Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

The Good
Note: I played this game on OSX some eight years after it first came out.

KOTOR has a few parts that are extremely impressive. These are scattered among the rest of the content like isolated nuggets of gold. One particular scene stood out to me, where the character is trying to gain access to a computer by mimicking the neural patterns of the last person who accessed it. In order to do so, you need to answer a series of hypotheticals, often against your better judgment.

The computer then gives you a logical breakdown of the reasoning behind the correct answer, in a droning, unnatural voice. For a game that often struggles with the nitty-gritty realization of its design blueprint, this was a rare example of something that succeeded both in concept and practice.

I also give the game credit for having eye-catching and memorable characters. Carth in particular struck me as an interesting subversion of the hero archetype. The game's clever twist and plot line deserves much better than the awkward, serpentine dialog it is delivered in.

The Bad
A large chunk of the game feels very "unambitious", for lack of a better word, like the designers were asked to fill a chinese checkers grid with content. As a whole, it lacks an organic spark of inspiration. The workmanlike, competent execution fails to atone for this greatest of sins.

As a result of this, my time playing KOTOR was spent in a state of emotional limbo, not exactly enjoying the experience but still unable to divest myself of it. The content was consumed instinctually, almost involuntarily, as if I were spurred on by some dark corner of my alcohol-soft reptile mind.

As always, Jeremy Soule's low-rent orchestral muzak retains its peculiarly somnambulant qualities, meandering aimlessly towards a point of no resolution. Similar to Neverwinter Nights, his limp and facile compositions underscore the blandness of the core content. I honestly can't think of a worse composer working in the VG industry today.

The Bottom Line
Bioware's games are always strong visually, and usually succeed at least partly at the conceptual level. But as someone who has no interest in the Star Wars franchise (and played the game years after its presentation went out of date), much of KOTOR's appeal was probably lost on me before I even started the game.

The game is the result of a well-managed, well-organized project, too bad no one really seems to have had their heart in it.