The X-Box version of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic won awards for Game Of The Year, but gamers knew it was also one of the most buggy games in existence. I played the PC version, which came out a few months later and I experienced no such problems. If I were in charge of the awards, I would not only award this PC Game Of The Year, it'd also win Best Video Game In Recent Memory Award. Why do I think it is one of the best games of all time?
Basic Premise
This is where KOTOR gets off to a much better start than other movie licensed video games.
Enter The Matrix showed, among other things, that gamers don't want to play as characters that are nobodies in the actual movie (and if Jada Pinkett Smith's character Niobe weren't so hot, there'd be even MORE complaints). If there's a Matrix game, people want to play as Neo or Agent Smith, the main characters. But that's what most movie games have done in the past and they're usually lame...
KOTOR solves this problem by basing this game thousands of years before Star Wars Episode 1. None of the characters in this game appear in any of the movies. And you're not forced to play as a nobody. Your character may seem inconsequential at first, but trust me...he/she gets really important. KOTOR makes a great licensed game by just basing this game in the Star Wars World (lightsabers, Wookies, hyperdrive, and blasters appear in this game) and creating a whole new story while keeping consistent with the themes of the movies (the nobility of the light side v. the power of the dark side). In the game, many actions and conversation choices steer your character to the light or the dark side. Kill an innocent for his credits, and you're well on the way to becoming a Sith. Encourage your teammates, and you'll gain light side points. My only gripe with this is that it's so easy to decide which choices to make. Also, if you're completely dark side, options to help innocents should disappear or cost you hit points or something; we all know from the movies that it's nearly impossible to redeem yourself if you're fully light sided.
Story *WARNING! SPOILERS*
Throughout the beginning of the story, you think you're just a regular guy/girl helping out the Republic against the evil Darth Malak, who took over the Sith Lord spot from his former master Darth Revan. You, along with your teammates, rescue the Jedi Bastila, who is the only one in the galaxy with the Jedi Meditation force power, which can increase whole armies' performance in battle. She is impressed by your skill and takes you to the Jedi Academy. Even though you are a grown man/woman at this point, you show incredible promise and complete your Jedi training in record time. Keep in mind that you're an adult at this point; the movies taught us that no one past a certain age can possibly train and become Jedi. You are sent to various planets to find the Star Forges, which are pieces of a map, so you can figure out the secret of Malak's seemingly unlimited strength.
Spoiler! Spoiler! Spoiler! Spoiler!
About midway through the game, you find out your true identity. YOU are Darth Revan, the dark lord himself. Bastila was part of the special ops team that captured you. Jedi do not believe in killing their prisoners, so they erased your memory and brainwashed you instead. You then can choose to continue fighting for the Republic or decide to regain your spot as the Dark Lord now that you know who you are.
So at that one point, I was just amazed by the plot twist. This was a piece of plot worthy of an actual Star Wars movie, let alone a video game. This game has the best story of any video game I have ever played, even including the Final Fantasies. FF stories are engaging, yes, but they get confusing and when I think about the FFX story long enough, I realize it doesn't seem to make too much sense. The KOTOR story has no plot holes and makes complete sense and is tighter than a FF story. In short, the story is brilliant.
An RPG...in Pseudo-Real-Time
This game is at heart a D&D RPG, but it doesn't look like one. If your character is fighting right up in his enemy's face, they will indeed take turns hitting each other, but it will look like your character is ducking and dodging in real time. He's not. Your odds of dodging a hit just depend on your attributes and just plain luck. So this game is a turn-based RPG at heart, but it looks like you're playing in real time. This only really has one problem with me...running away from battles. In most RPGs, you have some kind of option like that, but in this game, you can run around in real time during a fight. This proves problematic when you run away...if you're about to die, shouldn't your opponent chase your sorry @ss down? More often than not, you can run away from battles to recuperate. Also, you can go the Main Menu during a fight and heal yourself which is really cheap, but the game should do something to prevent it. In the final fight (which is more like 10 fights in one except you don't have any chance to catch your breath), my character mostly ran around until I could heal him (not using the Main Menu though); there should be something in the gameplay to ensure a dramatic final fight.
Still this form of combat makes the most sense for Star Wars. Turn based gameplay would make little sense...Jedi taking turns hitting each other? Plus force powers like Force Push (it pushes your opponent farther away from you) would only make sense in a more real time 3-D environment. What's the point of pushing your enemy away if its his turn is coming up? Real time combat couldn't work either; I'd hate to see a Star Wars game reduced to hack-and-slash or point-and-click gameplay.
Fighting in this game is fun. There are plenty of weapons to get and it's really fun to get your own lightsaber. You can also earn combat feats when you level up, which are things like Two-Handed-Weapon-Fighting, which allows you to dual wield weapons more effectively and Toughness, which awards you extra hit points. Often once you get a feat, a new one is unlocked which you can choose next time you level up with even more sweet benefits. For example,
Two Handed Weapon Fighting --> Improved Two Handed... --> Master Two Handed...
Not only do you get feats, you get Force Powers once you become a Jedi. There are things like Force Shock which is basically lightning coming from your hands and Burst Of Speed which makes you fight quicker and just get around faster. Like Feats, there are often several different levels of powers...Force Storm makes Force Shock look really wimpy.
Choices, Choices
First you have to choose what class your character will be, a Soldier (strong), a Scoundrel (resourceful), or a Scout (in-between). You'll come to see that Soldiers are the strongest fighters, while Scoundrels can become well-versed in Computer Use or Stealth, thus allowing you to avoid fights altogether. You get experience points for avoiding fights too. Also you can choose what Jedi Class you want to be and some powers are exclusive to class. For example, Jedi Guardians are awarded Force Jump, which allows them to jump dozens of feet to an unsuspecting enemy. Again, a power that would be worthless in a true turn-based fighting system. Light Sided Jedi can use defensive skills (like Heal, Speed, etc.) better, as those powers will drain less Force Points from them than dark sided powers (Kill, Insanity, etc). You can still use Dark Sided powers if you're Light, but it will be harder. So you're given a choice to create a Light or Dark or neutral Jedi, and it will have consequences.
Graphics And Sound
Graphics are quite good on the PC, better than the X-Box version. Best of all, there are no framerate issues. NPCs faces are recycled often to the point that it gets annoying and some faces don't look too realistic, but all your playable characters look realistic. Lightsabers look great, environments are pretty lush at times, a pretty good game in terms of graphics considering it's two years old by now, I think.
Sound is great. Star Wars music! The hum of the lightsabers are there but I must say blaster fire sounds pretty corny. Then again, it sounds corny in the movies too, so I can't blame this game. Whenever something dramatic happens, there is always rousing music playing in the background. Voice acting is great, as Bastila sounds like the snooty Jedi she is. It gets tiring listing to Wookies talk though, and your character doesn't get voice acting. One character you get, a droid named HK-47, has some great voice acting for his hilarious lines.
Conclusion
This is a game to get lost in. The story is incredible, fighting is fun, and there's a lot to do and a lot to customizing to do to your character. You can play as male or female, and the plot will adjust slightly depending on the sex of your character (as the Sims series of games are the only ones that have homosexuality in them). I'm soon about to play it a second time...with the Dark Side this time. The PC version has an extra planet (which doesn't have much), but it's lessy buggy and looks better. I'd buy it right now if I were you.
Story: A+
Graphics: B+
Gameplay: A
Sound: A
Overall: A!
I cannot stress this enough. This is my favorite game of all time and for $15 at Amazon, you cannot go wrong. Also playing this will make KOTOR 2 make more sense.
xo,
underdawg
The Laptop I Played This on.
Maybe by the time you finish KOTOR and then
KOTOR II, there'll be a KOTOR 3! Drool....
