Jade Empire is Bioware’s stunning follow-up to 2003’s KOTOR, a game that sated the starving appetites of Xbox-owning RPG fans everywhere. Jade Empire is clearly built on KOTOR’s mighty foundations, but while it might not be a revolutionary leap forward in the RPG genre, it is nonetheless a spectacular gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed. The comparisons between JE and KOTOR are inevitable; while JE features a unique story in an original universe, with an action-packed real-time martial arts combat system instead of a turn-based, die-rolling system, it still retains the storytelling sensibilities (as well as some graphical elements and slooooow loading times) of its older brother. Your epic quest is supported by any number of side missions, which are as varied as they are well-written - there is a martial-arts competition you can participate in, but there is also a play that requires you to memorize lines for; there are plenty of philosophical discussions to be had for all the brutality you can dish out. For fans of KOTOR (and other BioWare titles), these sorts of quests may feel familiar, but the newness of the setting makes everything fresh. It would be hard for JE to drop any jaws in the graphics department, coming so soon after the releases of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Doom 3, but it’s stunning in its own right. The art direction is superb; each place you visit feels vibrant and alive and is brimming with subtle touches and details. You don’t necessarily need triple-bypass rendering and per-pixel shading in a game like this - what you need is vibrant design, which this game has in spades. There are elements that are KOTOR-ian, but the biggest difference between the 2 games is elevation. Where KOTOR felt a little horizontal in its level design, JE features lots of rolling hills and plains and stairs and paths and the world is made abundantly more interesting as a result. Plus, there are monkeys. The original music for JE is impressive, but what really stands out is the voice acting. And the voice acting is only as good as the script it works with, and JE features a fantastic script. There are lots of great performances in this game, as well as tons of hidden references and gags - my favorite being Lustful Lao, a very perverted take on The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy. And, as you may have already heard, John Cleese has a very funny cameo in the middle of the game. Much has been made of the game’s length - I’m certainly not having any problems with it. I’m 20 hours in and I’m only in the middle of Chapter 5. I’ve done every side quest I can find, which I thought was sort of the point of RPGs - aside from simply gaining experience, they serve to enrich the world of the story. If I’ve only got 10 hours or so to go, then fine - I’m still planning on playing the game at least once more, if only to see the Closed Fist side of the story. For my money, that’s 60 hours of gameplay right there. To be honest, though, a great deal of that time is spent on loading screens. For every improvement Bioware made in developing JE, they missed the one nagging complaint I had about KOTOR - verrrrrrrry long loading times. To be fair, the loading times aren’t as long as KOTOR’s, but that’s a bit like saying that a 3 hour movie isn’t as long as a 4 hour movie - it’s still too long. Loading times aside, JE is a fantastic gaming experience - a great story, with interesting characters, in a beautiful, interesting and unique universe. What’s not to like?
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