Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)

First of all, I'd like to say that I actually didn't know about this game until I played Knights of the Old Republic 2, which I played first before I ever played this one. Just wanted to mention that first.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, is an RPG (Role Playing Game) video game set in the Star Wars universe, taking place thousands of years before the events of the films. You are a member of the Republic with no memory of who you are before you wake up on a Republic that's under attack by Sith forces. When you crash on Taris with another character, Carth Onasi, it's up to you to try and find Bastila, a Jedi Padawan who is important to the Republic in it's war against the Sith Lord, Malak.

The game has a lot of basic RPG elements like learning different skills for combat as well as other things like Persuade, Computer and Repair skills. Later on in the game, you eventually become a Jedi, which allows you to use lightsabers and force powers. Over the course of the game, you will have dialogue choices, which will affect your alignment to either the Light Side or the Dark Side. Depending on your alignment will also affect what kind of force powers you will get. A Jedi on the Light Side can gain the healing force powers, while a Sith on the Dark Side would be able to get Lightning.

Combat is all in real time, choosing which attack you want and which power you want. Clicking them in that order will make you use them in that order. You can also bring up to 2 other characters with you out of the 9 characters that you will get throughout the entire game. They will become very important with helping you survive in combat as this game can get very difficult, even on easy settings. You can also talk with each of these characters and learn different things about them. This makes you feel more connected to the characters depending on what kind of person you are. Or you might hate the characters based on what they've done. It's up to you.

The story however, I honestly didn't find that interesting. It was good at some points, especially with quests related to your party members. However the rest of it I didn't really find that interesting. It just felt rather generic, which is okay. But for an RPG game, especially one developed by Bioware who had already made some really good RPG's with good stories before, the story felt rather underwhelming. However, I have got to say that near they end, they give you a massive plot twist that is just awesome. I'm not going to spoil it, but it's something you probably won't see coming unless you really pay attention to very small details in the game.

Now, about the graphics. I can't really comment on the graphics that much because this is an older game and video game graphics have improved drastically since this games release. But I will say that the graphics for the time were really really good, especially for the facial animations. There's also a massive level of detail on the locations and the different types of armors that you get throughout the game as well as most of the weapons. However the designs of lightsabers are really dull and disappointing. The blade of the lightsabers are awesome. It's the hilt that's disappointing. All of the lightsaber hilts look the same and are the same bland and boring grayish white color.

Finally I have to comment on the music. Jeremy Soule is one of the greatest composers out there. He knows just the right type of music at just the right moments to make everything seem a lot grander and amazing than it is. He later went on to make music for a lot of other great games like Skyrim and Guild Wars 2.

Overall, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is an amazing RPG experience that I would gladly play again any day.

Playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is like being in a movie with you playing the lead character. Unlike many FPS games, your character advances in levels, gains new feats and abilities, finds weapons and items, and you can buy and sell to customize your character to your own preferences. You can choose to play toward the light side (Jedi), or the dark (Sith). There is a lot of character interaction and dialogue. This is a wonderful, long playing game.

I love Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I have played it through 5 times now, and I'm still not bored of it. It has a better plot than the Star Wars films themselves, and has acting talent to match. But onto the game. The puzzles are superbly done, and are perfectly gauged. Now onto the gameplay. This is a game that I could recommend to almost anyone. Hardcore FPS players will enjoy this (after convincing my best mate to play it, the Quake 3 nut couldn't stop). The way that the game drags you in, the way that you become totally engrossed, the way you forget that there is a real world outside of what you are seeing is an amazing feat for any developer. The combat is also amazingly done. It feels simplified and streamlined, but yet you have total control over everything your character does. This applies to the choices he makes. Even though you can't make your character attack anything he wants, he can only attack when enemies are nearby, it is still possible to have a massive effect on how the game plays through. Are you going to be good or evil? Will you turn to the otherside at the last minute? Will you buy this game? Well, you decide all three.

I'm a big Staw Wars fan and the past few years have been disappointing. Lucasarts released one bad game after another, and for a while I gave up all hope. But then Knights of the Old Republic came out it just blew me away. Not only was it good, but its an RPG.

It's very similar to Neverwinter Nights, obviously by the same company (Bioware)in terms of gameplay, but it was just so polished and so 'right' that it was a whole new experience in itself. Set 4000 years before the original star wars, it allowed Lucasarts to show off new vehicles and characters, plus you get to pilot your own ship, the Ebon Hawk which has an uncanny resemblance to the Millenium Falcon. Anyway, its got chuck full of force powers, armour, guns, light sabres,the ability to construct your own sabres plus the quality and the atmosphere of the games is in true Star Wars fashion. A must have for any fan of RPG's or SW.

Good god, Knights of the Old Republic is brilliant, its the best starwars game ever made, (and I've completed most of them so I know what I'm on about), superb storyline, great characters, great graphics, excellent combat system which avoids the usually repetitive combat of other games in the genre. You get to control a wide range of the most interesting (and coolest) characters in the starwars universe and its all done smoothly, its entertaining and addictive from start to finish... twice as I immediatly played through it again so I could take the alternate route through the game, I just love this game, its a must buy even if your not a fan of the genre, this game is easy to get to grips with and if your not into stat shuffling, dont worry, if you wish the game will do it for you and you can get to the good stuff, this game is a must buy, not just for star wars fans, but for everyone, it rules.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the PC is a Great game in the tradition of PlaneScape Torment. Great story line, great character stories and development. You actually care about your various motley companions that join up with you. Good selection of powerups and weapons with nice modifiers.

The lightsabers and Jedi beefcake powerups are very powerful and Jedi's are pretty much all you will ever take on missions if you are looking for a fight. However, Jedi powerups are nicely balanced by their very short lifespans.

Other companions are also very useful if you are looking for alternate ways to complete a mission or at least make the fighting much easier.

The way you make decisions during a game will have immediate impact on your force alignment which increase or decrease the number of points you need to use a force power. Make evil decisions and it gets easier to use dark side powers (up to ~50% discount) and more difficult to light side ones and vice versa.

The only real gripe I have with the game is your decisions won't really impact on how the game ends except for ONE instance late in the game. You can be as nasty as you want the entire game but choose the light side near the end and get the good ending or vice versa.