Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Of couse this is on the X-Box, so I won't be talking about Mod or anything like that.
Anywho, the game is your standard Star Wars fare. You'll be the only one standing between the Sith and Total Galactic Domination. You'll use swords, blasters, Lightsabers, and The Force. The game isn't like most Star Wars games, it's an RPG. So you'll go from place to place, gathering various odds and ends, and using the Force!
The game starts with you picking your class, your face and putting points into your attributes. Once that's done you're set into the game, you'll find your (insert your chosen class here) is onboard a ship that's under attack by the Sith. They're attacking so they can get at a Jedi aboard the same vessel you're on, and they'll destroy the ship to get to her. Once this is all said and done, and you're ship explodes, you'll find yourself set on an Alien city world of Taris. Here you'll spend a long time just trying to find a way to break through the blockade that the Sith has set up around the planet.
Well of course you'll get off, then you'll be taken to Dantooine, and there you'll find out that you're a Force Sensitive....oh, did I mention that for the first part of the game you don't have Force powers? Cause, you don't. Well, once you've obtained said powers, you're sent off by the Council to find these things called Star Maps. Apparently a Sith Lord named Darth Revan used the maps to find an ancient machine capable of creating a massive army. You'll find out later that the reason he/she did this, but for now I won't tell. HA!
While all this is going on, Revan's former Appentice, now the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Malak continues to hunt for the Jedi that was on the same ship you were on, and will stop at nothing to get her. He wants her because she found a new Force ability and it would help his fleet conquer the Galaxy. So he's on a never ending hunt for her.
Alright, before I get even further into this I should start getting to the meat of the game.
The story is great, there's plenty of things going on in the Galaxy. One planet is being sold into slavery, while at the same time another planet is trying to maintain it's neutral stance between the Sith and the Republic. So you'll have to help out, solve problem after problem while you're searching for the Star Maps. While this may sound tedious and boring, but each planet feels like it's own.....well.....world. (I know how that sounds but please bare with me.) They've all got a feel of being alive and interesting.
Combat is a way different. If you're use to the whole, turn based system, where you pick from a list of commands, and then watch your character(s) do said command, you're not going to like this game. That system has been replaced with a d20 system. Don't know what that is? Well then I'll tell you. Just like in D&D and most other table top RPGs a 20 sided die is rolled and calculated with your attack rating, and any other stats that go along with the attack or force power, and is checked against your opponents defense rating. So rather than just picking commands and watching them go, the game will pause to let you know that there's an enemy, you'll get to issue a command or choose to ignore them for now. Once combat starts however, the die rolls commence. So early on you'll see "MISSED" over the heads of your enemies alot, and it will be very aggravating if you choose to use swords. I found myself yelling at the tv on a few occasions. Thankfully as you level "MISSED" will show up less and less, and they'll be all but non-exsistant after you've aquired your first Lightsabler.
Even Kath Hounds can't stand against the lightsaber.....unless the die doesn't fall right.....
Ahh yes, the old trusty weapon of the Jedi. The Lightsaber. Yep you'll be getting one of those babies, and they're undoubtably the best weapon in the game, at least in my oppinion. There is a price though. Even fast players are looking at anywhere from 2-3 hours of play just to get your first one. New players will take longer....unless you have a game guide or do internet research. After you've gotten your first, you'll also unlock the three classes of Jedi. Each have strengths and weeknesses, and have various Force powers that you'll gain automatically. I'll ellaborate more on Force Powers in a bit, so it's back to the sabers.
You'll get your first one, a standard single blade, but if you've picked up the right perk then you'll be able to use a sword along with your saber in your off hand. After your first saber, you'll be picking them up off just about Dark Jedi and boss you face in the game. You'll see only two types the standard Single blade, which you can wield two of, and the Double bladed. Both have roughly the same stats. You can customize your sabers with three crystal slots. One is used for color (Pure vanity) and the other two actually allow you to change the stats of your saber. So the combinations are nearly limitless as you'll find new color crystals and power crystals in each world you go to.
As a Jedi you'll be allowed to use Force powers, and as you would expect this is what makes the game, at least for me. There's three different types of powers you can use. Universal powers that can be used penalty free by either Light or Darkside Jedi, Lightside powers that will decrease in cost the farther up the Light path you are and cost more the further down the Dark path you are, and Darkside just like with the Lightside powers, the more evil you are the less you'll pay to use said power. You can of course cheat the system a little. I've found you can up your Personality and use both sides without much penalty.
THE LIGHT IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!
This of course leads to a single choice you get to make, and you might as well choose from the start, cause the game makes you choose over and over again. Do you protect the poor, and weak. Seek out Justice and bring Light to the Galaxy, or do you Fall, and become the most evil, and vile person the Galaxy has ever seen? The choice is your's, but you don't have to worry to much. The game doesn't really do anything with this concept. Just a little visual tweaks on your character, and different backgrounds when you look at your stats (See pictures above and below), and a different ending when you beat the game....yes that's right. If you want to see the other ending you've got to play it through twice.
Shouldn't have had the beans......
There's alot of dialogue in this game, but you won't read most of it. The game is speach heavy. The voice acting is good, there's very little that's over the top, and you can tell the actors and actresses in the game took it seriously. The animations on the characters on the other hand, seem to be a little over the top in some places. Especially when a party member or NPC is sad or sorrowful. Something else that bothered me was some of the Aliens when they would speak. Certain races would sound the same, or even use the same words. Though to give credit to Bioware, since there's so many races, you can kind of forget that they sound the same.
There's a couple mini games as well. There's a blackjack style card game called Pazzak, and a Racing mini game.
There's a few hiccups as well, I've found that the frame rate will chug in some places, usually when there's alot going on on the screen. There's also been times where the dialogue would cut out and you wouldn't hear any speach. I also found that the hit detection on some of the racing tracks to be a little off.
If you're a Star Wars fan, then this is a game I recommend you try. The combat is a little different, but if you can get past that, it's a great game. If you're not, then why did you read this review?
So there you have it. My views of Star Wars: KoTOR.
Next week, will hopefully be the game I wanted to do this week. If not, well then I'll pull another game outta my bum.
Till next time,
-V
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