A long time ago in a Galaxy far far away…….So begins the epic tale of the ancient struggle between the forces of the Sith and those of the Jedi. You will be forced to take sides in this conflict, but the choice will be yours to join the Light side of the force or to side with the Sith and the dark side. But choose wisely as the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.
This game marks the first of what will certainly be many, Star Wars themed role-playing games from Bioware, famed makers of Neverwinter Nights among other famous D&D themed games. Despite the sheer amount of hype that went into this game, it turned out to live up to its expectations and those of the gaming public in general.
In terms of game play, this game strongly resembles that of Neverwinter nights. It utilizes the Wizards of the Coast D20 system found in the Dungeons and Dragons system of playing. It also plays a lot like Neverwinter Nights in that it's a real time fighting engine used in the game. Everything from the choices in dialogue, the system of getting quests and keeping track of them, to the ability to essentially warp into your safe zone to heal your party translate over into the Star Wars universe. I am happy to say that the Xbox controller is used rather well in this game, featuring very intuitive commands never requiring a struggle for the right button to fit the right situation.
Graphically this game is both a superb example of what you must and must not do when attempting to design a great game. Some of the cut scenes feature CGI quality and are very nice to look at, while the majority of the game's graphical sequences come from the in-game engine. Some things that are bad about the graphics include the whole distancing used in this game. When you look at something fro a little farther away it typically appears very ugly and it seems like Bioware wasn't as interested in eye candy in this game as one may like. The special effects in the game were rather well-done, featuring very nicely done light sabers and light saber battles for that matter, although nothing on the scale or scope of the Jedi Knight series. The other complaint I found was in the continual use of the same character models throughout the game. It wasn't enough to detract from the game, but you did notice how nearly every Rodian you encounter in this game looks the same.
This game features easily some of the best sound effects for a game out on the market today. The voice acting was absolutely perfect, including some very well-done Hut-Speak, Rodian and Twi'Lek among other races. The Voice actors used really managed to achieve their goals, from the taunting of Malak to the whining of Carth, to the scene stealing HK it shows that no expense was spare on this part of the title. The other sounds, from the humming of an active lightsaber, to the trademark blaster sounds, I could find nothing wrong with the sound effects of this game.
As this game contains no multiplayer component, none was rated. Bioware has announced that in the near future this game will feature some downloadable content, likely weapons and armor for the game, nothing to alter the game content significantly.
This game features a branching storyline with multiple endings. You can essentially play this game twice, as a good guy and as a bad guy in order to full experience this game. I chose the light side of the force which proved to be quite difficult in always doing the right thing, whereas the bad guys get to kill first and ask nothing later. This game took me just shy of 40 hours to complete and was well worth the trip. In a day and age where most RPGs are getting too formulaic and trite, this game was a breath of fresh air and hopefully the first of many titles in the series to come. More importantly, this game had an epic storyline. It had characters who showed great emotions and the stakes involved were nothing short of the fate of the universe. All of this and it takes place long before Yoda was even a twinkle in the eye of his parents. Enough talk, give this game a try and find out why it is one of the best games to be released in the past 3 years easily.
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