Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

A great video game worthy of the Star Wars title, Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR for short) brought us an RPG (Role-Playing Game) of astronomical proportions. It starts almost four thousand years before the events portrayed in the movies, when the threat of the Sith is more obvious. In fact, there is a apparently invincible Sith armada trying to destroy the Old Republic, led by the Dark Lord Malak.

This game starts with a traditional text crawl, and then the traditional space scene. In this scene, we watch as a Republic ship is being attacked by a Sith fleet. The main character (that's you) is a passenger and crew member aboard this Republic cruiser. As soon as this scene ends you are thrust into the action as you attempt to defend your vessel.

But it will not be so, and you soon find yourself crash landing on a Sith-occupied planet called Taris. Now you must meet up with with other party members and find a ship, while avoiding the detection of the Sith Guards. It will not be easy, and you must risk your life many a time to escape this planet. But what path will you take? Do you aid the Undercity Villagers and help them find what they believe to be the "Promised Land", or do you sell their only hope to the local merchant? Do you give money to a man with a bounty on his head or do you kill him and collect the bounty yourself? In this game it is your choice, and each action affects your affiliation with the Force. If you choose to collect that bounty, your Force Meter is pushed down toward the Dark Side. But if you give him the credits your Force Meter rises toward Light Side.

And after many, many hours of play that one would expect from an RPG, one notices that this is no ordinary video game. Time was spent wisely, as the graphics, storyline, dialogue, combat system, etc. of this non-linear game are superb. This game is truly worthy of it's Game of the Year stature, and then some. Check it out! And when you are done with it, play it's sequel, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, another superb Star Wars game.

One of the first games I ever got for my Xbox, and I still treasure it today. In my opinion, I find this KoToR better than its sequel, although some may disagree.

The game is set four thousand years before the rise of the Empire (which basically allows the developers to play around with the storyline, as it won't have any effect on the movie timeline). The Sith Lord known as Darth Malak is searching the Galaxy restlessly for the Jedi called Bastila, a young Jedi with a gift. Unlike many, she has a powerful connection to the Force, a gift which allows her to influence the outcome of many battles, wars even, via her Battle Meditation power. You star as a soldier/scout/scoundrel (you choose) stationed onboard the Endar Spire, the same ship that Bastila is aboard. A sudden attack by the evil Sith prompts you to escape planetward, towards the world of Taris, where you must find Bastila immediately, lest the enemy capture her first.

This game receives my eight out of ten for several reasons: its excellent and breathtaking graphics, its original, involving gameplay style, its deep, intriguing plot, its strange, very different characters and its underlying premise of (once again) good versus evil. The other two marks were lost mainly because of its long but necessary prologue, to fill you in on the background of the game, and to get you accustomed to the controls, and how the game operates.

This is one RPG not to be sniffed at. Good or evil, hero or villain....you decide.

Another fine product from Bioware. The people who brought you the Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights have struck again. In fact the game is remarkably like Neverwinter Nights but excels in so many different areas than it's counterpart. And the fact that it is Star Wars, which has so much more appeal to the regular joe than a D&D game, just adds to the factor.

Let's talk about plot. Yessir, please. This is the greatest plot ever put into an RPG game. The major plot twist ranks up there with the Usual Suspects. To those readers out there who haven't played the game, I am not exaggerating. To you newbies, pay attention to the dialog in the game and the unfolding plot rather than concentrating on the action. You will smile at the coolness of it all when IT occurs.

Not to say the action won't keep you salivating. From the get go, you are thrown into battle with a whole series of choices for your character to make. The character creation is reminiscent of the third edition D&D game, but is still not too overwhelming for a newbie. Plus half the fun is juggling your choices on leveling to see what the outcome might be. This gives it major replay value. If you have a high end computer, sit back and watch in glee as the battles unfold especially aboard the bridge of an Imperial ship. Your character somersaults, twists, turns, ducks as sparks fly when lightsabers crash all while laser blasts criss cross in the background. Great stuff! Another advantage this game has over Neverwinter Nights is the choice of two henchman whom you can level as you please. There are a lot of choices for henchman, each with their own engaging story and quests. Play them all. I am sure you will.

The game has a variety of planets from the Star Wars world to visit on your Millennium Falcon like spaceship, the Ebon Hawk. Visit Kashykk, the jungle like planet of the wookies, the desert world of Dantooine, the waterworld of Manaan or the barren wasteland of Korriban, home of the Sith.It has mini games such as Pod Racing (great fun) and gambling in the cantinas with a game called Pazaak. It has a huge variety of armor, weapons and items. Then there's the lightsaber. You can find various crystals in the game that increase the power of your saber which I found very exciting as my character explored his surroundings. My choice to dual wield made the game that much more fun.

Play this game soon. Immerse yourself in the Star Wars world for at least 24 (maybe more) solid hours of game play. I am sure you will be swept away into the epic of it all and make you cry out for more.

I love this game...

This has to be the purist connection to a Star Wars game than any that has been made before.. The Jedi Knight series is great but there are many many other games that you could say it resembles but doesnt distingush from...

Bioware out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is ver well known for their NeverWinter Nights and Baldurs Gate RPG's, people say that this game is esentially a PC Game being played on the Xbox, where may be true, it's still one of the best XBox 1 games that will ever be made.

It'd be hard to explain what the game's all about because you dont really know, it plays out alot like Star Wars:A New Hope in the way that you have to save a high ranking deligate that is in part Jedi and is vital to the Republic.. You assume a character that is in Luke Skywalker's shoes, not really realizing his/her place in the universe and is connected to the force, and yet not a Jedi...

The best part of the game is the ability to purposely make your character on the road of the darkside.. You do not have to make him/her a goody goody, you lie, you cheat and you steal and you can extort and kill.. The replay value is greater than most videogames, you choose your own path..

2001 gave us Halo, 2002 gave us Splinter Cell, 2003 has given us Star Wars..

My only question is... Why are the prequels not as good as Knights of the old Republic..

This game is awesome. I'd just like to get that off my chest.

Let me tell you why. Firstly, Bioware have produced the greatest storyline ever achieved in video game history. Who would've imagined a star wars game to have a storyline instead of non-stop stormtrooper shooting like all the others? The story is dark, deep and has more twists than a virgin's knickers. You will become so damn engrossed with the story that you will forget real life, and for that i don't blame you. With this game, it comes as a right.

Secondly, the gameplay is the best i've ever encountered. I could spend the whole day walking around and talking with npcs. The npcs are so detailed and every one has a background story, or a task that they would like you to perform. The fight sequences are brilliant, mixing turn-based action and strategy together to form a perfect mold. You have to prepare yourself before each fight and choose your moves carefully, which is reminiscent of final fantasy. Also, the fact that one decision could change your path from light to dark side is a power to behold. Every decision matters.

And lastly, the graphics are consistently gorgeous. For such a huge game you may think that the graphics department would be lacking, but Bioware are perfectionists, and thank god they are! For never in this game you will want to look away from the screen, the beauty of it will grab hold of you and refuse to let go.

This game is a masterpiece. It is the most significant game since Doom and the best game ever made! Explore 10/10