The Bottom Line: An RPG that even an RPG hater can adore,KOTOR is possibly the best Star Wars game ever, and an absolute classic by anyone's standards.
flash-hammer's Full Review: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for Xbox
Given the hit and miss nature of Star Wars games, and the fact that ordinarily I loathe Role Playing Games, you would think I would have been tempted to give Knights of the Old Republic(KOTOR from this point in) a skip, no matter how much hype it got. Tempted to skip it I was, until one summer holidays when I had too much time on my hands, too much money, and decided to plonk down the cash for it anyway, figuring if I didn't like it, I could always sell it off.
As I mentioned, the game is an RPG, where you take a character, whom you customise, through the game from a 3D third-person point of view, trying to complete tasks and find out information, while doing battle in a combat system that is pseudo-turn based, but that I'll get back to in a minute. Your character has to enlist the aid of several other characters in his or her quest, and take part in several mini-games, such as Swoop racing and asteroid shooting on route to completing their game.
As I mentioned, the battle system is turn based, a system I usually abhore, however, Bioware, the game's parents, have implemented a system that while Im not head over heels for, it is certainly more enjoyable for an action orientated player like myself than out and out-turn based. Your attacks are assigned to buttons, which you enter, and can have up to 4 waiting to be launched at an enemy. Whose attacks connect and miss is determined via an off-screen dice rolling system which I believe originated in the Neverwinter Nights series, although I may be 100% wrong about that.
Your created character can be of either gender or any race, and can fit into one of three classes, each with their own unique pros and cons, Soldier,Scoundrel and Scout being the classifications. You have six areas (strength,wisdom,charisma,intelligence,dexterity and constitution) which you assign points to, something akin to what you find in sports games custom player systems, but with the addition of teaching your character skills such as first aid and advanced combat.
These can be improved upon by 'levelling up', which is achieved by winning fights, as well as other activities, such as using computers or your actions towards other characters.
Ah, now this is where the game earned a fair bit of good press, it's ability to allow players to act as they feel towards the other characters. You can be passive or aggressive, modest or cocky, all of these, and the big one that everyone wanted, if you follow the true Jedi 'light side', or if you fall to the Dark Side of the force,each side having it's pros and cons in terms of special abilites you gain. These are all determined by how you react to those you meet in the game, and what you choose to do. While this freedom isn't as great as it is occasionally made out to be, it is there, and I wouldn't at all call the game linear.
As well as your Jedi powers, your character, and party, has a wide array of weapons,armours and items at their disposal, something that adds another level of customisation, with you being able to choose what colour and style of lightsabre you wield, as well as the armour altering your appearance.
While the game is an RPG, and therefore very story based, it does have it's action elements, and you will be fighting a vast array of wonderful enemies that fit right into the Star Wars universe. From the ninja like Dark Jedi to the crazy aliens, you cannot claim the enemies in the game get repetitive, not quickly anyway.
As I say, I normally despise RPG games, but I have to admit that I fell for KOTOR hook,line and sinker. The gameplay has enough action elements to keep someone like myself's adrenaline requirements sufficed, but also isn't an all action strumash that will make RPG fans balk. Also aiding the game in it's success over me is it's story, which actually got me very interested, and coupling it with the gameplay made for a game I absolutely hated having to turn off. Hours would fly by as I played KOTOR, and before I knew it, the 'couple of hours' in the afternoon of playing this would end at 3am.
Speaking of the story, there are thousands of years between the ending of this game and The Phantom Menace, so nothing contradicts the movies story, and can actually be seen as a competant extension of the story(probably better than anything from the prequels).
The galatic Republic was just won a war of many years with the fearsome mandalorian warriors, but a new threat has emerged in the form of renegades from the Republic's own guardians, the Jedi. This group call themselves the Sith, and were lead by Darth Revan and Darth Malak. Revan was killed in a battle with the Jedi Bastilla, and Malak has assumed control of their colossal fleet, a fleet that nobody knows the origin of.
You awake as a member of the crew on a ship under attack from Sith forces, stationed here at the insistance of Bastila, whom it is your job to aid in her battle against the Sith. However, the ship is badly damaged, and you must evacuate to the closest planet, to try and find Bastila and escape the Sith occupied planet. This begins your quest to learn the truth of the Sith's army, a quest that will take you from Tatooine to Kashykk and the Sith's planet of Korriban.
As I say, the story is actually pretty cool, if the major plot twist was seen coming, but I didn't want to go very in-depth with it, because I think that everyone should actually play this game and experience it unfold before them, for the maximum effect and enjoyment.
The controls did take a little adjustment to from me, but once they are learned, they become second nature to the player.
L+R - Cycle through targets, all of the face buttons actions vary depending upon the situation, but are used to talk to people and so on, the D-Pad controls the combat mode attacks, black alternates which character in your party you control and the start button enters a menu.
This is a very rough outline to the controls, but to be honest, the game actually has me in a state when I play it that I actually forget what buttons are what, and only the game's controls apply. "that's not the Black button!it's the change character you idiot". As I say, they do require a little learning, but within about half an hour I was completely comfortable with them.
The response of these all seemed ok to me, although the targeting system and it's inconsistency did get on my nerves at points.
Graphically, the game isn't anywhere near the best game on the XBox, but it certainly never veers towards bad. The stages are pretty spectacular, and well detailed, and the lack of detail on the character models probably comes down to how many are on screen at once. This makes it sound like they are bad, which isn't true, they just aren't the games selling point. The models all look good enough that you don't think "that looks dumb" while playing, but I was never taken aback by them either.
The sound in the game is pretty awesome. The blaster and lightsabre sounds are lifted straight from the movies, which may sound lazy, as would the inclusion of some of John Williams score, but trying to change these would probably take the sheer Star Wars atmosphere away from the game, and I feel that that is actually one of the games strongest points, just how much it feels like Star Wars.
The voices are provided by a cast that may not be household names, but they all do their jobs brilliantly, with no laughable voices or lacks of emotion blatant, as with in a lot of games. Included in the voice cast include Jennifer Hale as Bastila, and while you may never have heard of her, she voiced the Black Cat in the excellent Spiderman cartoon, and Spider Woman in Iron Man's short lived series. Raphael Sbarge,an actor whose career has went from big-buget movies like Risky Business and Independance Day to Roger Corman B-Movie staples like Carnosaur, here he is voicing Carth, your companion for most of the game,and provides a voice I actually thought was perfect for the character. Kevin Michael Richardson, who has provided voices for countless games, including Halo 2 and Enter the Matrix, as well as playing Goro in the live action Mortal Kombat movie, provides the voice for Jedi warrior Jolee Bindo. All the voices suit, and they actually sound like conversations, instead of just lines of dialogue being played, which is something that I usually get a chuckle at in games, but not KOTOR.
On the whole, while RPGs aint my thing, I have to admit that I absolutely loved KOTOR, and didn't stop playing it until I completed it. The game just oozes the Star Wars atmosphere, not just in the music, but in the character and level design and everything. This doesn't feel like the two-bit games associated with Movie-tie ins, and it simply isn't. This is just as good, if not better, in relation to the masterful original Star Wars trilogy than the prequels.
It also has replay value, in the form of a couple of alternate endings, depending on how you behave in the game.
I would recommend KOTOR to anyone, providing they at least see some of the glory in the original Star Wars movies. Even those who don't would probably still enjoy it as a great game, but for someone who grew up with the movies, KOTOR is more than a great game, it's a must own, and accordingly, I feel required to give it full marks. It may have some faults, the camera isn't perfect for one, but KOTOR grabs you and just doesn't allow you to stop playing, and you enjoy it so much that even trying to fault it hurts. RPG fans seem to like it as much as me, so I suppose that would indicate just how awesome the game is, that it appeals to RPG fans, and those who hate them.
I truly am just babbling now, so I'll cut myself short and just say, KOTOR is not only one of the best games on the XBox, but in my eyes definitely up there as one of the best games I've ever played, and an absolute must own for all XBox owners, RPG fans and Star Wars fans.
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