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Join Date: May 2004 Location: Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Posts: 4,929 | Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic.
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Republic verges on collapse. DARTH MALAK, last surviving apprentice of the Dark Lord Revan, has unleashed an invincible Sith armada upon an unsuspecting galaxy.
Crushing all resistance, Malak’s war of conquest has left the Jedi Order scattered and vulnerable as countless Knights fall in battle, and many more swear allegiance to the new Sith master.
In the skies above the Outer Rim world of Taris, a Jedi battle fleet engages the forces of Darth Malak in a desperate attempt to halt the Sith’s galactic domination…”
As these word scrolled vertically on screen in the true, infamous Star Wars fashion, I knew I was in for one of the greatest game experiences of recent times.
Developed by Bioware™ Corp, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic is the fantastic Role Playing Game that won over 40 ‘Game of the year’ awards in 2003.
"As the last hope of the Jedi, you must lead a band of freedom fighters in an epic struggle to save the galaxy. Can you master the awesome power of the Force on your quest to save the Republic? Or will you fall to the lure of the dark side?
Hero or villain, saviour or conqueror...you must choose wisely as you alone will determine the destiny of the entire galaxy!"
Gameplay
The game begins with the mandatory character creation. Choose your name, gender, a portrait and class. Three classes are available; Soldier, Scout and Scoundrel. Each class has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages, but as the other characters that join your party later on fall in line with these classes you don’t need to worry if your main man or woman is lacking a particular skill or ability.
Once you are happy with your creation you’re thrown straight into the action aboard the Endar Spire, which is under attack from the Sith battle fleet over Taris. Your bunkmate, Trask, will talk you through a brief tutorial regarding your controls, abilities, swapping characters, etc as you make your way to the escape pods headed for the capitol of Taris.
Once on the surface of the planet you join up with a fellow republic soldier, Carth Onasi, and begin your adventure by searching for the Jedi, Bastila.
If you’re eager to get hold of a Light Saber and cut down some Dark Jedi, you will have to wait several hours as the opening stages of the game on Taris can be slow going. While the search for Bastila is your primary goal, talking to other characters will open up secondary goals or side quests that allow you to earn credits for purchasing armour and weapons, Dark or Light side points to determine which Force powers you will want to select later in the game and experience points for levelling up and improving your abilities. Several of these quests offer more than one way of dealing with a situation. For example, do you accept a bounty to earn credits and Dark side points, or do you gain Light side points by helping to remove the bounty on that person?
When your business on Taris is complete, you travel to the academy on Dantooine to begin your training in the ways of the Jedi. Here you can select from three classes of Jedi; Guardian, Sentinel and Consular. Like your original class selection, these have their own strengths and weaknesses but concentrate more on combat and command of the Force.
Once your Jedi training is complete and you have performed the tasks laid out by the Jedi Council, you receive your primary mission; to seek out the Star Forge and stop Darth Malak…
During your quest, you will travel to seven different planets and encounter a variety of alien characters. Some of these characters will join your party and will augment your talents with their own set of skills and combat abilities. The old Jedi, Jolee Bindo, and the assassin droid HK-47 both stand out as particularly amusing characters and often provide (well voiced) anecdotes that keep you smiling even during the darkest of times.
Canderous Ordo, the Mandalorian mercenary, is another distinctive character that usually serves to provide inspirational speeches as he recites stories of the Mandalorian war with the Republic.
To get the best gameplay experience, it is recommended that you rotate these characters frequently. At the very least this triggers some amusing or interesting banter and it will also allow the individual side quests of the party members to be triggered. This adds an extra depth to their own stories and background and presents the opportunity to earn additional skill points. Jolee’s side quest in particular poses a very interesting moral dilemma that can be dealt with in one of several ways…
In addition to the core gameplay, three mini-games are included. Pazaak is an odd futuristic card game that allows you to gamble for credits.
Ebon Hawk gunner station is initiated every time you travel from planet to planet and is simple affair; destroy the incoming Sith fighters as they attack your ship.
Swoop racing is similar to the Pod Racing seen in the “The Phantom Menace” but performed on a straight track. Swoop racing isn’t compulsory but affords the opportunity to make some big bucks.
Unfortunately, several bugs and glitches can ruin the otherwise smooth gameplay at times. Random crashes can destory hours of progress so save the game as often as possible to avoid frustration.
Control
Along with your main character, you can travel with two of the nine party members at a time, but you can take control of them individually to make use of their special skills and combat abilities.
Left thumbstick = Controls movement of the selected character
Right thumbstick = Camera control. Press left or right to rotate the camera. Click for free look.
Directional pad = Cycle through the action menu.
A button = Default action.
B button = Cancel.
Y button = Delete action from the action queue.
X button = Add action to the action queue.
Black button = Cycle through characters.
White button = Pause combat.
Back button = Toggle solo mode.
Left trigger = Cycle through targets or menus.
Right trigger = Cycle through targets or menus.
Combat can be controlled in a variety of ways. You have the choice of simply focussing on one character, while the A.I. controls the others. Basic scripts can be set to aid this method of combat:
Jedi support. Jedi characters will use Force powers until their Force points have been depleted. They will then revert to the default attack.
Grenadier. Characters will use grenades where appropriate. If there is a danger of other party membership being caught in the blast radius, the default attack will be assumed.
Droid support. Droids equipped with offensive items such as stun rays and flame-throwers will use these until depleted. They will then resume the default attack.
A more advanced method of real-time combat can be used which sees the players ‘stacking’ commands in a queue for each character. As an example, you could stack a concussion grenade, Force Wave and then power attack. When combat is un-paused, your character will carry out these actions; throwing a grenade that has a chance of leaving the opponent stunned. Force Wave would then push back all hostiles, while damaging their vitality and then finally lunging forward with an almighty swipe of your Light Saber or melee weapon.
This method is useable for all party members, so you can tactically stack three commands for three characters.
If the heat gets too much, you can press B to cancel combat and make a break from the enemy while your other party members continue to take a beating. This has it’s merits however, as an enemy cannot attack you from afar with a melee weapon, and Canderous Ordo can actually regenerate his vitality over time.
Graphics
With the exception of your main party and the main non-player characters, such as Darth Malak and Darth Bandon, the human and alien population of Knights Of The Old Republic are all based on a set of character models, so you will continue to meet similar ‘faces’ (so to speak). I’m being overly critical at this point, and I certainly would not expect a developer to create hundreds of unique character models. However, it would have been nice to see a unique face for some of the supporting characters such as Davik Kang and Master Vrook.
The artists at Bioware more have excelled in creating seven beautifully rendered planets. Look closely and you can even see the blades of grass blowing in the wind on Dantooine, while the desert and mountainous terrain of Korriban gives the kind of ominously bleak impression you would expect of any world that is home to the spirits of the ancient Sith Lords.
As with any game of this nature, cinematic cut-scenes break up the action and briefly introduce you to each planet as you land in the docking ports. Battle scenes are mighty impressive and really do the title justice.
Audio
No Star Wars experience would complete without a dramatic, emotional score and Knights Of The Old Republic certainly meets this requirement with a different theme for each of the unique locations you visit as you hunt the Dark Lord of the Sith.
The voice acting provided for the many characters you will encounter on your journey is simply first class, and you may even recognise some famous voices such as Ed Asner and Ethan Phillips. Listen closely to the alien dialogue and you will notice that conversation is essentially the same paragraphs repeated; while this may appear limited at first, the emotional content in the voices adds extra depth and makes the player feel part of the experience.
With support for Dolby® Digital, combat becomes extremely intense with blaster fire emanating in a 360 radius and the traditional energy ‘swoosh’ of Light Sabers satisfying even the most casual of Star Wars fans.
Dolby® sound also creates an enhanced atmosphere in enclosed areas such as the tombs on Korriban and the various stores and cantinas found on each planet.
Xbox Live
If you’re hoping for an online role-playing experience with Knights Of The Old Republic, then I’m afraid your hopes will be dashed as Xbox Live support is for downloadable content only.
This is no bad thing however, as the content in question is an abandoned space station that orbits Yavin IV. On this space station, you will find a Rodian trader that offers the most powerful items in the game. Among these, a pair of Light Saber crystals (Heart of the Guardian and Mantle of The Force) add devastating power to the weapons of a Jedi… at a devastatingly high price!
Another race of aliens (with their own agenda) known as the Trandoshans will be encountered on the station and the Rodian trader himself has an interesting back-story involving Exar Kun. Although not relevant to the game itself, it further reinforces the fact that Knights Of The Old Republic isn’t just a game… it’s another element to the continuity of the Star Wars franchise.
Why Bioware never elected to fix and patch many of the bugs and glitches that can riddle this is game is a mystery. Ubisoft are more than happy to fix buggy games so why not Bioware?
I would also like to see a patch/download what allows you to play the game from Darth Malak’s point of view. However, this is wishful thinking as a task of this magnitude would be far too complicated and time consuming.
Replay Value
At the very least, you will want to play the game through one more time depending on your original Dark side or Light side alignment choice. The game will still more or less follow the linear path from beginning to end and you will still be faced with the same situations/choices, a replay will allow you to make the opposite of your original choice and eventually become the saviour or conqueror of the galaxy.
It’s also worth experiencing both sets of Force powers for the complete experience.
Dedicated RPG fans will probably want to play through several times to experiment with character creation. The choice of Soldier, Scout and Scoundrel at the beginning and then Jedi Guardian, Sentinel and Consular offers up several interesting combinations to tinker with as you attempt to develop the ultimate custom character.
Personally, I have played through five times and have created characters that are incredibly strong in melee combat but week in the Force, and vice versa.
For those wanting to cover every side-quest and possibility in the game, you will certainly need to play through at least three times.
Overall Score
9.5/10 [Almost perfect]
Additional Comments
As an overall software/game package, Knights Of The Old Republic falls short of perfect in a number of areas. The main complaint here are the bugs and glitches that can often render the game unplayable (remember, save often!) With wear and tear, this can become worse and you may end up needing a replacement disc.
Some elements appear to have been overlooked or simply left out due to time constraints. An example of this is Swoop racing. You carry your own Swoop bike on your ship and advised where you can obtain upgrades, but alas, no upgrades are available.
Look past these flaws and you will find a superb Role Playing Game that offers a huge amount of customisation for your characters, and a marvellous planet-trotting adventure that poses many obstacles along the way including those moral dilemmas that are more than just a supplement to the game; they really make you consider your actions.
On a personal note, this is quite simply the best Xbox title I have played and is one of the best games I have ever played in my 15 years of gaming.
At the time of writing this, Lucas Arts have announced December 2004 as the release date for the sequel, Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. So consider KOTOR as “a taste of the Dark side to whet your appetite!”
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