Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) is without doubt one of the better video games I've had the joy of playing. It is a brilliant blend of elements from several genres, all of which come together in a well-executed whole. It is not without a few flaws, but in the final analysis it is a must-buy game for all save those who hate Star Wars.
When it was released, there were few games that could claim to look better than KotOR. The characters are well animated, including special sequences for various feats and powers. The texture work is well done, bordering on being the best overall job I've seen in a video game of KotOR's scope. The environments are nicely modeled, and I'm particularly fond of the outdoor environments because the foliage blends so seamlessly into the overall picture. In too many other games foliage and outdoor elements in general "pop" into existence in a very jarring fashion; KotOR manages to blend them in smoothly as the characters approach.
KotOR also takes fair advantage of shader technology. That's a fancy way of saying that the moist head-tails of a Twi'lek glisten, metal armor has a sheen to it, and so forth. The effect, particularly when combined with the nice lighting capabilities of the underlying engine, is lovely. KotOR was state of the art in terms of its visuals, and its developers are to be commended for doing such a good job.
Better still, you won't need a computer from the Star Wars universe to make it all work. Because my system is relatively beefy, I was able to turn up the resolution all the way to 1600 x 1200 x 32 bpp and still have the game run smoothly. It had frame rate issues only when detonating large numbers of explosive devices at once. Otherwise, the game ran smooth as butter even at that high resolution. Since this review is a bit overdue, I should note that it plays even better on the next generation hardware of today.
The only complaint I can possibly think to lodge against KotOR's visuals is that faces could be a bit more dynamic. KotOR does a pretty good job of synching dialogue to lip movements, but the faces remain relatively expressionless while delivering their lines. True, their eyes do move and blink just as eyebrows and such do move somewhat, but the overall effect is still pretty flat. Most games could benefit from more work in this area, though, so this isn't a major complaint.
The audio is better than I expected. I say that because I was expecting the music of KotOR to be yet another rehash of John Williams' stirring themes from the Star Wars films. To be sure, that music is great; it's just a little tiring to hear it in every game. Strains of those great melodies do appear in KotOR, but they take a refreshing back seat to an interesting set of compositions that serve as a wonderful complement to the game's visuals.
The sound effects are exactly what one would expect from the game, the music is new and different, and almost all of the voice-over work is absolutely top notch. There are a couple of spotty performances here and there, and I noticed a few points of disagreement between the spoken words and the subtitles (most notably in Canderous Ordo's war stories), but the overall effect is great.
To the best of my knowledge, KotOR is the first game of such large scope to record all character dialogue. I heartily applaud the developers for taking this route. Far too many games absolutely shatter the illusion of immersion when a character speaks only the first line or two and then leaves the player to read the paragraphs that remain.
KotOR makes the back story both interesting and worthwhile in a way that few (if any other) games do. I never turned off the sub-titles, but I enjoyed listening to the dialogue enough that I rarely skipped through it. I hope that other game developers will take a hint from KotOR's success; recording all of the character dialogue is a big step forward. As a result of KotOR's superb features, I am left without even a minor complaint for its audio.
Ok, am I the only gamer who positively despises interfaces clearly intended for consoles? There is something about the general feel of the KotOR interface that gnaws at me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I've played plenty of other games with a third-person view (e.g., Blade of Darkness, BloodRayne, Jedi Academy, Jedi Knight II, Max Payne, Rune, etc.), and only KotOR has such a screwy feel. I eventually grew more comfortable, but basic movement never wholly exited my conscious mind as it did with all those other games. I'm not sure what needs to be fixed, but something isn't quite right with the basic movement/camera interface.
Yet not all is dreary in interface land. KotOR's interface for combat mechanics is wonderful. In any given battle situation one can quickly issue a host of orders, changing them later as needed. If anything, my only negative comment about the interface is that I couldn't get it out of the way! The game overflows with such nifty options and looks so good that I often found myself wanting some keystroke to banish all of the interface elements so that I could watch combat unfold as a movie. With a game this beautiful and powerful it's a shame to put up with character displays, icons, etc. during the action.
It is also worth mentioning that KotOR manages to pull off a few good mini games admirably. Whether one is wandering around the worlds, sitting in the gunner's chair of the Ebon Hawk, riding a swoop bike, or even playing Pazaak, the interface is as simple as it is intuitive. My lone complaint against the interface in this regard is that I could find no way to access the game options while sitting in the gunner's chair. I didn't know I would have to invert the mouse until faced with the situation, and it made my first attempt at destroying incoming fighters quite difficult. Pressing escape in that situation only paused the game.
Can I gush? Seriously, do you mind if I gush for a moment? KotOR gets something right, gets something so important so right that I simply can't help but rave about it: combat actually looks like combat! That probably sounds a bit silly, but the observation is simultaneously both deep and shallow. It is shallow because one should expect combat to look like combat; it is deep because no other game of KotOR's sort—about which more in a moment—actually pulls it off.
Before I explain that, let me point out that KotOR is something of a genre-bending game. There are those who want to peg it immediately as a role-playing game (RPG), yet it features relatively few options for role playing. To some, the essence of a good RPG is non-linearity and great freedom ala Morrowind, whereas to others the essence of a good RPG is the S-heavy triumvirate of stats, skills, and stuff. KotOR clearly qualifies as an RPG in the latter sense but not so much in the former sense, insofar as it is pretty linear and doesn't let the player make a very broad range of choices.
To my mind, KotOR manages to bring a lot of elements from the RPG genre, mixes them with some of the depth of combat found in real-time strategy (RTS) games, and serves it all up with visuals and animations worthy of first-person shooters (FPS). No doubt some will quibble with my thoughts about genre, but I'm not so concerned about nailing it down precisely. What I am interested in conveying is that the game mechanics of KotOR are a very pleasant blend of different elements.
Digression aside, let's get back to my gushing. Combat looks right! This isn't Baldur's Gate, Diablo II, or any other such game wherein characters always repeat the same combat animations standing next to foes doing the same. Combat in KotOR actually looks dynamic; enemies dodge in response to attacks, parries are handled beautifully, and a number of different, special animations are used for the various special attacks. No other game has done this so well; it's as if the developers stole the imminent realism of the FPS game and plugged it right into KotOR. It's simply brilliant!
Better still, KotOR is the first RPG-ish game I've played that doesn't make me fuss around forever with my inventory! To be more precise it features two huge improvements: (1) no limits, and (2) a shared pool. Regarding (1), I've yet to find any limit on the amount of stuff that can be carried. That prevents me from spending precious game time fiddling around, shuffling stuff hither and yon, just to be able to carry all the loot. And regarding (2), I don't have to wonder anymore which character is carrying the item I seek; inventory is handled on a party level and all items are shown even if equipped! These two advances are brilliant when taken together. They essentially solve the inventory problems about which I've been griping for years. Nicely done, developers!
Ok, I'm getting really tired of one particular story mechanic in space-faring science fiction: extinct ancient races. It seems like I can't find a single game that takes me to another world without the galaxy being virtually littered with crap from radically advanced yet long extinct species. Star Trek is positively rotten with such stuff, Niven's Kzinti were perpetually coming across slaver crap, the Homeworld series of games can't exist without the hyperspace cores, and KotOR (sadly) relies on "the builders".
For the love of God, folks, this is pure laziness. Such a move absolves the writers of the trouble of explaining how the McGuffin—Alfred Hitchcock's name for a plot-enabling device—came to be. It's what I call "punting to mystery" when a writer stoops to the dreadfully clichéd it-was-left-by-a-long-dead-race, about which no further details are curiously available—save perhaps that they were known by some singularly unimaginative name like "builders", "old ones", etc.
Such ranting aside the story is just fine, though utterly transparent. Gee, it's a big mystery how Malak has built up such a big fleet. Something strange must have happened out in the ruins on Dantooine. Malak must have discovered some unknown thingy left around by—surprise!—an ancient race. It practically screams McGuffin at the poor player. Nevertheless, if you can suspend your disbelief, and perhaps your contempt for lazy writing, you'll be sucked into the KotOR story line.
This is largely because of the side characters. Some of them are a bit annoying—I was about ready to shoot Carth at one point—but delving into their backgrounds is generally worthwhile. Heck, I had fun bugging Bastila about her bond with the protagonist. Her flustered reactions were hilarious. Mission's coming to see her brother through the eyes of an adult and not a child was beautiful. Not all the characters are as well realized, but these are characters worth caring about. That goes a long way toward making the overall game work, and it contributes to the fun of discovery as well.
This is not another one of those $50, nine-hour, play-once games (e.g., Max Payne); not by a long shot. Though it's difficult for me to estimate how long it will take the average player to get through the game, my best guess is that it will take him between thirty and forty hours—and that's assuming that he plays very little Pazaak and skips through a fair amount of the dialog. The bottom line is that KotOR includes a lot of content. In fact, virtually everything interesting from the Star Wars universe shows up at one time or another, and it's all worth exploring.
Speaking of which, the environments are beautifully varied and interesting, both of which help encourage and reward exploration. I think KotOR is the first RPG-ish game I've played in which I didn't really need a guide to make sure I didn't miss any of the good stuff. The presentation was straightforward enough that I found everything on my own. Sure, there were a couple of puzzles that I had to fuss with for a bit—the most annoying of which was that of the murdered settler near the Jedi Enclave—but none of these were serious brain-breakers. The toughest required but a modicum of attention and effort.
All in all the game spans several worlds, each very unique in its own right, boasts a plethora of inventory items, is stuffed full of quests, provides lots of interesting feats and powers, and manages to put the player right into the middle of it all. It's a Star Wars fan's dream. Even the artificial intelligence (AI) of one's companions and of the enemies is pretty good as such things go. Hey, at least they didn't constantly get in each others' way as in many RPG games.
Suffice it to say that there is a lot to enjoy in KotOR, so much so that it has some replay value. For my own part, KotOR is one of those rare RPG-ish games that I'm pretty confident I'll be playing through at least once more. I want to see what it's like to play a dark Jedi during my next pass. I normally prefer to stay on the light side of the force, but the powers the Sith kept whipping out on my party were very intriguing. Make no mistake: you're easily getting your money's worth in terms of content.
The one complaint that I have against KotOR's content involves its pacing. Many of the foes against whom the player fights are nothing more than fodder. This wonderfully illustrates the power of a Jedi. Upon receiving training from the Jedi Enclave, the player's character is transformed from a tougher-than-average fellow into a light-saber-powered killing machine. This is a good thing because it's fun to be a Jedi. But that's not to say that all of the battles are trivial. There are some tough fights ahead for the new Padawan, and that too is a very good thing. It keeps the game from becoming boring.
But what the heck happened with the first major boss battle!? If you've played the game you know what I'm talking about: the Sith Governor (SG) on the lower level of the Sith base on Taris. That guy was far too powerful to be dealt with by my party. Allow me to elaborate for those who haven't played the game. Your party consists of the protagonist (your character) and up to two helpers at any given moment. At that particular time you're stuck with a droid because you need him to open the door. By that time your character should be leveled up somewhat, but neither he nor his companions are all that tough yet.
Needless to say it was something of a surprise to me when the SG walked out from behind the door, force-blasted my character into immobility, killed Bastila (a Jedi recently rescued) with a mere two attacks, trashed the droid with a single blow, and then diced my character before he could even recover. Hmm, I thought. Maybe this calls for using those energy shields I've been carrying around? Nope. That made no difference. He still took down the whole party in a few seconds.
That process went on and on and on for roughly fifteen minutes, until eventually I got sick and tired of fighting the indestructible opponent. I then whipped out the cheat codes from a guide I had downloaded and used them to beat him. Even with me granting my characters full health and force points over and over, however, the SG remained very difficult to kill. And then I discovered that the game was going to taunt me by marking every saved game thereafter with a visual reminder that I had cheated! That ticked me off enough that I wanted to beat the SG without using the cheats.
Eventually, after another twenty minutes, I found a way to beat him. If I used my droid to place all fifteen of his fragmentation mines at the foot of the door, I could bring down the SG's health to about one-third of its original total. If I also made sure to move my own characters out of the way of the mines, use the most powerful energy shields I was carrying, and use up a large quantity of stimulants and health, then I could just barely take him down. He would always kill at least two of my party members, but I got lucky on one attempt and the third survived. I saved that game post-haste!
I don't mind a good boss fight, but that was bloody ridiculous. The SG isn't the only pacing problem with the game, but I think he's the most glaring. I can't imagine any way to take him out without using such screwy tactics.
TODO: FACT CHECK THIS
Since KotOR has no multi-player aspect, there is little to say. It would have been great fun, I think, if there were a cooperative mode to let my friends fill out the party instead of NPCs. But I can see how that might have been quite difficult to implement. Besides, sequels have to have some room into which they can grow.
This review is rather overdue. I bought the game shortly after its release, and I got sucked into it hard. Eventually I got distracted and fell away from playing it. But I have come back to the game several times over the last year or so, and it's amazing how well it holds up over time. The bottom line is pretty simple: KotOR is a must-buy game for all save those for whom the Star Wars universe is an anathema.
If you absolutely despise everything Star Wars—is there any such person one wonders?—then you'll probably not care much for the game's setting either. Still, KotOR is a big departure in many respects from the canonical Star Wars stuff, so even those folks might appreciate it as a brilliant game despite the setting. Suffice it to say that unless you're diametrically opposed to all things Star Wars, you owe it to yourself not to miss KotOR. It deserves all of the game-of-the-year accolades it has received.
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