Reviews No One Will Read: SWTOR

Smuggler and Trooper classes, posing like rockstars

Okay, so this week I am being a bit lazy in my blogging but it's not my fault. Its now 4 days after Christmas and I am in vacation mode, (at least I should be if I wasn't stuck at work.) However, what is propelling me through my days this lazy holiday week is not the thoughts of the coming New Year, but my newest addiction: Star Wars: The Old Republic. For any non-gamers out there (we call your normies) SWTOR is probably the biggest game of 2011. Within six days of its release the game reached the milestone of 1 million players, (which is also why I sometimes have to wait in a 5 minute queue to log on, because every person and their Wookiee co-pilot is playing.)

It is a Lucas Arts/Bioware production, (The same team that brought us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) so right off the bat you know its quality work. The project was in development for more than 5 years, and I am happy to report that it does not disappoint, not even a bit. All too often these days when I see a product with the "Lucas" label on it I prep myself for possible disappointment, lest I fall victim to Phantom Menace Syndrome again, but SWTOR exceeds not only all my expectations but most industry standards for MMORPGs.

Gamers who are accustomed to playing MMO's will like how the game still plays like any other MMO (and by that I mean like WoW) with understandable abilities, crafting skills, skill trees, and classes, as well as logical interfaces and controls. Gamers will also appreciate the twists that have been added, such as the ability for classes to become specialized. When you choose to play a Jedi Consular you can then choose to specialize in Jedi Shadow or Jedi Sage, each with their own unique abilities and skill trees. Additionally, the advent of companions mean that you can actually control and deck-out a second character who follows you along and fills in some of the gaps your character might be missing. For instance, I am playing as a Smuggler/Gunslinger with a pure DPS focus. My companion is a Trooper class that can take great damage and distract opponents for the purposes of being my Tank. Now when it comes to tanking he will never be as skilled as another human player, but for smaller non-heroic missions the extra back-up helps and it means that you do not always need to spend all your time shouting for groups.

When interacting on missions you are given three choices
for your responses. Each reflects what type of personality
you want to play, Good, Bad, or Indifferent.

Fans of the Star Wars universe will enjoy the feel of the game as it literally puts you in the middle of your own Star Wars story. This is probably the aspect I have been most excited about, as with other MMO's (such as WoW) no matter how much you try to care about storyline it really becomes more of a chore to keep reading pages upon pages of quest scrolls. Eventually you just give up and accept that you are really only grinding your way to the next level and the quicker you do it, so much the better. Not in SWTOR. All quests are full voiced by more than 100 voice actors, and have been written to allow the player to feel as if he is in the Star Wars Universe. Even more exciting is the fact that each class has its own unique storyline that is affected by the players choice. That means that if you get double-crossed by a partner during a business deal you may have to make the choice if that ex-partner lives or dies. You may have to choose whether you turn them over to the proper authorities or let them go, or whether you souble cross them or not. Not only do these choices affect the flow of your storyline (such as if you kill a potential ally they will not show up again in your story), but you will be rewarded with Dark or Light Side points. These points will affect how other characters react to your character, how he or she looks, and even limit what type of gear and items a character can attain. Personally, this sort of Story-Driven MMO model has been what my writer-side has been screaming for in MMO games all along. There was a lot of doubt whether it could be accomplished, but it has, and it has made a world of difference in my gaming experience.

Lastly, all people will be able to enjoy the game based on the fact that it is Star Wars and it feels authentic. I am playing a Smuggler and so far I have been double-crossed, had a bounty placed on my head, and everywhere I go I get hassled by customs agents. My ship is a piece of junk looking freighter that's faster than anything in the galaxy, I am a crack shot with my blaster pistol, and more often than not I get I try to talk, flirt, or wisecrack my way out of any situation I come across.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has something for every gamer, nerd, or normy that you can imagine. I give it 9.5 Billion Stars out of 10 Billion Stars. Pick it up and you won't be disappointed.