Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … a good friend and fellow reviewer named Aceinet and I were discussing how cool it would be if they put out a Star Wars RPG title. Not just another action game by LucasArts mind you, but an actual RPG game. A couple of years later, the Xbox came out and once again we were discussing how neat it would be if they ported some of the top RPG titles from PC to the Xbox like Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. Well, here we are in 2003, and BioWare finally answered our suggestions (I’d like to think it was the power of the Force … but I could be wrong) by releasing a Star Wars RPG game that not only met expectations but also went well above them. The result? Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

The story to KotOR goes like this … (insert scrolling words here). Four thousand years before the Galactic Empire, the Republic is on the verge of collapse. The last surviving apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Revan named Darth Malak has unleashed an unstoppable Sith army on the galaxy conquering and destroying planets in his wake. As Malak presses forwards, the Jedi Knights begin to fall in countless battles and become scattered, and many turn to the Dark Side to join the unstoppable armada. The game then opens up with one of the best FMVs I’ve seen in a long time showing a large battleship getting brutally attacked by a Sith fleet over a small Outer Rim world known as Taris … and suddenly the adventure begins.

KotOR essentially takes some of the best elements from PC RPG’s and blends them with a good console action game from start to finish. In the beginning, you get to make a character from one of three classes (warrior, scoundrel, or scout) each with their own unique strengths like being able to override locking mechanisms or rely heavily on strength to take down enemies. These classes will also determine how fast you level up in certain skills of abilities … but it will also effect how slow you progress in others so it is important to pick the one that you feel will be best suited to your personality. From this point, you are thrust into a deep and addictive good vs. evil storyline (which is worthy of a movie by the way) that pits you as the hero … or as the villain. There are a ton of weapons and items to pick up and find along the way as well to help you get stronger, do more damage, or gain more defense including swords, blasters or grenades. In addition, there are also workbenches that can be found in certain areas where you can add upgrades to ranged or melee weapons, armor, and the lightsabers themselves. You will also run across computers and disconnected battle droids to hack into and repair (sometimes based on your skills), and every member of your party (including droids) can be added to, have weapons and armor upgraded, and be maintained however you see fit. You will also gain abilities as you go, and soon will be adding things like sniper shot or even Jedi abilities like choke, cure, or time warp to your growing list of powers. 

The main RPG element that was added into the game that really impressed me is the total non-linear style of gameplay that you would normally only find on computer-based titles. Granted there is only one main story to do and follow through, but even from the get go there are a bunch of side quests and distractions from the main story that spring up like crazy and will have you doing everything from running errands or solving murder cases to possible extortion or even killing someone. The choices that you make in your conversations and a lot of these quests will also begin determining which side of the force you ultimately are following, and you will gradually begin to wield the powers of the Jedi Knights or the ultimate destructive powers of the Dark Sith Lords. The path that you select will also create differences in parts of the game, and will ultimately determine the ending after the 40 – 60 hours of playtime. In addition, I also found that you can quickly accumulate more Dark Side points faster than Light Side points, which follows through with the movies and everything that we’ve heard from Yoda and Obi Wan. Once you start down the dark path … it’s difficult to turn back to the good.

The battle system that was incorporated by BioWare was also fantastic, and is reminiscent of the same system that is found in games like Icewind Dale or Neverwinter Nights. Basically, combat scenarios will freeze the action in the beginning and whenever you feel necessary and allow you to make decisions for not only your main character but also for party members on attack styles, weapons, force powers and whom they will attack. Once you click the button, everyone runs out and does their thing (or default actions if you care to focus only on the person you are controlling) in a real time battle format using a system known as d20. Basically this means that while everything is moving fluidly and in real time, the game is rapidly rolling numbers to generate whether or not hits are scored, adding in modifiers, making saving throws, and generating hit point damage or increases. Also, every weapon that is used has odds of stronger critical or weaker glancing hits based around this same system, and it makes it even more rewarding to stand toe-to-toe with a strong opponent and get that one last heavy blow in with a dual-ended lightsaber or ion blaster.

Graphically, KotOR is superb. The environments are detailed, huge, and done extremely well even considering the enormous amount of content and different scenarios that were included in the game. The worlds are made up of colorful buildings, massive expanses of water and sand, lush green groves and fields, and even some dark caverns and old Jedi or Sith ruins to explore complete with humans and other things like droids, Quarren, Rodians, Ithorians, or even dark and hideous monsters. The most impressive detail that was made to the game though, in my opinion, lies in the personality of your character and those around him or her. The lightsaber battles between good and evil were unbelievably entertaining, and blaster battles between your party members and enemy troops almost were done to the point of scenes from the movies. The facial expressions are good and everything moves well while choosing the path of the light, and I even felt that my character began to look more regal and strong as he progressed further into the game. When you begin turning to the Dark Side and progress further down the path however, your character will begin to degenerate slowly into more of a twisted monster like Palpatine or Vader with his mask off. My son’s character (he of course wanted to be a Sith Lord while I chose the path of the light) recently began to change from a nice, healthy flesh color to paler looking skin color, complete with slitted looking and black rimmed eyes and eventually he even had to buy a menacing and twisted looking breather to wear which took up the lower half of his face and made him look REALLY intimidating.

There was also no expense paid in the sound department either, and there are a bunch of original music tracks that still retain the overall ambiance of the movie masterpieces written so long ago. In addition, the character dialogue was very well written and acted, and definitely oozes emotion and helps add to the already fantastic and deep storyline that will have you sucked in from start to finish. The alien races that you encounter will even converse in their native language which makes the game seem even more like you are actually playing through a well written movie.  

There have been console and PC RPG’s before, and there have been Star Wars action games before, but BioWare managed to blend the two worlds together almost perfectly to where this is probably the closest game to a 10 that I have seen in a long, long time. Aside from HALO, this is one of the reasons that you paid for an Xbox. If you are a fan of Star Wars, RPG’s, action games, or open-ended adventures with a ton or replay value you should definitely pick this up, trust me … it is without a doubt a good $50 spent for a game. Whether you choose to be a Jedi and save the Republic, or play as a Sith and look to gain power and be a conqueror, may the Force will be with you … always.     

Gameplay: 9.7
This game is extremely deep and there are tons of side quests and distractions like Swoop racing, arena battles, or even an addictive blackjack-style card game called Pazaak to do if you get bored for a bit following the main story or maybe need some cash. The controls are easy to get into, and the white/black buttons on the controller get one heck of a workout during gameplay. The battles were not only fun to watch, but easy to do as you can pause them and give orders to characters as you see fit to do. The storyline was fantastic, and there is a ton of replay value here based on two alternate pathways to follow and again, tons of side quests. In addition, the Xbox Live can also be used to download bonus content. Definitely well worth the price.

Graphics: 9.5
The worlds are immense and extremely well detailed, and there are things like light reflections and slimy glistening of Twi’Lek headtails that look really stunning. The characters themselves will also gradually have little things happen with their appearance depending on what side you choose to follow, and NPCs that you interact with are made up of various races like humans and aliens (including the feared Hutts) and help add character and move the story along. There were some repeated character models that were used throughout the game, some WAY more than others, but overall it didn’t affect the gameplay or get monotonous like it may sound.

Sound: 9.6
There were awesome and original tracks written for KotOR, each one following the same sounding style of the movie tracks that us Star Wars geeks can be found walking around humming from time-to-time. The dialog was both well written and well acted, and many of the alien races will even talk in their native tongue of Hutteese or Ithorian or whatever which adds character and stays true to the big screen movies. The sounds of the weapons, environmental noises, and creature sounds were also great and it never gets old to hear that old familiar buzzing and droning sound of an unsheathed saber.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is amazingly simple to play and get into, but challenging to play, and there can be some possible missed opportunities along the way due to the number of quests or priority of them that you have personally as you go. The hardest thing about KotOR is putting the controller down and turning the system off because you have to go to work the next morning.

Concept: 9.6
Taking a popular and widely used masterpiece like Star Wars and incorporating string action and RPG elements in could have been a major failure if not done properly or the time required was not put into the project. Well, this one is definitely a winner, and I can’t think of much that could have been done better with it except for nitpicky things like choosing a character race up front vs. having to play as a human, which didn’t bother me at all after I started playing.

Multiplayer: N/A
 

Overall: 9.6
In the time that I have been doing reviews, I can’t say that I have ever reviewed one that really grabbed me like this one did. I personally am more of an FPS fan, but KotOR blew away a lot of my favorite games and sucked me in to the point where I have lost many hours of sleep and had to force myself to turn the game off late after long hours of playing. If you are a fan of action or RPG games or are a Star Wars fan … you should hop in the car and go to your nearest store as soon as you shut your web browser down. There’s not much else to say about this game that hasn’t already been said, so a big thank you to BioWare for not only making a Star Wars RPG game … but making it an RPG game which sits at the top of the throne in my Xbox collection.