by Austin Nickols.
Star Wars: The Old Republic released Dec. 20 into the hands of sleep-deprived fans all giddy with anticipation. Finally, a Star Wars MMO(Massive Multiplayer Online game), it was to be the game that erased WoW(World of Warcraft, RIFT, Guild Wars or any game that dared label itself within the same category.
Within three days of its release, Star Wars had over 1 million subscribers, winning it the title of the worlds “Fastest Growing MMO Title Ever” even compared to the enormous Blizzard franchise World of Warcraft. Obviously, people like their light sabers.
Players may enter the fictional Star Wars universe in allegiance with either the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire. From there, the player can choose from nine species and eight separate classes. Each class has a class specific quest line along with two class trees to choose from, allowing for even more specialization. The game is morality based, with the focus being the varying levels of faction allegiance and a very distinct RPG feel.
The majority of characters, both controlled and NPC (Non-player character) are voice scripted, meaning every conversation players have are verbal, you aren’t stuck reading every line like in other MMO’s. Another great addition that adds to the RPG(Role Playing Game) feel is text option. Players can influence their relationships with other characters, factions and entire quest lines base upon choices in dialogue, the only downside being what players choose and what their character actually says sometimes don’t quite match up.
Star Wars also features personal ships, companion sets, in game mounts and different planets for the players to explore. The largest flaw in Star Wars: The Old Republic is that the multiplayer content isn’t required for characters to level or for their gear or stat development. Players can easily reach the level cap without doing any multiplayer content whatsoever, which is a facet for game play in other MMO’s.
But aside from a few lag issues in larger maps with large amounts of NPC’s as expected and slight deviation in dialogue choices, Star Wars has lived up to its promise of being a unique RPG experience and is definitely a game all LucasArts and BioWare fans should play.
