Give Me Some of That Old Republic Religion

DATE: 2002-06-02 00:14:59

Creating the first Star Wars RPG is about as challenging as a morning workout with Yoda. In order to bring the expansive universe into an RPG, Lucasarts turned to the Jedi masters at Bioware. I'll be honest, if a game has the Star Wars license attached to it, that's all I need in order to get excited about it. However, after seeing and playing the game for myself, this one has jumped to the head of the pack of not only other Star Wars games, but just about every RPG I've seen yet. Knights of the Old Republic is set about 4000 years before the events of Episode I (so don't expect to run into any established characters). As the rest of the Republic goes about it's business, the Sith are planning a major coup in order to take over and just make things a general pain for the galaxy. Character creation is still shrouded in mystery, however after using a few Jedi mind tricks I was able to uncover a few of the game's many secrets. You begin the game as a scout, smuggler, or soldier but as the story evolves, you eventually become a Jedi (thanks in part to a group of Jedi). The level of character customization is unprecedented as far as console RPGs go. You not only have the option to select the sex of your character, but also their skin color, hair color, race, abilities and eventually their lightsaber color. Speaking of lightsabers, one of the coolest pieces of information I was able to uncover is that over the course of the game you will have to build your lightsaber. By completing various quests, you will also be about to eventually create both a dual-bladed lightsaber or wield two sabers at once (ala Anakin in Episode II). Determining the Force affinity of your character is handled in a very interesting fashion. Unlike the Jedi Knight games, where you choose either light or dark at a certain point in the game, your actions determine your fate. If you go through the game mercilessly cutting people down, you will more than likely become the next Darth Vader. It all depends on how you play. Considering the number of ways you can solve some of the game's obstacles, the paths you choose in the game are countless. For example, in the short demo I played, your goal was to enter a base on Dantoonie. In order to do this you could have fought your way in, done a favor for a smuggler, used a mind trick on the smuggler, or killed the smuggler. Knights of the Old Republic will also include several mini-games including a part where you shoot down Sith fighters from the turret of your ship, the Ebon Hawk, or play a game of Sabbac. Look for KOTOR this November on the PC and Xbox.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker
"...see that. That's fine. Just tell hime that the 'package was recieved. I don't have time to..."
- Un!d#n#!f!ed #9ent, SilverFish Team(?)