Behold! The Jade Empire awaits you. The hype bug for this game was in full force and I must admit once again I was bitten by it (the hype bug) for an RPG, one of my least favorite genres. You may ask why I even bothered with and RPG/Action-RPG if I don't even like the genre. To answer I will state that on occasion I have played RPGs that have been outstanding such as Fallout 2, Diablo (all of them) and Dark Alliance 2. Yet this game requires a lot of effort for a so-called action RPG. Bioware even claimed that Jade Empire would be an Action RPG so I figured there would be lots (as in Diablo style) action and very little talking. Instead I got a blend of KotoR and Fable. In the end said combination isn't bad it just isn't good enough to turn a b*tchy/stubborn/critical gamer like me into an over zealous fan of Bioware.
The combat, which is the main draw of this game and any real action RPG is somewhat shallow. A lot of fighting/magic styles are not really interesting or useful. Blocking is not all that useful when you can just dodge out of the way. Power attacks take too long to do and hardly ever land. Transformation styles are fun but don't last very long. Items are few and far apart. I will admit that martial artistes don't go looking around for the "steel gauntlets of +5 fire" but still, weapons and gems (good ones) are hardly in the game.
The story is good but fairly standard, again I will admit it would probably be in any RPG fans interest to play at Jade Empire twice to get the good and evil endings but to casual RPG players like myself I would say steer clear of Jade Empire. Load times, long dialogues and lots of exploration bog this would be action RPG down.
From an A/V point of view Jade Empire doesn't represent the bleeding edge of technology but does have a solid presentation. The music is good but not that memorable while the graphics are good but have poor models and somewhat bland environments. In the end Jade Empire comes off as the good looking girl at the bar but not the one you would want to take home with you.
One could argue and say that the replay value for Jade Empire is through the roof given the fact that you can play as several characters and even customize your own. Plus you can go for a good/evil/neutral ending for the game and seek out all the side quests. I however would say that the game has little replay value if you force yourself through the game once or can't even bring yourself to finish. In my mind I find the replay value for this game to be extremely low. Unless you are a hardcore RPG gamer I'd say rent it once and beat it once that's it.
Rent or Buy?
Rent this game even if you like RPG games. Trust me this game is either a hit or a miss.
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