Fans of role-playing games, Star Wars, great stories and people looking for good value on XBox, here's your game.
The game uses an effective semi-real time combat system where attacks are animated as though they were being played out live but behind the scenes the results are being generated through a series of number crunches and randomized factors (not unlike a pen and paper RPG). At any point in the combat you can pause the action and choose to have your characters perform various actions including use an item, toss a grenade, perform a special attack, switch targets and so on.
And through the lengthy quest you'll spend quite some time engaged in these types of battles. The good news is that the combat system is less tedious than some other role-playing games such as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, perhaps because the animations make things seem like they move at a quicker pace, even if they don't actually resolve much faster than other games in the genre. But none of that really matters once you start fiddling with your party composition and customizing your lightsaber. After a specific point in the game combat rounds become more of a testament to how well you've managed to beef yourself up and an opportunity to find more upgrades or make minor adjustments than real obstacles.
But don't mistake that as suggesting the game is nothing but an upgrade-fest. Besides the basic game mechanic there is a deep, engrossing and almost giddily enjoyable Star Wars story unfolding that pulls you in and truly makes you feel like a character from this world. It has been suggested that if Episodes I-III were even close to as strong of Star Wars stories as this game, they would have done ten times as well and been one hundred times better received by the original trilogy fanboys.
Believe the hype.
In case you've been embittered by the hamfisted handling of the franchise lately, look here for a delightful reminder of why Star Wars captured your imagination in the first place.
The story of redemption and hope takes you through a number of planets and an endless array of intriguing side missions as your amnesic (and customizable) character tries to discover his role in the world and bring hope to the ailing Republic in their struggle against the Sith. Along the way you meet a bevy of interesting playable characters, each with their own unique personalities and relationships with your primary character. Exploring the intricacies of each companion's backstory is half the fun of the game.
Your path along the light side or the dark side is set based on a number of choices you are presented with along the way. It comes from the way you converse with NPCs or how honorably you fight. It is influenced by how you interact with your party members and which means you choose to accomplish your goals. Will you show mercy on a cruel gang leader? Will you betray the friendly hoodlums who offer you protection for a few extra credits? These are the types of choices you are presented with and the result is a thought-provoking and conversation-inducing tale of the line we walk between altruism, mercy or goodness and selfishness, cruelty and evil.
True to form the dark path often means the path of least resistance. Quite often doing the "right" thing is much more difficult. But the real psychological effect of trying to play the game on the dark side is surprisingly difficult. Still, the perverse pleasure from hitting foes with devastating dark side force powers can go a long way toward making it easier. Power corrupts, and this is a small, but fascinating case study.
The only real complaint with the light/dark mechanic is that sometimes the choices are a bit more ambiguous than one might prefer, especially if you're playing for a certain side. It is also possible to play right down the middle and be a little of both, but the benefits of choosing one or the other outweigh the convenience of following a whim. Which is why it seems all the more frustrating when you try to choose the light path in all cases and occasionally slip and do something the game perceives as negative.
The game is strong beyond it's mechanics, brilliant writing and mostly excellent voice acting. The music and sense of scale are fantastically done. The minigames are mostly enjoyable and worth practicing. The controls are tight and intuitive and the whole package feels polished and nostalgic in the very best way.
The only real complaint with the game is that the graphics engine is a bit weak, and the game visuals are acceptable but by no means impressive. In a way this is a shame because with so much of the rest of the game being of such high quality, pushing some low-polygon avatars around certain lifelessly textured locations can be somewhat disappointing. It is certainly no reason not to play the game, but it should be noted.
With an absorbing story, winning sound and gameplay and a gripping morality system, if you like role-playing games, Star Wars, games with great writing or a sure-fire way to kill 160 hours, Knights of the Old Republic is the game for you.