Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

LukeG writes "Despite the many impressive efforts in recent years of Lucas Arts Entertainment, a 'definitive' Star Wars game has not been forthcoming. Yet in 'Knights of the Old Republic', Bioware may have found the genre and approach most likely to satiate many fans' appetites. Read all about this fabulous role-playing game, in this brand new preview."

Comments

No Difinitive SW Game???

[Kalak451]

Have people not played Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II???? These are easily two of the best games ever made, and they just ooze that great Star Wars feeling.

Re:No Difinitive SW Game???

[Schnapple]

Have people not played Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II???? These are easily two of the best games ever made, and they just ooze that great Star Wars feeling.

I agree that these are both damn fine Star Wars game, but you can't fly an X-Wing or Tie Fighter, you can't control an AT-AT (without cheating anyway) and of course there's no pod racing to be found.

Star Wars has a lot of facets and no game captures them all. Not sure if this one will but I think the last one to try was Shadows of the Empire and we all know how effective that was. This is why most Star Wars game focus on one thing (light sabers, dogfighting, racing, planning Gungan cities) and also why there are so many of them.

Just be glad LucasArts isn't afraid to outsource development anymore.

Re:No Difinitive SW Game???

[JabberWokky]

Star Wars has a lot of facets and no game captures them all.

I respectfully disagree. The key focus of the entire original series (note that this covers the original three movies) was a single man nailing one good shot with the help of a friend and taking down an empire by hitting the right chink. And the original movie had the purest form of that... the battle plans are carried through to the scarred and worn remaining X and Y wing pilots, and the new guy who used to hunt wamprats back home takes out the key position. It's an old old story of the local kid becoming a grunt and using the power (of god, of purity of valour, of simple bravery, of his connection to the land, of gift of birth, of the Force) to do what needs to be done. The crux, the action of the story is that act... and it's always a single shot, with assistance, that takes out the bad guys. The friend and the hero trade off, but that shot is the moment of glory.

So, what captures that? I respectfully submit that in 1983, a vector graphic cabinet rumbling "The Force is with you... always" captured the simplicity of that moment. After all, it *is* the Star Wars Video Game, and we were all high on the latest installment, wondering when Episode VII would come out. The battles in the original series of movies were simple - nameless and faceless stormtroopers piloting nameless and faceless tie fighters that swarmed after the rough and tumble good guys. They each made their run, and the home town kid makes good.

You can go on about the temptation of Luke, but how is that a good videogame? Toss it in an RPG, and we know what is coming. Change the storyline, and it's merely a story set in the same universe. I liked Tales from Jabba's Palace, sure, but it wasn't Empire. To capture the movies *themselves*, you need action - everybody knows the plot and characters. If you "add" to them (with A wings or extra missions on new planets), you're making a good video game - but you beyond "capturing the movie". When you play Star Wars, making run after run at the Death Star, you're being Luke Skywalker taking down the Empire. And, in the end "Luke, Han and Leia take down the Empire" is the entire story. And every kid wants to be Luke, Han or Leia.

As I said at the beginning, this all applies only to the 'first' three movies. The prequels are fragmented in message, theme and character. Rather than hinting at a greater universe populated by various factions, they show it. And that dulls the movies in terms of sharp, simple story. Luke and Han nailed the reactors through good piloting (even without the Force, Luke was a great pilot), but Anakin "Oops'ed" his way through his first *two* engagements (the pod race and the space battle). It's kinda hard to want to put yourself in the place of someone who "accidently" wins.

I dunno - maybe a button masher with lots of FMVs would capture Ep. I. :)

--
Evan

how do you know?

[bludstone]

"Read all about this fabulous role-playing game.."

how do you know its fabulous? have you played it? has anyone played it?

oh wait, you are ASSUMING its good... okay.. just making things clear

No definitive Star Wars game?

[John_Booty]

a 'definitive' Star Wars game has not been forthcoming.

I guess the author of this post never played TIE Fighter on the PC. One of the most amazing games I've ever played, and I think my opinion matches the general concensus.

It often makes the Top 10 in "best games of all time lists". I think it may have been in the top five in one of those lists which appeared in a print PC gaming magazine several years ago.

No definitive Star Wars game?

[Ezubaric]

Hmm . . . I'm sure I'm jumping on a crowded ship, but I thought that I'd add my two cents.

Tie Fighter

This game created an immersive atmosphere, had some impressive graphics and cutscenes for a game that came on five floppy disks, and (along with the add on) utterly wrecked my first joystick. It was called the 2nd best game of all time by PC Gamer not too long ago; I don't think that it should be so abruptly forgotten.

Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight

PC Gamer called this the best game of the year when it came out, and it really was a keeper. It didn't have the best graphics, but I really liked how well it integrated the force powers and lightsabr into the game. I kicked the asses of quite a few UT and Quake gurus because I used my force powers wisely and just didn't barge into a room. A great 3D shooter that worked well within the SW universe.

I also think that it's also pretty impressive how LucasArts worked with the fan community to create homebrew levels for these two great games. I think the only area where LucasArts has perhaps fallen short is in the creation of a SW strategy game (or perhaps an adventure game, which would be cool given how good LucasArts is at adventure).

Perhaps there is no single definitive SW game, but most would agree that there are at least two really strong contenders.

Ummmm....what?

[SuiteSisterMary]

Despite the many impressive efforts in recent years of Lucas Arts Entertainment, a 'definitive' Star Wars game has not been forthcoming.

Hrm. X-Wing? Better yet, TiE Fighter? LORD were those 'definitive.'

Or the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series? JK2: Jedi Outcast is an AMAZING game. I love online saber dueling.

No definitive game?

[sielwolf]

What about X-Wing* (for flight sims) and Dark Forces (for FPS's)? Both were pretty stellar at the time of their releases and are still fun as heck to play.

I loved naming the pilots and getting the wacky pictures in X-Wing: Asskicke, Shamu...

And what about the intro movies?

Adm. Ackbar: "Werr arr Runnder rattak by impirrial forcres! Begrin evasive manrurvers! Rawch the Rex-ring riders!"

Hell I still say that to this day and it still kills me.

*In truth I thought TIE Fighter was even better than X-Wing even though it was just kind of a cut and paste. I preferred the thrill of flying the fast and fragile TIEs around slaying things with your wingmen. As far as I can remember the wingman in both games was topnotch.

Strange

[Rogerborg]

I thought the idea of an RPG is that you get to play different roles. I'm inferring from this preview that you only get to be a Jedi or Sith, with extra capabilities supplied by a a couple of AI henchmen.

I'm not sure how this is significantly different from a team game of Jedi Knight 2. I mean, it's fun running around swing a saber and using Force Grip and all, but in an RPG, wouldn't it be more fulfilling to have a range of options? The henchman/familiar system in Neverwinter Nights is great, but who'd want to play it if you only got to be a wizard?

Also, one of the things that's really pissing me off about Eps 1 & 2 is that all of the protagonists are either Jedi, comic relief, or (admittedly rather tasty) sweater meat. Contrast with IV-VI, where Han doesn't get to use Deus ex machina. In fact, the hyperdrive breakdowns are, to my eyes, a nice play on how we've become tolerate of "and with one bound, our hero was free" solutions. While Luke's off being an icicle or getting in touch with his inner midichlorian, the real grunt work is done by Han and Chewie, by Leia and Lando, and even good old Wedge, who, please note, manages to not get bitchslapped by an AT-AT, and without the benefit of midichlorians at that. For me, this is the dramatic strength of IV-VI, and, be honest, who did you want to be when you played Star Wars as a kid? Han or Luke? Be honest now. ;-)

Re:PC and Xbox!?

[Skyshadow]

Why pay $700+ dollars for a PC to play the latest SW game, instead of $200 for an XBox.

Agree wholeheartedly.

For about a month I heard buzz about this great game called Morrowind, which was available for both the PC and Xbox. My desktop PC had just met a long-overdue retirement (read: was reloaded with a fresh install of everything and shipped off to my aunt, where it replaces the Cyrix 150-based box I sent her a couple years ago), so I either had to put together a new kick-ass PC or buy an Xbox.

Well, the PC would have run about $700, whereas the Xbox had just been slashed to $200. I felt a little dumb buying a second modern game console -- I already have a PS2 -- but I just couldn't justify dropping $500 more on a general-purpose box to do the same thing.

Morrowind rocks, by the way. Now if I could only get a few more hours inserted into each day for playing time...

Re:It's just another shoot 'em up

[IxnayOnTheIxnay]

Full Throttle 2 will be released next year. And if you missed Grim Fandango a few years ago, well, get to your local $10 bin posthaste! It's a masterpiece!

But other than the Monkey Island games, LA has been less than productive in the adventure game market they once ruled. IJ and the Infernal Machine wasn't bad, but it was in the Tomb Raider vein.

I need a copy of DoTT, badly!