was told to be 40-60 hours long. At the start you can become a Jedi or Sith, create your own character, build your own lightsaber hilt, choose the type of lightsaber you want (single lightsaber, two lightsabers in each hand, or a double bladed lightsaber like Darth Maul's), choose the blade color of your lightsaber, choose your force powers, and in the game if you are a Jedi you can gradually fall to the Dark Side or if you are a Sith you can gradually become good.

In the middle of the game you can perform many upgrades like upgrading your lightsaber. If you want to change the blade color, you have to seek out the crystals that will give you the color you desire and take out the old crystals and pop in the new crystals.

There is also laser turret games like in A New Hope with the Millenium Falcon being attacked by Tie Fighters and Luke and Han get into their laser turrets.

The game also features where you can play in what is called a "Real-Time Mode" which is basically without pausing the game and choosing your attacks. An example of a "Real-Time Mode" game would be Jedi Outcast. Your other choice is to play it in "Traditional RPG" where you do pause the game and choose an attack. An example is Final Fantasy.

This game is to be very dramatic and to let the player live and embrace themselves as a Jedi Knight or Sith Lord in the Star Wars universe.

Who knows what this game will bring? Lets hope it will make every Star Wars fan happy and satisfied.


One of the Great Xbox Games of 2002   May 20, 2002
J. Smith (Las Vegas, NV United States)
20 out of 72 found this review helpful

I just got done playing this game today and let me tell you, this game rocks. The controls were so smooth and the graphics were out of this world. It is made by the same people who made Baldur's Gate and they are well trained in the Jedi arts. I think this game is a system seller, meaning you should own a Xbox just for this game. If you don't get this game when it comes out, you are a Sith Lord. May the Force be with you.


...   December 6, 2002
11 out of 22 found this review helpful

...this promises to be a very good game.

Bioware (the developer or author, LucasArts is the publisher) has a track record of very good games like Neverwinter Nights and the Baldur's Gate series.

Most console video games are for people with good hand eye coordination. This will be different. It is not how fast you push the buttons or how carefully you aim the cursor that counts, but rather how you think about how to approach a puzzle, problem or battle. This is the game for people who like a rich story, good dialogue and an rich world to explore along with their adventure and excitement.

...


Good or Not This Is Unknown   October 10, 2002
E.H. Amenophis (Buffalo,NY USA)
6 out of 28 found this review helpful

First off I will start out as saying I am a STAR WARS junkie . Therefor the release of this game will probably be one of the best days of my life . I say probably because when I first saw this game being tested their were a lot of glitches . However from the screens and new cut sceens that I have seen those wizards at the know famous Bioware have done it again . The color surpasses anything ever seen on a console i.e. Xbox Rulz . The graphics far surpass that of any competiter . This is an all around kick [butt] game and it will be when it is released unless the boys at Biowear realy screw things up before release . Which I am glad to say is not in the geeks reputation , however reputation is reputation I guess you'll just have to find out for yourselfs . This game does have the power to be one of the greatest RPG experiances of all time .


"Looks Good"   July 23, 2002
JBH||Colonel (Cisco, Texas United States)
5 out of 18 found this review helpful

... this is the first Star Wars game set in the time before EP 1 during the Sith war (Hopfully Meaning "Good Plot Line") also I have Bete tested this game a little but I cant tell you anything I lerned in that.... Darn copyrights! But if anyone has read about it it looks alot like the fighting part of Star Wars Galaxies (Coming out later this year) and everyone in the Star Wars fun groupes was hoping that they would do just that and make a fighting game like Star Wars Galaxies and the timeline is great the old Jedi Order. So besides having agood plot line and time line the weapons look good. I wont say anything else thats all I should know about the game... I Would say it looks better than Jedi Knight Outcast