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Best Star Wars game in years

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: December 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I first heard that Knights of the Old Republic was going to be set 4,000 years before the movies, I thought it would be crap. Boy, was I wrong. This game kicks more a** than the last two Star Wars movies combined. Everything from the graphics to the battle system to the story is very well executed. If it weren't for a couple problems, hey, this might have been perfect.

The story goes like this; The New Republic has been at war with the Mandalorians, and drove the last of their enemy deep into space, where a Jedi master named Revan and his apprentice, Malak, chased them into the beyond, and returned as Sith lords with a fleet of war ships. Malak betrays his master, and attacks the New Republic with his armada. And here, as the apprentice of the Jedi Bastila, you begin the game. It is your job to find out the mystery behind the end of the Mandalorian war, the Sith Battleships, and Malak, and to either step into the role of a Jedi and stop him, or become one of the Sith.

This game just screams Star Wars. The Ebon Hawk is a dead ringer for the Millenium Falcon, but looks different enough to be seen as a forbear, not a clone. The game will take you from Tatooine to Coruscaunt to Kashyyk, Chewbacca's homeworld, and you will even get your own wookies! Ever wondered what C-3P0 would be like if he was a fighting type and didn't whine? I know I did, and Hk-47, your loyal, and homocidal, droid party member, is one of the best characters in the game.

The controls may prove something of a problem. There is always difficulty moving a game that was built for a console to the PC. However, these problems are easily bypassed, considering that the entire game can be played with the mouse, or, for thumb candy addicts like me, you can just plug in a game pad. The battle system is real-time turn-based, and it easy to use, especially because of the pause feature, which is a blessing when nature calls in the middle of a major fight.

The graphics more than do the job, and in some places, provided you have a good processor and video card, they can be downright astounding. The moving grass and the glow of the lightsabers are incredible. The sound is equally impressive. John William's signature score runs throughout parts of the game, where others have a slower, deeper tone, but all of it runs in the same vein as the movies. The sound effects are all recognizable, from the hum of a saber to roar of a starship's engines. In addition, this game may have the best voice acting of any on the PC market. It's really that great, and there are hours and hours of it thanks to the fully-interactive dialogue system.

It's great to have the options to choose between the life of a noble Jedi, or a power-hungry Sith. Sure, the game isn't all that open-ended, but's it sure is long, spanning four disks on the PC. There are lots of side-quests (solving them all in addition to beating the game will take some people upwards of 60 hours), but in the end, this is a story-based RPG, and it is linear. Is that a bad thing? No. We've all seen what happens when Star Wars games are left too open-ended (cough*Galaxies*cough), and this strikes a balance between choice and duty, as it were. Even after beating the game, most will want to play through it again, as the light and dark side endings are different, and both are worth the effort.

In addition, the customization of the characters in impressive. Everything from equipment to clothing to your character's appearance (it will change depending on your light side/dark side alignment) to the ability to design your own lightsaber, or lightsabers, is nifty on a level that Star Wars has never seen. Seen your character weild a dual-bladed saber while beating down some bad dudes will make you feel tingly all over.

The biggest real problem of this game is that the inventory can be clumsy at time, as you don't have access to all of your items while on the Ebon Hawk. It seems silly to have to land the ship, switch out items, then take off again. In addition, though the dialogue is very well-done, sometimes the loops are repeated or hard to follow. It doesn't show up that often though but it's one of the only things that faults the gameplay.

All in all, this is a must have for any fan of computer RPG's in general and Bioware in particular, and any Star Wars fan owes it to themselves to pick this up. A great experience in both gameplay and Star Wars lore, you just can't go wrong with Knights of the Old Republic. Just make sure you have enough space and muscle to run the thing, 'cause it's a monster of a game.

Unconditional Thumbs Up !!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Trust me on this, I am an extremely picky gamer. I have countless game CDs collecting dust on my shelf, because I just don't take a liking to games that easily. Once I find a good one, I hang on for dear life.

KOTOR is one of those games. KOTOR blew me away. It is the best game I can remember playing in ages, and I mean that. The game is extremely well designed and has elements of genius in it.

Combat System: You can play it turn-by-turn like a classic RPG, just by using the pause button and qeueing up commands and analyzing dice rolls, OR you can just forget the dice rolls and numbers, and just let it rip and issue commands on the fly real-time. It gives you the feeling of TOTAL control over the battles, and never leaves you bored. Of course, don't expect Mortal Kombat-style kicks/punches/etc, it's not that kind of game.

Storyline: It's very, but not totally, interactive. You can highly influence the storyline at times by your choice of responses. For example, because I was evil, I accidentally ended up killing a jedi who I later found out could have been one of my party members, had I let her live. I got lots of Dark Side points, but later, I regretted not having another jedi in my party. And of course, you have 2 different endings: Light Side and Dark Side, all driven by your choice of responses. Now THAT is cool. Of course, other times, I noticed, no matter how I responded, I always got the same/similar replies and outcomes. But Bioware still did a great job widening the possibilities. After all, the story does have to progress in a roughly linear fashion.

Character Development: I really love the Diablo 2-type character development in this game. You have attributes, feats and force powers. So so many choices to make. Which force trees should you develop? Which feat trees are most important? I played the game twice, and each time realized ways to improve my characters for the next time through. Now that makes for a DEEP and highly REPLAYABLE game. You can play as a man or woman, evil or good, all of which lead to 4 distinctly different game experiences. For example, different non-player characters will come on to you, depending on your gender.

Challenge: Now, I played most of the game on Difficult setting. I still had little trouble with the enemies, that is until reaching the end, when waves of Dark Jedi would choke me, whirlwind me, and cryoban nade me. So then I would end up watching them hack away at my helpless jedi and get frustrated (I should have gotten Force Immunity...note for next time...). On normal setting though, I had little difficulty finishing the game. 38.5 hours or so to do it, and that's doing all the side quests too. However, keep in mind, I did lots of research on the Internet, so I had some idea how to develop my jedi prior to the big battle. Most people say the game is a bit too easy, I thought it was just right. Besides, I loved watching hordes of enemies being blown away and stunned by my Force Wave, over and over again, til dead.

Graphics / Sound: No problems here. The game crashed on me about 2 times, not sure why. At one point, the music got stuck on a 3-second clip, playing over and over again, so I had to quit and restart. Minor bugs aside, the graphics and sound were great! Not the best I have seen, but definitely above average. This ain't the strongest aspect of KOTOR, I think that would be the storyline/game mechanics. But the graphics / sound are no letdown either. Caution: make sure you have a top-end gaming machine. I have heard some complaints voiced, specifically about the ATI Radeon 9600 cards. I have a 3.2 gig P4 / 1 gig DDR RAM / ATI Radeon 9800XT / Creative Audigy 2 ZS --- so I obviously had no problems whatsoever (other than above minor bugs). For me, the graphics were fluid and I never experienced slow framerates.

OVERALL: 10 / 10 across the board (but 8 / 10 for graphics). This game is a real achievement. It's an instant classic that is destined to be remembered as a watershed in RPG gaming history.

It's okay! You don't have to know D&D or be an uber gamer!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Hands-down, the BEST game I've ever played. The graphics are amazing, the story lines are better than any of the current crop of Star Wars movies, and the characters (and their responses) can move you, anger you, inspire you AND make you burst out laughing. The voice actors are FANTASTIC, no cheeseball people reading lines.

One word of advice: even if you're not familiar with role playing games, don't let that spook you. You don't have to be a Dungeons & Dragons lover or master gamer to pick this one up. The instruction booklet is overwhelming--you'll be staring at it wondering HOW you're gonna soak up all these symbols and meaning and AHHHHH *reaches for a stiff drink*!

So, pick up the book, glance through it, but understand that the game itself will take you through the steps. The instruction book only really becomes applicable once you're deep into the game and up on your feet and things like "Force Push" blah blah blah will completely make sense.

The game starts off in a world that allows you to learn the basic skills you'll refine later in the game, so feel comfortable to blunder through, messing up often and getting back up. You get better, and the game teaches you.

I'm a Star Wars freak; Star Wars Battlefront (a new game) is a mediocre version of Duck Hunt; it's just point and shoot, and maybe hop in a few vehicles. That's it. Knights entertains on so many levels, and everyone's story is different because we all react to questions in different ways--my husband is playing this and he's had situations/characters I NEVER had, and it's wonderful. A huge, varied universe that unlike games like Battlefront, will stay in your collection because everytime you play, it will be different depending on the decisions you make.

On a pathetic note, I'm so addicted to this I could barely work, shower, eat or pay attention to my family I was SO INVOLVED. Many 2am mornings on a worknight. Many afternoons praying for toddler naptime so I could pounce on the computer. It's that addictive! Enjoy, enjoy--there are surprises galore (one so shocking I control/alt/deleted out of the game because I COULDN'T TAKE IT!) and intense fun.

There are NO cons to this game--can't believe I don't have a single thing to complain about. Enjoy!

KOTOR: My First Review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

KOTOR is the award winning game from 2003. And it is with good reason. KOTOR is an RPG set 4,000 years before the Star Wars Saga begins and it is one of the best Xbox/PC games around.

In KOTOR, you create your own character, however there are limits. You can choose what class they are (Scoundrel/Scout/Soldier) and later the Jedi class (Guardian/Consular/Sentinel). Building your character isn't as good as say The Sims 2, but the gameplay makes up for it.

All Star Wars games usually start with a great beginning and this is no exception. You start off on the Endar Spire, where you learn the basics of moving, attacking, etc. There you meet Trask Ordo, the first character with you in your party. Your party is easy to understand. Your party builds up to nine people, you can have two others with you.

Afer the first level, you meet Carth Onasi, with whom you go to Taris with. On Taris, this is where things get exciting and is a good way to get easy Light/Dark points. By the time you leave Taris, you should have five more party members with you, which includes your ship, the Ebon Hawk (Like the Millenium Falcon).

From there you become a Jedi (Or Sith depending whether you want to be Light or Dark), learn the ways of the Force, build your Lightsaber and it goes on from there.

The gripping storyline should keep any RPG or Star Wars fan want to play this. And if you like the game, then you can get it's sequel, KOTOR II: The Sith Lords.

Thank you for reading this review and I hope this has helped you.

Jake Potts

PS: This is my first review on Amazon, sorry my review is long and if anything is spelt wrong or doesn't make sense. I also try not to ruin any storylines for anyone.

Good fun with some caveats

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: November 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

KOTOR is a great-looking, but fairly linear "by-the-book" RPG that should satisfy you if you are a fan of other recent Bioware titles such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. However, it might not *thrill* you.

First and foremost, Knights is a role-playing game - there's a lot of rich story and a lot of interaction with interesting and well-acted characters (the voice acting really is excellent in most cases - Jennifer Hale [Bastila] and Raphael Sbarge [Carth] give great performances in lead roles in the game). Like other Bioware RPGs there is a single main story thread and then a number of (mostly unrelated) side quests that you pick up for experience here and there.

KOTOR's gameplay combines some of the thrill of a first-person (well, third person chase camera) view with the precision of a turn-based RPG. Battles work exactly like other Bioware titles - auto pause when enemies sighted, issues orders then either let the battle rage on or micromanage it as you will. One major difference from Bioware's predacessor RPGs is that only two other characters may accompany you at any time. Also, be advised that you do have to walk through a lot of dialog trees to advance the story. I found most of the stories entertaining, but if your idea of fun reading in a game is `J0k3r ate ©l0ne_gunm4n's rocket' then you should find another game. A new feature, in-game mini games, gives a nice new element to gameplay and a good distraction when things get too rough or boring.

The interfaces to work with and equip characters had some minor annoyances with their design (mostly for the `newbie' like myself) I won't regale you with a list of them. Once you've learned the minor idiosyncrasies, it's not a problem. What I did miss was having more out-of-the-box combat scripts to choose from - there appear to only be the default and two others. But I guess scripts don't make much sense when there's only 3 characters you can control.

I haven't played through key sequences of the game in any other skill level besides the default, but at this level most of the quests were fairly straightforward and, frankly, easy to do. I'm obviously going to encounter more puzzles as I progress, but finding entertaining side quests is a difficult job to do for writers and developers these days and it's been done farily well (as of the first 10 hours of the game, that is) but too linear for my taste. Many quests, if they involve fighting, conviniently have a de-activated droid around for you to re-program to kill the bad guys in case you didn't create a character who's good in combat (or a computer console to cause to explode etc). You go here and there and kill the bad guys and loot their stuff... rince, repeat. Ten hours in, I'm starting to like the side quests more, though. They have interesting moral components to them.

The worst aspect of the game is also part of one of the BEST aspects of it: the graphics. The graphics are well done (not Half-Life 2 good, but good). The major issue is speed. With my settings turned up either at 60% to 75% of their max values and a modest screen size (1024x768), the game was not exactly a fast-moving experience. (This is bad because I have an Athlon 2600 and Radeon 9700 Pro and 1.5 GB of cl2 PC2700 memory). The processor just maxes out all the time while playing. So if your system is well below recommended spec, expect to lower the quality to get playable game rates. Hopefully this will be helped in the future by a game patch.

Overall, the game is a good solid, somewhat immersive Star Wars RPG that rocks where it counts. Frankly, the gameplay if very reminiscent of Star Wars Galaxies - the Star Wars MMORPG that just came out in June - except that you actually get to be a Jedi in KOTOR.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 16
Date: March 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game would easily be my "RPG of the Year" but for the enormous problems with bugs. These problems still go largely unaddressed by Bioware.

I suppose that every PC game has its share of bugs and compatibility problems, but Bioware's answer to this has been two-fold: 1)Limit their "Supported card list" to exactly two video cards (NVIDIA and ATI, and ONLY CERTAIN CHIPSETS OF THOSE CARDS)and then 2) If your particular video card doesn't have one of the small number of enumerated chipsets, they will wash their hands of you for tech support.

The biggest bug with the game, and the one that caused the most problems for me was the inability to reliably load save games. In a game that takes upwards of 50 hours of game time to complete, this is a bit of a problem to say the least. Three and a half months after release and two patches later I still cannot reliably load save games.

Now, if you have no problems with the game, this really is a very good game. The graphics and gameplay are superb and engaging, but the game is a crapshoot as to whether it will work at all. Review the specs carefully, and make sure you don't just meet, but vastly exceed them.

Looks Promising, WARNING:Only a Preview

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 43 / 93
Date: January 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is only a preview. It looks like a promising role playing game with great graphics. Supposed to come out for Xbox and PC in June of 2003. "Engage in this saga set in the Golden Age of the Republic-over 4,000 years before the first Star Wars film, when both Jedi and Sith (bad Jedi) number in the thousands. With the Galaxy reeling from a recent conflict with the Dark Lord, the ongoing battle between the Jedi and the Sith rages on. Your actions determine the outcome of this colossal galactic war-and your destiny as a Jedi. Immersive, action packed Star Wars role playing experience with customizable and evolving playable characters. Your group, comprised of up to three characters, can include humans, droids, Wookiees and more. Fast paced mini-games--such as racing swoop bikes, or manning turret guns. Journey spans ten different worlds ranging from the familiar and the new." The screenshots look great, ranging from blaster battles to lightsaber battles. The lightsaber battles look awesome. Some inlcude two people each with one saber, others include three to four people with double-sided sabers and two sabers each. Looks promising and good, but you never know.

A great deal of fun, but a few flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Knights of the Old Republic is an exceptional role-playing game. Having played the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG, and having massive amounts of fun with that, this game was easy to relate to, rule-wise.

First, I'll go over what disappointed me. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't pick an alien species, but that's a minor detail. There are some obvious gameplay glitches that plague similar games. First, there's the ever-annoying situation when you get into a corner or small area, and your party members close in behind you and trap you in. I hate that. Second, at times in the last few areas of the game, the combat can get sloppy. Friendly NPCs will get in your way, and block you from helping them because of tight quarters. Combat gets a bit overwhelming with the large numbers coming up against you, and if you don't carefully manage the chaos, your party could quickly be chopped down by dark Jedi. There aren't any other spots in the game where the combat gets so hairy that you have to manage it like you do in the last level, which I suppose is kind of the point. Becuase of that, you're unprepared for it. SAVE OFTEN.

There was one flaw in the story : the parallels to the original Star Wars story are kind of obvious and stick out as this game's sore thumb for me. Yet another ultimate weapon and a Galactic Empire-like enemy who call themselves the Sith, even though I've always understood the term Sith to refer to Dark Jedi exclusively. Along with that come a Wookie addition to your party with his scoundrel partner, an astromech droid with a similar look to R2D2, although no counterpart protocol droid, which I was thankful for. Among more parallels are the Ebon Hawk, a vessel that looks very much like the Millenium Falcon, a maimed dark lord with an intimidating voice, a visit to Tatooine (Jawas and Sandpeople included), and a Jedi Master who is the same species as Yoda, and has a Frank Oz sound to his voice. Some of these parallels, in my opinion, could've easily been dropped and replaced with something less-obviously ripped from the original films.

The parallels, however, stop there. There are many unique aspects to the game, which, in my opinion were the redeeming factors, including a HUGE twist that you don't see coming. Kudos to the writer who came up with it (you'll know what I'm talking about when you get there). There are back stories for the NPCs, almost all of which you get to deal with in actual gameplay. Although, some of the banter between characters would come at inconvenient moments, when you are on a roll and want to finish a quest.

Along with killing off attacking fighters when flying the Ebon Hawk between systems, there's a mini-game involving racing swoops. They look like racing boats, and can get pretty fun to race, plus they pay a lot.

All in all, I had lots of fun with this game. The characters are lively and interesting, especially HK-47, my favorite character, and the unique planets with their unique aliens were fun to explore. Any fan of RPGs, Star Wars, or both will enjoy this game.

AMAZING HAVENT ENJOYED A GAME THIS MUCH SINCE... WELL EVER

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is absolutel spectacular. Whether you're a big Star Wars fan or never even heard of Darth Vader you will love this game. I was a fan of Star Wars but not really so into it when I bought this game. And I really never got into RPG's before, I had tried Final Fantasy and stuff but lost patience quickly. But I have now played this game all the way through twice equaling over 50 hours of gameplay and I hate it for being over. I'm completey hooked and cannot wait for the next one. Its amazingly innovative and cool in terms of story and character development and how much variation there can be on what you do and how you go about the game. The graphics are ridiculous, but onyl if you've got the hardware - i'd recommend making sure you have the preferred stuff and not the minimum before buying this game - many of my friends tried running it on their PC's and ended up riping out clumps of hair. And i'm like many people and sometimes really really suck at games but this is not too difficult. It is in no means easy, but the obstacles are more inellectual than fast finger type shoot em up scenarios. Even with combat, you don't need to be fast or bang the mouse. If you have properly equipped and built up your character for the opponents you are facing you should be able to win with moderate ease. If you die, it's because you weren't ready for that bad guy, not because you can't mash buttons. I love the light/side dark side stuff - I played first and followed my gut to the light side, and then forced myself to be an absolute SOB the second time around and became a true sith lord. Both times were awesome and entertaining. My only complaint is that the game is a little weird with certain events that are triggered by reaching a certain conversation point with certain characters. Like certain things or people are supposed to show up in certain place after talking to person x for x amount of times but because you have already been there they do not. None of these roblems stop you from completing the game - they only affect sidequests but it could still be fixed. Other than that this game is flawless - buy it, beat it, beat it again, maybe again, maybe even again, keep it for nostalgia, and desperately wait for the second one like I am. BTW I have never written a review or a message on an online message board before or anything like that - I am so impressed by this game though that I did, and sent Lucas Arts an email too... I'm telling you its that good.

Wow.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I'm going to get straight to the facts without all that annoying talk at the beginning of some reviews. However, before I do, let me just say before I played this, Jedi Outcast was my favorite game EVER. I never thought any other game could be better than Jedi Outcast. Then I bought KOTOR and I discovered I was REALLY wrong.

KOTOR is simply what all the other reviews say: insanely addictive and fun. Yes, some people may be upset because they thought it was a 1st person shooter or they're disappointed with the combat system...GET LOST, ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT!!

Would you rather have a game where you boringly slash your normal single-bladed lightsaber at a little Sith who barely even fights back? Would you rather have a game where you walk around with a little pistol shooting little aliens until you die?!?!?!

____
OR
___

Would you like a game where you select combat moves and sit back as you watch your character do his own stuff, dodging blows, twirling lightsabers and doing terrific moves against your enemy???

I HOPE that you chose the 3rd answer, because if you chose the 1st or the 2nd answer, go buy one of those crappy old games like "Mysteries of the Sith."

And there's so much more to KOTOR than just the great combat system:

1. You can customize your lightsaber to your liking, changing blade colors and power crystals.

2. You can build your party from many different characters, including Jedi, droids, Wookies, Twi'Leks, and bounty hunters.

3. You can choose to become skilled with a double-bladed lightsaber, twin lightsabers, or a single-hilt lightsaber.

4. You can select different feats and skills to make your character smarter and more powerful as you "level up."

5. You can travel to seven gigantic planets including Dantooine, Korriban, Kashyyk, and Yavin 4.

6. Amazing storyline that keeps you hooked.

7. Unbelievable graphics and animation.

8. You can choose to follow the light and become a Jedi, or turn to the Dark Side and follow the ways of the Sith.

9. You can bust out over 40 Force Powers including Force Lightning, Force Choke, Force Heal, Force Kill, Force Whirlwind, and Force Storm.

10. The characters are fantastic...HK-47 (the combat droid) always makes me laugh.

11. You meet natives on the planets...some friendly and some aggressive. Jawas and Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, Wookies on Kashyyk...and Sith Lords on Korriban.

12. You can participate in swoop races to win extra credits with your very own swoop bike.

13. A challenging game! Challenging quests, challenging puzzles and challenging duels.

14. Equip your character and party members with devastating weapons, protective armor, and high tech gizmos and gadgets.

15. Play Pazaak, the popular galactic card game, to gamble and win credits.

16. Explore strange places like Sith tombs, unexplored forests, caves, and the famous Dune Sea.

17. Jedi can use red lightsabers!!!

18. Sith don't just use their boring red sabers, they use red sabers AND purple sabers!!!

19. Customize your character and suit him to your personality.

20. Your actions and speech decide your fate. Letting an innocent person die will gain you dark side points, while using your skills to help an innocent person will gain you light side points.

There you have it, 20 reasons to buy this game. And I just listed the basics!!!

You will NOT be disappointed with this game. Bioware and Lucasarts are dynamic together!!

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