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 Knights
of the Old Republic I & II
for Xbox and PC
 Knights of the
Old Republic, for PC and Xbox, is the first Star Wars role-playing game to
appear on a console, and only the second one ever (right behind
Galaxies). Despite that apparent lack of experience, Knights of the Old
Republic -- often referred to as "KOTOR" -- turned out to be one of the greatest
games of the year.
After you customize your character (unfortunately, you can
only be a human), you start the game onboard a doomed starship called the Endar
Spire. There, you meet the first member of your "party" -- basically, the people
you run around with. Throughout the game, you will acquire more and more party
members, ranging from a little droid to a fallen Jedi. A maximum of two members
of your party can accompany you at any given time, while the rest stay back at
your base of operations. You can also choose to venture out alone -- helpful
when sneaking around.
The game takes place across several planets, ships and
space stations. During the very first part of your game, a small apartment is
used as your home base. Later, you acquire your very own ship, which can be used
to travel freely from planet to planet. The variety of the environments is
pretty amazing. Your travels will take you from the familiar desert planet of
Tatooine to the Wookiee home planet Kashyyyk to the Jedi Academy on Dantooine.
It is on Dantooine that one of the most important parts of
the game takes place: your character trains to become a Jedi. Once that happens,
you are able to design your very own lightsaber. During your travels throughout
the galaxy you will encounter various lightsaber crystals with different
characteristics. Some may be more powerful; others may simply look cool.
Designing your very own lightsaber is pretty fun -- and amazing. If only they
were real. :-)
Combat in KOTOR is a hybrid of turn-based and real-time.
You don't actually do the fighting; instead, you can queue up attacks, which
your character will then perform. Sometimes, your attacks are more successful.
Other times, they might be repelled by your enemy. At any time you can pause the
fighting, to allow time to queue up more attacks. You can either switch between
party members, giving everyone direct commands, or let the AI just do its thing.
KOTOR features no multiplayer, but once you get your hands
on this game you won't care one bit. The graphics aren't the best in the world,
but they're still pretty fantastic, and -- coupled with amazing design and
authentic, Star Wars-sounding music -- you really do feel like you're in the
Star Wars universe. All in all, an absolutely amazing game. Even if you're not a
big fan of Star Wars, this one is definitely worth picking up. I give this game
a full five stars out of five.
THE SEQUEL: The Sith Lords
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was
recently released. It is extremely similar to the original in terms of gameplay
and graphics -- nearly identical, in fact -- but features all-new characters,
weapons, Force powers, and locations. In addition, you now have the ability to
affect your party members; that is, if you fall to the dark side, so will those
who follow you.
I highly recommend both of these games. You'll certainly
be able to understand the plot of The Sith Lords if you never played the
original, but you'll understand a little more if you did. Or, you could just
head on over to the
web
site of The Sith Lords, click on "Game Info" at the top, and then click on
"Chronicles" on the left. It's a comprehensive history of the 1,009 years
leading up to The Sith Lords... you're sure not going to get that on any
other game site! |
