Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Xbox
Well here it is. After nearly three years of reviewing games, I finally get around to reviewing my first Xbox game. Fittingly, it is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This game is the entire reason I even have an Xbox to begin with. I have owned the game for over ten years, but haven't had an Xbox to play it on. I had played the game once, back in the mid 2000s. An ex-girlfriend at the time had an Xbox. I bought this game because I had heard so many good things about it. I played it and beat it on her Xbox. I remember I played the sequel too. But then we broke up. She took her Xbox and I kept the games that I had bought. Over ten years have passed and I haven't been able to play this game because I didn't have an Xbox. Just never thought to get one. I've always been a PlayStation loyalist.
But just recently it started to bug me that I had so many Xbox games in my possession that I could not play. In particular Knights of the Old Republic. I decided to get an Xbox 360. This system is now considered "last gen" since Xbox 1 and PlayStation 4 are all the rage now. But all I really wanted was to be able to play all my old original Xbox games again. I felt like a traitor buying an Xbox since I am such a PlayStation guy. But it was something I just had to do.
First order of business upon purchasing the 360 was to go back and revisit Knights of the Old Republic. Playing this game again was after all my main motivation for getting an Xbox. Reading other reviews of this game, many people revere it as an all time classic. Not only one of the best Star Wars games ever, but one of the best RPGs of all time. It is true that I had played this game once in 2005 or 2006, but I really did not remember a whole lot about it. That whole phase of my life back then is very hazy to me. I do remember I liked the game and I also remembered that I took the path of the dark side and made all the evil choices.
The game would come back to me in pieces as I played it again. But this time I would take the path of the light side of the Force.
If you have never played this game, I will explain how it works. The game takes place 3,000 years before the events of the films. You start out as your typical RPG amnesiac character. You wake up in the middle of a space battle. You discover you are a Republic officer and that you are battling the Sith armada. The Sith are after one of the Jedi on board your ship. Her name is Bastila. You and a bunch of other characters jettison in escape pods before the ship is destroyed. The pods crash land on a planet named Taris. It becomes your mission to rescue Bastila and escape the planet. But it won't be easy. The planet has been quarantined by the Sith. All travel on and off the planet has been indefinitely suspended.
You view your character from a behind the back perspective. All characters and environments are fully 3D. Don't expect eye popping detail, however. The game looks fine, but it is very basic. I wouldn't say the game looks ugly but I wouldn't say it is top of the line either. Some character animations are a little stiff. Stage design can be a bit repetitive. The game may not look like much by today's standards, but I have no problem with its look. Like I said, it is not ugly. I'm sure it was stunning back when it was released. For someone who grew up playing a bunch of games released in the early to mid 2000s era I think the game looks classic and charming.
As you explore Taris looking for Bastila, the game's mechanics become clear to you. Mainly, you walk around and talk to people. You look for clues about where Bastila may be. You can ask about the history of the planet. You talk to people about what they think of the Sith quarantine. Just gather information in general.
Taris is a big place to explore, and you encounter all kinds of different people with different stories. You often will take on side quests from some of the characters you encounter. Some of these quests are necessary to advance the story line. Some are completely optional. It is possible to have ten-plus quests open at the same time. Often it is up to you which order you want to tackle them in. Other times you must complete one certain quest before you can move on to another. Embarking on multiple quests at the same time is commonplace in games now, but I remember being completely wowed by this the first time I played the game over ten years ago.
It is on Taris that you discover your character has an ability with the Force. As you progress in the game, you gain experience and start to learn new powers. Choices you make in the game determine if you will go down the path of the dark or the light side. The game is very conversation driven. You are often given a list of choices when it is your turn to respond during a conversation. If you make the asshole choice, chances are that you are going to get dark side points. If you are compassionate and try to do the right thing, you get light side points.
An example: you see some bandits robbing an old man. If you are evil you would kill everyone and take the money for yourself. If you are good you would fight the bandits and save the old man. If you keep doing the right thing, you will be strong in the light side of the Force. Do the opposite and you wind up on the dark side. Each side has its own different set of Force powers. The light side seems more geared to healing and defense while the dark side is more focused on attack.
Not only do your choices affect your powers, they also drastically affect the way the game's story plays out. One choice you make on the first planet of the game may affect something that happens three planets down the road. Certain jobs may or may not be open to you depending on the choices you have made or the side quests you have already completed. You may end up at odds with some of your party members if you choose the dark side over the light. Some characters may not even join your party if you make the wrong choice in the game. The game's overall story line pretty much goes the same place depending on your choices. But you could play the game a hundred times and have it be a completely different journey each and every time. There are so many different character choices, side missions to accept, or conversation paths you can choose to take in this game. And they all make a difference.
The game's combat system is decent. It takes place in real time, but you can pause the game and make a selection while paused if things are going too fast for you. You only control one character at a time. If you are controlling your main character and attack an enemy, your party will usually jump right in to assist you. If you don't like what they are doing, would like them to attack a different enemy, or would like one of them to cast a healing spell, you can always switch over to that other character. But the same rules still apply. You can only control one person at a time. The character you just switched off of will probably then go into attack mode.
I constantly found myself switching back and forth between all of my characters and micro managing each fight. The game can be hard at times and this is a necessity. You can't count on all three of your characters winning each battle by just doing a basic attack move each turn. Each enemy you defeat gives you experience. Completing missions also gives you experience. The more experience you gain, the more your characters will level up. Usual RPG stuff. The more you level up the tougher you get and the more abilities you acquire.
The game's story line is extremely deep. Each planet you visit has its own lore. So many different characters you encounter have elaborate quests with large backstories attached. Your own party members are interesting to interact with as well. It is necessary to have personal one on one conversations with your party members as you level up. The different choices you make during these interactions affect your relationship with your team. The game's main story line is pretty awesome too. It is famous for having one of the most jaw dropping twists in video game history. The whole story line is just really fun and extremely clever in the way it is unveiled. You wouldn't necessarily expect a Star Wars game to have a top of the line story in an RPG, but this game definitely delivers.
If I had to make one complaint about the game it would be that sometimes things can break up and start getting choppy. This happens every once in a while during combat. Things move at an excruciatingly slow pace and you can't even seem to make a selection with your controller. You just have to wait it out until the fight is over and hope you don't die. It happens often during conversations too. The voices break up so severely that it is best to just read the text and skip over the vocals. Well heck that is what I did most of the time anyway. But still!
All in all Knights of the Old Republic is a very deep, very challenging, and very innovative role playing game. I knew that the game would be good. Even from my past experience with the game and reading all the positive reviews it still caught me by surprise at just how good it is. I want to say that I would recommend this to anyone. I don't think you necessarily have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this game as it takes place thousands of years before the movies and has its own completely new plot line. I am sure there are some people out there that still won't like it or maybe they will think the game's pace is too slow. So I can't necessarily say this game is for everyone. But if you like RPGs and don't mind something that is heavily conversation based, then Knights of the Old Republic is an amazing experience. With all of the side quests and its good/bad system it is a pioneer in its field. You can still see its influence in the games of today.
It's not a perfect game by any means, but it is still a damn good one.
Overall:
A
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