Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

The Good
Graphically quite splendid and early on, as you start to gain proficiency with the force, you feel as though there are unlimited possibilities for character development. The Star Wars universe is beautifully "pre-created" and you don't doubt for a second that this is the prehistory of the whole saga. I loved the Tatooine segment especially, dripping with atmosphere. Sadly though this is where the gloss starts to lose some of its lustre.

The Bad
The dreadful crushing linearity which was very well disguised until you played a little way in. The light/dark options were pretty much cosmetic until the very end. I was beastly to absolutely everyone and my crew still stood by me..even as I went on the rampage, killing, lying and stealing. The combat was arbitrary and the feeling of control was totally missing. Constant pausing to reissue orders became a chore. Fights just became one big scramble. I could have let everyone go auto and still have won every fight. Also I really didn't feel that any of my levelling up choices made much of a difference to the game at all. There was always someone to bail me out..whatever happened. As I got further into the game the limited vista became more apparent...sure there were plenty of sub-missions but they were basically the same four or five ideas rehashed again and again. Dull and repetitive are the words that spring to mind. I nearly forgot the awful, awful awful, "everyone levels up automatically" thing. What happened to the idea of working for advancement? What's the point in offering rewards for character advancement when the rest of the characters just get it automatically anyway? The final nail in the coffin was how easy the game became..BEFORE I was even half way through.

The Bottom Line
A very clever job of camouflage. A sub-standard game dressed in "the kings new clothes". I feel like the little boy in the crowd, my finger points and everyone around glares at me. Initially fun but not very taxing and ultimately disappointing. Everything that makes RPGs great has been abandoned here for window dressing..

The Good
You start out being able to choose between three "classes" of characters and whether you are male or female. These classes affect your stats as you level up as well as certain skills your character has. And choosing male or female affects your relationship to certain characters in the game.

Having the ability to choose between the light side and the dark side in the game is a great way to add replayability to the game. I played through as the light side first and had a lot of fun doing so, and when playing through as the dark side, I still had fun even though I already did everything once before.

Upgrading certain weapons and armor, as well as the light sabers, was a nice way to make the weapons more personal to your game. Rather than everyone ending up with the exact same weapons, you are able to upgrade certain things to add a little more variety. Although the upgrades for armor and standard weapons are the same no matter what, the light saber upgrades require you to make a choice as to what properties you would like for your light saber(s). You are even able to choose the color of your light saber(s).

When you become a jedi, you are able to choose what kind of jedi you want to be from three choices. Your choice determines your stats as you level up as well as what additional skills you have for your character.

The graphics were very well done and the cut-scenes of the planets were spectacular. The game allows you to remove most of the user interface from the screen to make the game a more cinematic experience.

The NPCs that are important are usually very interesting to talk to and many of them react based on your own actions. This allows you for a very immersive environment for your character.

The game also offers a VERY unexpected twist to the plot. Although clues are given throughout the game (they are redisplayed to you when the twist happens), someone would have to be very good at noticing subtle clues in order to figure out the twist before it happened unless they know about it beforehand. The twist really adds a lot to the game.

In order to save some time when moving throughout the game, you are able to instantly return to your ship from any "safe" place and then return from your ship to that place. This helps to save some time walking around.

Your party members have interesting (usually) stories to tell you which they will tell you as time passes if you choose to talk to them about it. These stories open up various side quests and can make your party members more interesting.

The Bad
The game was not very challenging. The only part that posed any real challenge was the very end because you can never completely kill off your enemies... you just have to get through to the next area alive. Unless you have a lot of med pacs, or you have three jedi with healing powers and a lot of jedi power available to them, this can become difficult. After getting through that small part of the game, you get to the end where you fight the last character who is very easy to beat.

Some of the side quests were annoying because you are always going back and forth between planets and then running all over the place to complete them.

The Bottom Line
If you like Star Wars and would like to play a jedi in an RPG, this is an excellent choice. The game offers a lot for the gamer and the problems with the game are really very minor. The only real problem is that you are not offered much of a challenge.

The Good
This game is nearly perfect. The fighting is real time based, and its much better than most games where the controls are scewed. Instead of pushing buttons and aiming yourself, just tell it what you want to do. For example: you could line up 4 different commands and heal your party, use a force power to increase your defense, and then attack your enemies. The sheer size of this game is amazing. The graphics are the BEST that you will ever see. If you move through grass, then the grass moves just like it would have in real life. There are dozens and dozens of sidequests that you can embark on like working for a secret bounty hunters guild, and by talking to most of the characters you can initiate sidequests specific to them and there past. There are over 40 force powers in this game divided into three sections, universal, light, and dark side powers. While dark side people can use light side force powers it will take a lot more force points than if you used a dark side force power. There are also feats. Each feat gives you something different such as implants or special attacks. There are three classes to choose from, the scoundrel, the scout, and Soldier. The scoundrel is not much of a fighter, he is the weakest, but can make the most out of essential skills.(that parts comin) The scout is a mix of the other two, he is more powerful than a scoundrel, and stills makes good use of essential skills. The soldier is the strongest and easiest to play as. He doesn't get hardly anything out of essential skills, but is nearly unbeatable in combat. The essential skills are computer use, repair, treat injury, stealth, persuade(this skill is only available to the main character as you do every bit of the talking), security, and a few more that I can't remember. The storyline is very good as well and it has a very weird twist, one that Star Wars has never seen before.

The Bad
There are two small things that are annoying(at least to me). The first is that sometimes 2/3 dialogue choices end up with the same answer. The second and worst is that when you go to different planets there is a cutscene of you lifting off and flying off in the distance, another where you are flying away from the world in space, another showing you going to lightspeed, one showing you coming to the planet in space and a last one showing you come in and land. While the graphics are good this gets to be very very anoying.

The Bottom Line
This game is a must have for anyone. I haven't played the comp. version but i suspect that it would be good too. This is the best game ever made, and has only 2-3 glitches. Buy it.