Bioware is putting the finishing touches on the most anticipated game of the holiday season, but calling it a game is probably not doing it justice. Star Wars: The Old Republic, which we’ve talked about here, was on display at the E3 convention, which is the gaming industry’s biggest week. The show, which is where all the companies show off their latest games, is being held in Los Angeles and EA was one of the big players eager to show off their expansive world, which is set in the Lucas universe thousands of years before the film.
Story, one would argue, is the most important part of the Lucas film, even though some would criticize that the new ones excelled in this regard, but that sense of story above all else is what Bioware was very dedicated to in bringing this to life. Even in the limited play that we saw at EA’s booth, it was quite obvious that the narrative would guide the player’s actions even if they weren’t aware of it. But instead of making you read pages and pages of text like in WoW, the dialog is realistically voiced by each character to give it that cinematic flair. Every line is acted out and we do mean every line, with nothing skipped. It’s this interaction that gives you a much more immersive experience when you meet creatures in the game. It’s this type of attention to detail and plot that Bioware hopes will set apart their MMO from the rest.
After playing the level 1 player experience on one side of the booth, the game felt like the standard single-player game, with individual quests that can be taken or ignored in order to train you in the ways of a Jedi or the Sith depending on which side you plan to side with. According to Bioware, if you like the lone wolf approach, the game will still play like a normal RPG with no interaction required, but certain elements will require a group to play and so socializing will greatly enhance the experience. Of course, early character building in WoW isn’t much different.
Once I felt comfortable in things like fighting, throwing grenades and such, I had a good feeling I was on my way to becoming a protector of the people. Of course, the game has many different classes of beings from both sides of the force, for you get to choose from. But as we reported previously, being on one side of the other doesn’t mean you have to evil or good. Your actions in various quests and scenarios will speak louder than your so called alignment.
One of the things that did bother us was the linear nature of the game. In a world like Star Wars, you’d want to explore everywhere you can, to see what there is to see, but because of the deep storyline and the adherence to that sort of system, the game winds up deciding where you will go next and what you will do. Some of it’s based on the moral choices you make, but for the most part, it’s pretty much a straight path, with only some sidequests and space battles. This certainly differs from World of Warcraft, who is often a wild free for all. We aren’t sure which is better because we only got a bit of time on the game, but it would seem a bit limiting in the long run, something that seems out of place in the Lucas universe and MMOs in general.
The other side of the booth was showing a fairly advanced level where one guy and three others were battling a very fearsome looking foe. I didn’t get a chance to try that one, but after watching better players than I, it was quite impressive to watch.
The game is said to be released at year’s end for all of the consoles, but so far it’s shaping up to give just about every Star Wars fan a thrill that previous attempts have not. We will have a more complete look in a future report, so stay tuned.
