Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Review

Added August 13th, 2003 by Final Sniper

Introduction:

Since the launch of Xbox, there has not been a Star Wars game truly worth buying due to it's poor qualities, but Knights of the Old Republic delivers the experience that so many people have been waiting for. There have been many Star Wars games in the past but this is the only one that is excellent AND captures the interest of even non-Star Wars fans. Set some 4000 years before Anakin Skywalker discovers the Force, the story is set just a few years after the Republic has defeated the Mandalorians in a costly war. Instead of peace, though, the Republic is faced with the brutal army of the Sith, who have risen to power. When the Endar Spire, the ship you're on, comes under attack, you are forced to flee to the nearby planet Taris. Then, your character must save a Jedi, escape Taris and... well, I wouldn't want to ruin what is a finely crafted story. From that point on, you can choose to join the Dark side, and help the sith kill the jedi; or choose the Light side, help the jedi wipe out the sith... the choice is yours.

Gameplay:

If you've ever played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or the pencil and paper Star Wars Role-playing game, you'll easily understand the base rules by which this game is governed. Characters have Vitality and Force points and level up through experience, which is gained both in combat and through the resolution of problems presented by NPCs. Each character has Attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Willpower) which define the way they perform actions throughout the game. In the game, you will join the light or dark side based on the choices you make towards your actions and use of words. Before too long, you'll know which Attributes need to be addressed to help your characters survive. Characters also have Skills (Security, Stealth, Demolitions) which become useful tools for survival during the game. With a good Demolitions skill, players can not only deactivate mines, but even take them for their own. A high Security level will allow you to pick most locks. And, then there are Feats and Powers (for the Jedi). Feats are customizable skills that are automatic, like being proficient with a weapon or armor, or can be used during the game as an action, like Power Blast or Rapid Shot. Along with the Feats, Jedi have a wide array of Jedi Powers, both Light and Dark Side, to learn and use. Jedi who lean towards the Light Side will find Dark Powers cost most Force points, and vice versa. When you first create your character (which unfortunately can only be human), you're given the choice of either female or male and one of three classes - soldier, scout, scoundrel. Each of these three classes have different default skill sets and gain different degrees of health, Skills and Feats on leveling up. You will have to shape your style of gameplay around which class you pick. Scoundrels will be more suited towards unlocking doors and finding less combat-oriented means to get to their goal, while Soldiers can blast their way through, even bashing down doors when necessary. Scout's tend to be the middle ground between the two classes. Combat in this game is an interesting hybrid. When you near an enemy, the action will stop, allowing you to equip your team accordingly. You can choose to rush in and attack, move around strategically on your own, or even use items and special abilities. Using the D-pad, players can select Skills, Powers and items to use. Using the X Button, players can even select a series of moves to perform before starting battle. While you can move around the area in real time, your attacks are determined by the proverbial role of the dice (not unlike a real pencil and paper RPG), so the better your skills are, the more successful your attacks will be. But, rather than force you to watch something boring while the battle plays out, your characters display a variety of battle animations, some of which are quite interesting to watch. Since you have a team of three at any given time, you'll need to be sure to plan out your means of attack and even alter the character's A.I. Selecting the Black Button will allow you to switch between characters, which can be useful if one character is strong in a specific skill or needs to be healed during combat. Fortunately, if you have a team member you don't wish to use during the game, they will level up alongside the rest of your characters on the odd chance you have to break them out. Also, the battle interface can be customized to your tastes. You can have the game pause between rounds, when you make a selection with the D-pad or just when you hit the White Button. The gameplay of KotOR is well-balanced and done well.

Graphics:

Visually, Knights of the Old Republic presents a great game world that feels full of life and quite accurate to the style of the Star Wars universe. While each section take a few seconds to load, they're often quite large, filled with NPCs and teeming with detail. BioWare has done a wonderful job in making a lush game world that at times can be quite amazing just to look at. All the fine details make the experience of the game even more enjoyable. During the heat of battle, with blasters and lightsabers flashing away, you'll be hard-pressed not to crack a joyous smile. But, not everything is perfect with the graphics engine. First and foremost, there are a limited number of NPC faces, so expect to see the same NPCs if you plan on spending a lot of time with the sidequests. Also, there is some rare synching issues with allies and enemies popping from one place to another, as if you were playing online with lag. One of the worst aspects in this game is the glitches and framerate. Sometimes the game freezes, and you will have to load up your last save. And then, when you load up your game, sometimes it freezes at that exact same area inevitably. You will then have to do something else, such as fly to another planet, before trying to do what you originally wanted to do. Other times, the game starts to go in slow motion, where you walk a step, the game freezes for a second, and then you walk another step. These things might steer you away from this game, but they shouldn’t. You can easily get around this problem with multiple saves. It still would have been nice if they fixed some of the glitches, though. Sight distance is wonderful but the textures are rather blocky and some jaggies are clearly noticable. Character models are pretty good and many of the races from the Star Wars movies are easily distinguishable here. The Wookies especially look well done. Alien faces gleam with sweat, faces are alight from the warm glow of nearby computer screens, and, perhaps most beautiful of all, when something walks through the grass in this game, each individual blade of grass bends and sways realistically. Bioware did a great job in the visual of this game overall.

Audio:

The audio package is a step above the standard that gamers have become used to with the Star Wars games. Sound effects are all familiar - you have your blaster fire, droids squawking and even wookies barking. Musically, John Williams themes have been used and altered to fit the older feel that the story presents itself in. The star of the audio portion is the voice acting, which delivers a full 14,000 line script with very little in the way of trouble. In fact, the superb script and voice work makes watching the story portions of the game well worth the time and effort. Of course, if you just want to read the subtitles, you can skip through the vocal parts as you please. The only issue I found with the audio portion was a few recycled lines in Twi'lek. Outside of that, the characters are teeming with life largely because of the voice acting. The sound is probably the first thing to strike the player as masterfully done. Every, every single voice has a voice over. Every line is perfectly lip-synched with the speech. The alien languages are perfectly transferred, each race speaking their own dialect (still perfectly lip-synched). Each language has about 5 lines, depending on the mood of the speaker. One tends not to notice this until one starts to skip lines, however. The weapon sounds are absolutely perfect, too. The sound is perfect, exactly what one would expect and hope for: a cross between Star Wars-eque dynamic themes, and the ambient hums of Baldur's Gate. John Williams' themes are evident here, if not clearly in the forefront of the music. Some new theme music has been composed, and it is excellent.

Controls:

Nothing wrong here, the controls are excellent and all buttons seem to be in the right place. During battles you can choose your moves on the spot or you can pause the game to select which moves you want to use for which people of your party, then unleash it all at once. The camera automatically switches view when you run another way, which I great.You can even use the camera to steer the character in the right direction, which I tend to do from time to time. While in normal adventure mode (out of battle), R/L switch between different targets, the D pad switches actions, A performs actions, left thumb stick moves, right thumb stick control camera, and back brings you to solo mode. It is all easily done. In battle, the white button pauses for you to choose attacks, the black button changes who you are, X lines up a series of attacks, A performs one attack, R/L switch targets, d pad switches moves, and B lets you run from the battle. You'll never wonder which button you need. Everything is very easy to control.

Replay:

This game has replay value in the way that there are just so many ways to play through this game. First off, this is a RPG, so you'll want to play back through to see if you missed anything. There's many sidequests to do. The games main quest is a 40-50 hour quest and like I said in this review, being able to choose between a Sith(dark side) or Jedi(light side) adds another play-through to it. Each gender represents a different experience. Character class-wise, there are 9 possible combinations, with practically limitless customization. This game isn't too difficult: it's hard enough so many parts require strategy and planning, and on occasion many retries. However, it's easy enough so that nothing ever seems impossible. There are three endings: Light, Dark, and a secret ending. Add in being able to download stuff for your game via Xbox Live and you got plenty amount of replay value.

Summary:

KotOR is wonderful, and is enjoyable to play. It really shines in a lot of categories. If you're a fan of Star Wars, you NEED to purchase this title. The gameplay experience proves to be as deep as the engrossing story and wonderful script. For those not big on ''a galaxy far, far away'' but still fans of an engaging role playing experience, look past the Star Wars theme to find an excellent game that proves to be well worth the effort.