You
find yourself joining the game in the heat of battle and
being tutored on the controls at the same time. This may
sound
like too much to deal with at first– but it is actually
a very quick interjection into the game-play and will have
you well versed in controlling your character, using combat
mode – editing the stats pages, adding extra characters
to your clan and switching character in game to utilize their
different skills when needed.
Xbox owners should be very glad of KOTOR’s release as
a beefy RPG title has been sorely missed. Other than last years
over complicated Morrowind this genre has been strangely over
looked and with The Final Fantasy series being a huge success
on other consoles it is only right that the Xbox should compete.
KOTOR Competes dude!! Well this game even takes things a step
further – with a more westernized out-look and the famously
friendly backdrop of Star Wars this could be the most accessible
and coherent RPG to date!
Many of the characters you know and love from The Star Wars
Movies are loosely represented - although these guys are the
long lost ancestors of the characters we know. The amount of
differing aliens is great and like I said you are guaranteed
to recognize quite a lot of faces.
Every character in the game is willing to talk. All conversation
is accompanied with voice acting audio. The voice acting is
what makes this game so involving and it is so good you could
go through the whole game with the subtitles turned off. Engaging
in conversation is the way to move forward. When you talk to
a character you get lots of options per conversation and this
is how you learn about the environments and politics of the
area, pick up missions, gain clues, enter the mini games and
meet your allies.
You will visit a number of key Star Wars locations, including
the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk and Luke Skywalker’s home
planet Tatooine in what will prove to be a colossal journey.
The main mission is pretty standard stuff but when accompanied
by the side-missions and subplots the story remains compelling
to the end. You are required to work as a bounty hunter, investigate
murders, settle disputes, cure a deadly disease, take sides
or play sides off against each other in various uncertain situations,
and experience how life really treats both citizens of the
Republic as well as followers of the Sith. With over 40 hours
of gaming from start to finish you will find yourself fully
submerged in the Star Wars universe and due to the many options
offered at every turn you will probably want to strike up again
once completed to see where reacting differently takes you.
Combat is not in real time although at a glance you could mistake
the fighting for real-time action. The fighting instead relies
on an amount of statistical checks just like in Dungeons & Dragons.
Your character's "to hit" rating, determined by their
class, level, and weapon, is added to a random 1-20 dice roll
and compared against the opponent's defense rating. If the
to-hit roll is greater, you connect and inflict injury. Your
characters will automatically attack any foes they see until
either you or they are all dead, so in most cases, you can
simply watch the fight unfold spending the majority of your
time cueing up specialized attacks such as nasty grenades,
sniper shots or power attacks.
Knights of the Old Republic; uses a simplified version of 3rd
Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules both for combat and for
character generation so fans of Dungeons & Dragons style
game-play will be in fairly familiar territory. Your main character
starts off as a male or female soldier, scout, or scoundrel.
These three basic classes correspond to Dungeons & Dragons
fighter, ranger, and rogue classes. The soldier is straightforward
but very strong and is skilled in various types of weapons
and armor and gains the most vitality points per experience
level. The scout is not as tough as the soldier but gains more
skill points per level, allowing them to do such things as
repair droids, pick locks, and disarm land mines. The scoundrel
is physically the weakest but can use a special cloaking device
to creep up on unsuspecting enemies. The scoundrel is also
the best at being persuasive in conversation which can save
quite a lot of bloodshed along the way. Whether you are male
or female also has a bearing on some situations.
The soundtrack is quite a subtle affair and takes a back
seat for the majority of the game-play.
With so much Voice acting in the game and of such a high
quality it would have almost been a sacrilege to overdo the
background music. Although, when a boost of excitement is
required the music kicks in and lifts the atmosphere nicely.
Same goes for the sound effects really. Blasters sound good – same
goes for the Light Sabers – but it’s the voice
acting that steals the show.
Overall the union of a decent and - simplified for use- representation
of Dungeons & Dragons game-play with a well loved and
truly brilliant subject matter masterfully fulfilled makes
for the most compelling and complete game on the Xbox to
date.
9 out
of 10
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