Star Wars: Galaxies has lots of potential but it has many flaws as well and could have been a much better game.
At first, when you start the game, you will be surprised by how good the character creation is. It let's you choose from 10 different races and 9 professions. It also allows you to create a fairly unique look for your character. When you are done and ready to go, the game starts off on an Imperial Space station. Oh, what is this? Voice acting in an MMO game?! IMPOSSIBLE. Right, as soon as you are done with the tutorial-like beginning of the game, not one single character has a voice.
As soon as you set foot on your first planet (Tatooine), you'd think you could embark on many exciting adventures. Well, the truth is, there isn't really that much interesting things to do at all. Just like every other planet in Star Wars: Galaxies, Tatooine is massive but environments lack detail and quests aren't unique and not very rewarding.
Sure, SWG has some good things too. Like the fact that when playing as the Entertainer class, unlike most other professions in the game, you don't have to gain XP by fighting but by entertaining crowds in cantinas by dancing or playing music. This is a new thing, not seen before in MMOs, but after a while, it gets quite boring just like normal MMO combat, because you have to do the same things for every quest over and over again. Yeah, learning new music to play and new dances can be fun but it gets boring quickly as well.
Combat professions are much more powerful and gain better equipment but are also way less unique. They force you into entering combat with various enemies. Fighting baddies (or good guys) in games should be fun, shouldn't it? In Star Wars: Galaxies, it isn't. Combat in this game is the usual type of fighting you get to see in other MMO games, but on top of that, it feels broken. Animations aren't all that bad, but the HUD which is scrambled all over the screen doesn't make the game any better.
There are two main factions, the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. You can decide which one you side with by completing missions for their officers. Those missions are just as boring as most other missions for neutral characters. Once you are friendly with one faction, the other will become hostile against you. Each planet is controlled by either the Stormtroopers or the Rebels. You don't want to find yourself on a planet that is currently controlled by a hostile faction.
Looting is how you will get most of your gear in SWG as there is no stores, only one big Bazaar where players sell stuff to others (most of the time, for ridiculous prices, but I think the Bazaar is a good idea nonetheless). Profession specific equipment is gained by completing quests for your profession trainer. Weapons, armour and clothing have level restrictions but you will rarely find stuff that you won't be able to use, which in my opinion is a good thing, because level restrictions in MMOs usually suck, especially with games like this one, which have lots of unique loot.
Gameplay is repetitive and while quite addictive at the start, it gets boring quickly. Thankfully, travelling large distances on planets is faster thanks to speeders. Yes, speeders. One of the few things about this game that's really awesome. Speeders can be easily customized and even if you are new to SWG, gaining a speeder is quick. Your first one won't be as fast as other speeders which are used by higher level characters, but nonetheless, it will still make a difference in travelling and save you a lot of time.
Another cool little thing about Star Wars: Galaxies is marriage. Your character can get married to another character. You can also buy houses and then make them look cool with expensive furniture. Making guilds is also possible but it isn't different from the type of guilds you get in other MMOs. But even though these thing are pretty cool, most of them are also quite pointless.
Epic music from the movies is used during combat and important events. The music is so good, it will keep you playing the game for a little longer and remind of the great Star Wars movies you watched so long ago. Also, combat sometimes feels really good thanks to the soundtracks. Music is one of the things that save this game.
Overall, I think Star Wars: Galaxies could have been a fairly decent game. It has so much potential and quite a lot of content but it lacks new ideas, it has many bugs and flaws, it really isn't very story-driven and it has lots of room for improvement. Many gamers believe that SWG should have stayed the way it was before the NGE (New Game Enhancement) was introduced in this version. I did not have the chance to play the original version of the game and could only try out the trial of this new version. The trial has all the features of the full game but only for 14 days. I wanted to buy the game so much. Then I started the trial again with a new account, and somehow I found it much less interesting and quite boring. I decided not to buy the game. I'm 100% convinced it's worth to try the free trial, I had lots of fun playing it but I don't think paying each month to continue playing is worth the money. If you are interested, try the trial, it might just hook you in, but don't have any high expectations if you're planning on buying the full version of the game.