Post by ForgottenExistance on Mar 12, 2013 19:31:00 GMT -5
Alrighty, boys and girls of all ages! This is my second review on this site, and I have to say, this one is a good one. Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic, or KOTOR for all you abreviation fans out there. This game is an oldie, it came out in 2003 for the original XBOX console, and was revolutionary at the time of its release. This turn/roll based RPG is set many years before the time period of Episode 1, during the time of the Old Republic when the Sith invaded, with Darth Malak at its helm.
Your character is a soldier in the Republic army, and you so happen to be a Force-sensitive male or female. During the course of the game, your choices affect the outcome, and reward you with either Dark Side points, or Light Side points. The Dark Side is obviously more powerful, but by choosing the Dark Side, you're forced to kill most of your companions, and many people hate you. By choosing the Light Side, you have much less in the way of strong powers, but it's a much more rewarding storyline. Both endings are very dramatic, and make you want to play it over and over again.
The combat system in this game is fluid, and based very fairly on a roll system that is affected by your skills and current weapon, along with armor hinderance and enemy stats. Sword-to-sword fighting is very cinematic, including blade locks, parrying, realistic swings and blocks, and even some dirty kicks or punches. Blaster combat is less realistic, and sometimes annoying considdering that no one has the common sense to raise their weapon and look down the sights, but it's still fun to do with so many different forms of blaster weapons. Lightsabers block blaster shots freely, but is realistic in the sense that if there are multiple enemies firing at you, you obviously won't be able to block them all.
Customization in this game is limited, since you are only able to play as a human, and have to choose between preset appearances. One of the earliest Bioware games to include both male and female unique storylines, it's very interesting to see how the story changes depending on what class or sex you are playing as. Luckily though, there are many variations of Light, Medium and Heavy armor, along with different forms of Jedi/Sith robes and head pieces. Weapons are customizable to an extent, though Lightsabers are certainly the best example of the customization. You're able to change the colour of your lightsaber depending on what crystals you find, and can be upgraded with elemental damage or focusing crystals. You're also able to find or create short lightsabers, regular lightsabers, and double-ended lightsabers.
Given all the customization abilities, force abilities, amazing soundtrack, cinematic combat, realistic conversations and relationships, and a deep storyline, this game rates really high in my books. The graphics are very good for its time, and I was able to make the conversion from current console graphics to KOTOR graphics without any complaints. Given all this, and more, I'd rate KOTOR a solid 8.8/10, with points being deducted only because of some minor glitches, sound problems, and sketchy controls. This is certainly one of the best Star Wars games out there for your console, and I highly reccomend it.
On my Game-to-Roleplay scale, this game rates a 9/10, for having a very intricate storyline and many variable parts. This game has a lack of clone troopers, and the people involved have a lot more riding on what they do. This is why I rate KOTOR higher in my roleplay scale then any other point in time in the Star Wars universe. This is a dire time during the Star Wars timeline, and you can use this to make the roleplay very dramatic and deep.
Your character is a soldier in the Republic army, and you so happen to be a Force-sensitive male or female. During the course of the game, your choices affect the outcome, and reward you with either Dark Side points, or Light Side points. The Dark Side is obviously more powerful, but by choosing the Dark Side, you're forced to kill most of your companions, and many people hate you. By choosing the Light Side, you have much less in the way of strong powers, but it's a much more rewarding storyline. Both endings are very dramatic, and make you want to play it over and over again.
The combat system in this game is fluid, and based very fairly on a roll system that is affected by your skills and current weapon, along with armor hinderance and enemy stats. Sword-to-sword fighting is very cinematic, including blade locks, parrying, realistic swings and blocks, and even some dirty kicks or punches. Blaster combat is less realistic, and sometimes annoying considdering that no one has the common sense to raise their weapon and look down the sights, but it's still fun to do with so many different forms of blaster weapons. Lightsabers block blaster shots freely, but is realistic in the sense that if there are multiple enemies firing at you, you obviously won't be able to block them all.
Customization in this game is limited, since you are only able to play as a human, and have to choose between preset appearances. One of the earliest Bioware games to include both male and female unique storylines, it's very interesting to see how the story changes depending on what class or sex you are playing as. Luckily though, there are many variations of Light, Medium and Heavy armor, along with different forms of Jedi/Sith robes and head pieces. Weapons are customizable to an extent, though Lightsabers are certainly the best example of the customization. You're able to change the colour of your lightsaber depending on what crystals you find, and can be upgraded with elemental damage or focusing crystals. You're also able to find or create short lightsabers, regular lightsabers, and double-ended lightsabers.
Given all the customization abilities, force abilities, amazing soundtrack, cinematic combat, realistic conversations and relationships, and a deep storyline, this game rates really high in my books. The graphics are very good for its time, and I was able to make the conversion from current console graphics to KOTOR graphics without any complaints. Given all this, and more, I'd rate KOTOR a solid 8.8/10, with points being deducted only because of some minor glitches, sound problems, and sketchy controls. This is certainly one of the best Star Wars games out there for your console, and I highly reccomend it.
On my Game-to-Roleplay scale, this game rates a 9/10, for having a very intricate storyline and many variable parts. This game has a lack of clone troopers, and the people involved have a lot more riding on what they do. This is why I rate KOTOR higher in my roleplay scale then any other point in time in the Star Wars universe. This is a dire time during the Star Wars timeline, and you can use this to make the roleplay very dramatic and deep.
-ForEn
