Long before sister kissing Luke Skywalker, and his dear old daddy Darth Vadar, even before Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi stumbled across Anakin Skywalker and the irritating Jar Jar Binks - there was a Star Wars universe filled with the Jedi and the Sith, a universe in danger of being over run by a mysteriously large Sith fleet, a universe with a plot.
The game begins with you being awakened as the Republic ship you're on, The Endar Spire, comes under heavy attack from Sith fighters, meaning that you have to abandon the stricken ship, and head for the nearest planet in an escape pod.
The Endar Spire serves as a simple introduction to the game; there are no choices onboard that will influence the game in any way - unless you manage to die, which would be an achievement in itself.
After escaping from the Endar Spire you awake on Taris, where Carth informs you that you need to find Bastilla - the actual planet of Taris is nothing special, and there's very little excitement to be had from it - however, it justifies its existence as a place to build up the level of you characters, so you're not turned into blaster fodder the moment you square up against the Sith. It also introduces you to Pazaak (a card game similar to Blackjack), the chance to participate in death matches and Swoop Racing. During your escape from Taris you also have the opportunity to use the gun turrets on the Ebon Hawk, a Star ship that you 'borrowed' from Davik Kang, the former underworld boss of Taris.
From here on in you've got complete freedom to explore where you want to - There's six more planets to visit and explore - Although your first port of call will be to the Jedi council on Dantooine, who will train you in the ways of the Jedi and task you with discovering the whereabouts of the mysterious Star Forge, Kashyyk the home planet of the wookies, who are being enslaved by the Czerka Corporation, the Sith homeworld of Korriban, Manaan - a sea world which is neutral to both the republic and the Sith, and the home of kolto - the very substance used in healing, make an bad judgement call here and the price of Med packs goes up substantially. There's also Tatooine - home to the Jawas, and the fearsome Tuskan Raiders, as well as a variety of wildlife - Banthas, Dewbacks, even a rather large Krayt dragon. Finally there is the PC exclusive plant of Yavin, although X-Box owners aren't missing out on much with this planet (although some very exquisite goods can be obtained here)
Character level ups can be done automatically by the computer if you don't want to tamper with the workings of your characters strengths and weaknesses, the automatic option will change different things depending on the class of your character - however, it's sometimes fun to mix and match, the force persuade always comes in handy for getting out of paying docking fees, and for getting out fights you don't want to be involved in.
Throughout the game you will make many choices which will effect if your perceived as a servant of the dark side, or a master of the light - This has an effect on the way members of your party react to you, and will also alter your appearance to a certain degree - the choice is yours - do you save the Galaxy or Conquer it? Do you become a legendary hero, or a feared Sith Lord?
Knights of the Old Republic uses the d20 role-playing system - most well known for being the system behind the Dungeons & Dragons games. This means that combat is based on dice rolls, making it a turn based affair, although you can allow the computer to fill in the blanks with one of the three available A.I. scripts - meaning that you don't have a pause in the combat after every round of attacks and select your next attack.
Sonically this game is a marvellous advert for the Star Wars universe, the background music is as brilliant as any music you can hear from the movies soundtrack, the voice acting is pretty much flawless as well - it manages to create the illusion that you're in the Star Wars universe to an amazing effect, an effect that the graphics manage to enhance to an even greater extent.
That's not to say that Knights of the Old Republic isn't without its flaws, members of your three person team will often obstruct you, and refuse to move, meaning that you have to switch to them in order to keep moving - not a major problem, but it occurs with irritating regularity.
There are also a couple of sequences in the game where you have to wear a heavy suit to protect you from harsh environments, Bioware decided that this means you must have to move very slowly, and have very little to distract you - it's a definite low point of the game.
Knight of the Old Republic is one of the few games that I've played through multiple times, just to see what would have happened if I'd killed those supposed innocents, there's many hours of play to be had here, sure, it's not the best role playing game for fanatics of the genre, there's not as many class options as you'll find in other RPGs, and in a galaxy as diverse as the Star Wars one, you're limited to playing as a member of the human race - what about a Twi'lek or Rodian option?
In my opinion, this is the most enjoyable RPG that has been released in the past couple of years, and being set in the Star Wars universe (with a well written script) is a tremendous bonus.
The Force is strong in this one...
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Reviewed by: Saviour of the Galaxy - The Jedi Master Inept Pig
- User Specs
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Windows: XP Home
AMD Athlon 3000XP
1 GB RAM
GeForce FX5900 Ultra
- Minimum Specs
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Windows
98/ME/2000/XP
Processor:1Ghz
256MB RAM
4.0 GB Hard Drive space
32MB/3D T&L capable
8x CD, sound card &
speakers/headphones
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