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| Knights of the Old Republic by Forensic 07/27/2003, 9:31pm PDT | ||||
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| I picked this one up with some gift certificates after seeing professional reviewers call it a powerful contender for game of the year. It shouldn't come as much of surprise that professional reviewers are goddamn whores.
Admittedly this might be partly my fault. I'm the kind of guy who quits Baldur's Gate 2 in disgust after fifteen minutes. I've never done PnP roleplaying, so even after reading the entire manual I still have to get my gamer friends to explain what all the d20 jargon means. But let's face it, all Star Wars games are based on the idea that being a Jedi is fun, and so far this game is failing that test miserably. Here's a couple of premises I'm working from: First, RPGs are addictive because of the ping, that sweet sweet sound of your stats going up. Cooler stuff gotten upon leveling makes for better RPGs. Second, games should have their fun stuff at the beginning, a period of the game which should definitely not take place in sewers. So here comes KOTOR, which against all common sense starts you out as a person who is not a Jedi. My character crash lands on a planet and the first 8 or so hours of the game are spent getting off of it. And sure enough, the key to your escape lies in... THE SEWERS! FEEL THE EXCITEMENT! There isn't a whole lot of ding for your buck, either. Raising your stats doesn't seem to produce a satisfying increase in power, and the feats are mostly pretty generic things that increase your stats further. Anyway, after hours of staring at brown tunnels of one kind or another, I made it to a Jedi enclave and finally got my lightsaber and Jedi training. Woohoo! Then I went to take on the local wildlife, and they goddamn kicked my ass. Yeah, apparently a blade of pure energy isn't enough to take down the local dingos. I know I was playing as a thief-type character who's not so adept at physical combat, but come on. Are they telling me I worked all that time to become a Jedi, something that should be the ultimate ding, and I still can't use my lightsaber? Am I going to have to stay in the back the whole game and just shoot at people so my robes don't get mussed? Right now I've got my sword-wielding wookiee out front to protect my sissy character, and that seems to be working pretty well. Yes, you read right. In the time of blasters, ion cannons, and disruptor rifles, the sword still reigns supreme. You'll definitely need a couple of guys who can get out there and swing some steel, especially for the first five or six hours before you get a Jedi in your party. (Incidentally, the sword fighting animations are all the same as the lightsaber fighting animations, so everyone you give a sword to suddenly becomes some kind of backflipping ninja.) To me, this is really the problem with the whole game. It isn't a Star Wars game, it's a D&D rpg with Star Wars skins. Sword guys are warriors, blaster guys are archers, and my character at least is a pansy mage who faints at the sight of blood. The d20 system works fine as a game mechanic, but makes little sense in the context of the Star Wars world. I understand that higher armor ratings make me less likely to hit, but how does someone's armor make me empty my clip into the pavement, stormtrooper style? Final verdict? I'm not liking it too much, but this isn't really my genre. BDR needs to weigh in on this. It's probably a fine game if you like midieval CRPGs, since the whole thing seems to be designed only to let you pretend you're playing one. |
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Knights of the Old Republic by 07/27/2003, 9:31pm PDT  Remember the "Street Fighter" Starwars game for playstation? by 07/28/2003, 11:37am PDT Not at all, actually. by 07/28/2003, 1:57pm PDT Masters of Teras Kasi? What a truly awful game NT by 07/29/2003, 5:46am PDT |
