
	Platform PC Genre MMO Publisher Electronic Arts / LucasArts Developer BioWare ETA Sometime

Review: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - The Sith Lords (PC) Review: Star Wars: Empire at War (PC) Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3)
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Star Wars: The Old Republic

It's been over two and a half years since BioWare officially announced The Old Republic would be coming to a galaxy very, very close by, and gamers of all stripes have been waiting with bated breath as cinematics, class announcements, tie-in novels, and comic books have built interest. At E3, TOR held one of the premier

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spots at EA's booth in the South Hall of the L.A. Convention Center. Luckily, I got a chance for a little hands-on time with BioWare's magnum opus, and I left wanting more.

There was some discontent shortly after the game was announced regarding the art style chosen for TOR, abandoning the more realistic models and style of Knights of The Old Republic for

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one that felt closer to The Clone Wars animated series. Having actually seen the game in action, I can tell you unequivocally that the art style works. It doesn't just work in the pure mechanical sense of looking gorgeous (which it does quite handily), but in the more important aesthetic sense. The game feels like another episode of KOTOR, even if it doesn't look precisely like the previous entries. It feels like it's a Star Wars game, carrying that often fragile blend of sci-fi shine and fantasy sparkle that made the movies so enjoyable, and by extension the best of the Star Wars games that came before it. Those who have fears that it's going to be merely a reskinned version of World of WarCraft can rest easy.

We only had about twenty minutes to get our hands dirty, and I would have loved to get more time on it, but it was not to be. My test run had me in the robes of a Sith Inquisitor using an Assassin build, operating out of an Imperial outpost on Tattooine. The character was already at level 26, so I had access to some cool powers, but the timeframe didn't really give me much opportunity to really become familiar with the foibles and nuances of the class. Those following the official site might be tempted to write the Sith Assassin off as merely a Subtlety-spec Rogue with slightly flashier weapons, but they would be wrong to do so. While the basic tactic might be similar, it plays out rather differently than the WoW counterpart might. The character I ran seemed considerably more squishy, though this was mitigated to some extent by the presence of my companion character, a burly hardly soul that kept aggro fairly well. Of course, like any Assassin worth the name, sneaking around in stealth helped out a lot and it was possible to avoid most fights during the quest chain we were given.

The sound in the game was quite excellent, though I observed that the character didn't speak during conversation cutscenes, a feature which had been present in previously released cinematics. I can only theorize that the voice work had not been completed for that character at the time of the demo, or had not yet been recorded for that quest chain. Much like the visuals, the sound work and music go a long way towards making the game feel like an actual Star Wars game and not a pretender to the throne.

While the official release date has not been announced, most people suspect at least Q4 this year or just after the start of 2012 before it hits the street. I can say without hesitation that this title should be on the "must have" list of any serious Star Wars or MMO fan.

- Axel Cushing

(July 1, 2011)