DiscoDave
12-02-2003, 01:58 PM
I've been hearing for a while that huge sprawling interactive environments and multiple paths are the future of gaming. When I hear these ideas, my mind flashes back to a few years ago when AI was going to be the next big thing, and by the year 2005 we'd see truly intelligent artificial intelligence.
Mmhmm.
Without spreading this review to discussions of AI, I must say that if this the huge sprawling interactive environments, then bring them on. As I look at my favorite games (Zelda64, Deus Ex, Grand Theft Auto...), they all feature the same chemistry: huge worlds, and interactive quests.
KotOR belongs on that list, as it shares the same elements.
I finished it in 24 hours of gaming. Your mileage may vary, but let me be clear on this. After that 24 hours of gaming, I had a thirst to replay it as an evil character (I played a noble Jedi Guardian the first time through). I'm not done with this game, believe me.
For fear of a totally disorganized review, let me start with the story.
As I was playing, I had realized something...Bioware, the developer, has a better idea of the Star Wars Universe than George Lucas. I know, it sounds odd. But I challenge you to play it for yourself and tell me I'm wrong. The story itself is far more compelling than any of Star Wars movies, which makes sense beings as the movies don't take 24 hours. But this game has a greater story than all of the Star Wars movies combined.
It's involved, the action feels driven by the story, and believe me...there are plot twists you will NOT see coming, and not because they're absurd.
The game also gives the impression that the Jedi Order are not simple war machines...a feeling I get from the latest Star Wars movies. They're diplomats first, and warriors only to back that up.
Sound is perfect, music is flawless, voice acting is superb, graphics are very good, the characters are funny when they should be funny, intense when they should be intense...I really have a hard problem finding faults with this game.
If I don't list the faults, however, I'll give the impression that I'm biased. The biggest fault, I'd say, deals with equipment. Every item you ever get over the entire game is stored in one huge stockpile that you take with you everywhere you go. That makes it really difficult to keep track of important stuff, and while it's certainly possible to dump some of the crap, it's not as easy to do as it should be.
I promise you, by the end of the game, you'll have stockloads of crap. That makes accessing the latest datapad to learn about a key plot point or a particular puzzle you're having problems a bit of a pain.
Some of the minigames, particularly the ship defense (you take a turret and shoot down incoming fighters before they can blow up your ship) get a bit pointless. It's cool the first time, interesting the second, and after that...eehhh.
Additionally, while all dialogue is recorded, it seems reasonable to expect that clicking on a particular quest will pull back relevant conversations serving as a reference.
That's about it on the side of the faults, but you can have faith in this...they prove quite insignificant when compared to the light side of this game. HAHA! GET IT?!?! STAR WARS REFERENCES IN A STAR WARS GAME! HAHA...HAH....hahah....hah.....yeeeea.
9.5/10.
Mmhmm.
Without spreading this review to discussions of AI, I must say that if this the huge sprawling interactive environments, then bring them on. As I look at my favorite games (Zelda64, Deus Ex, Grand Theft Auto...), they all feature the same chemistry: huge worlds, and interactive quests.
KotOR belongs on that list, as it shares the same elements.
I finished it in 24 hours of gaming. Your mileage may vary, but let me be clear on this. After that 24 hours of gaming, I had a thirst to replay it as an evil character (I played a noble Jedi Guardian the first time through). I'm not done with this game, believe me.
For fear of a totally disorganized review, let me start with the story.
As I was playing, I had realized something...Bioware, the developer, has a better idea of the Star Wars Universe than George Lucas. I know, it sounds odd. But I challenge you to play it for yourself and tell me I'm wrong. The story itself is far more compelling than any of Star Wars movies, which makes sense beings as the movies don't take 24 hours. But this game has a greater story than all of the Star Wars movies combined.
It's involved, the action feels driven by the story, and believe me...there are plot twists you will NOT see coming, and not because they're absurd.
The game also gives the impression that the Jedi Order are not simple war machines...a feeling I get from the latest Star Wars movies. They're diplomats first, and warriors only to back that up.
Sound is perfect, music is flawless, voice acting is superb, graphics are very good, the characters are funny when they should be funny, intense when they should be intense...I really have a hard problem finding faults with this game.
If I don't list the faults, however, I'll give the impression that I'm biased. The biggest fault, I'd say, deals with equipment. Every item you ever get over the entire game is stored in one huge stockpile that you take with you everywhere you go. That makes it really difficult to keep track of important stuff, and while it's certainly possible to dump some of the crap, it's not as easy to do as it should be.
I promise you, by the end of the game, you'll have stockloads of crap. That makes accessing the latest datapad to learn about a key plot point or a particular puzzle you're having problems a bit of a pain.
Some of the minigames, particularly the ship defense (you take a turret and shoot down incoming fighters before they can blow up your ship) get a bit pointless. It's cool the first time, interesting the second, and after that...eehhh.
Additionally, while all dialogue is recorded, it seems reasonable to expect that clicking on a particular quest will pull back relevant conversations serving as a reference.
That's about it on the side of the faults, but you can have faith in this...they prove quite insignificant when compared to the light side of this game. HAHA! GET IT?!?! STAR WARS REFERENCES IN A STAR WARS GAME! HAHA...HAH....hahah....hah.....yeeeea.
9.5/10.