Another Masterpiece by Bioware set in a beautiful setting and backed up by great dialogue.

User Rating: 9 | Jade Empire: Special Edition (PC GAMER) PC
By kirbyowns | Review Date:
Well to start things out Jade Empire is another great Bioware game. If you don't like the formula of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Knights of the Old Republic, well this game will probably not change your mind. To just highlight a few quick things, it has a solid story to drive it. The story has good dialogue options, in which you can choose between being an aggressive (Closed Palm in this game), neutral, or Peaceful and reserved character. Unfortunately being neutral offers no benefits. The combat I thought was good enough, not deep or anything, but it was fun doing a whole bunch of back flips and fighting in different martial art styles. It has solid characters who are all unique and none are annoying.

The story is simple, starting you off in a martial arts school. Later you are sent on an epic journey to fulfill your destiny and learn more about who you are. Along the way you will meet allies and enemies and will have the opportunity of choosing how the quest unfolds. Along with an assortment of side quests. The main quest was fun to complete, but I enjoyed the side quest with much pleasure. I can't talk to much about the story without spoiling anything, but I thought overall it was great.

The combat in this game consist of five main fighting types. You can use punches and kicks, grab a weapon, magic, learn support styles, or use transformation magic. Some techniques seem to be clearly better then others. A course you can also block and unleash an attack that can break blocks, but it slower. There are three attributes to keep track of in combat, health, focus, and chi. Health is obviously how much damage you can take, focus is drained when using weapons, and chi is to use transformation styles, magic, and to heal yourself. You use these to fight humans, ghost, demons, and other things. Overall the combat isn't ground breaking, but is satisfying enough.

The setting of the game takes place in jade empire. It is basically China, but instead is called the Jade Empire. They even have hints towards old warriors on Horses who tried to invade, but they constructed a great wall, sound familiar? The environments go from caves, to cities, to Forrest, to graveyards, and so on. The environments still are a joy to look at even by today;s standards, even though they won't take your breath away anymore. Overall I enjoyed all of the Asian lore, the environments, and the overall feeling of the game.

Graphics: 7.5
Game Play: 7.5
Main Story: 9.5
Side Stories: 9.5
Characters: 9.5
Main Character: 9 (You choose the actions and personality of the Main Character).
Replay value: 10
Freshness: 8.5
Exploration: 6
Voice Acting: 8
Emotion: 8
Weapons: 5
Powers: 8
Freedom: 7
Level Design: 9
Music: 10
Overall: 9



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