Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is insane, and there's not much to compare it to. Basically, it's Diablo with greatly improved graphics. Even so, this is one title you are definitely not going to pass up.

Starting a Game with a Character

To start, you choose a character form the options of scout, scoundrel, and soldier, each with their own unique talents. I chose the scoundrel, who is adept at using stealth and other juvenile delinquent skills, like picking locks. Remember, this is like 4,000 years before Star Wars, but the cool screen of the fading yellow words appears, telling you the background of the game. So here you are, in the middle of a war with the Sith, when all of a sudden your character wakes up and is greeted by Trask, your bunkmate aboard the Endar Spire. This is the ship you are stationed on, which is currently under heavy Sith fire. There is a brief tutorial, and then off you go, fighting enemies left and right.

Attacking Enemies and Leveling Up

This part of the game is really cool in my opinion.

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Whenever an enemy is spotted, the game pauses and you have the choice of which attacks to use against your opponent. I had a blaster (type of gun) equipped and one “feat” given to me was sniper shot. Using this skill, my range was increased and I could do more damage. In the attack queue I selected sniper shot followed by some normal attacks. Then, I unpaused the game and let loose this set of attacks, leveling the enemy in one or two hits. Each kill gives experience and before I knew it, I had leveled up. Yay.

How Skills Work

Skills include stuff like demolitions, where each level increases the chance to arm or disarm mines, etc. Feats are skills able to be used by characters, like sniper shot, power blast, gear head, weapon proficiency… Finally, there was the attribute category where I put points into strength, charisma, and dexterity. After some time, I reached the end of the Endar Spire, fleeing with Captain Carth Onasi and we landed on the planet Taris…

Side Missions... Are you Dark or Light?

At this point I learned that we were on a mission to save Bastila- this awesome light Jedi who could suppress hordes of enemies with a skill called “battle mediation”. I was supposed to rescue her, for she had escaped the Endar Spire in a different pod. As I set out from my hideout, the Light and Dark meter grabbed my attention. Not only does this game have combat, it has some awesome side missions and bonus game play. Walking around the city, I saw this guy getting attacked by bounty hunters. A light Jedi would have helped him (for light points), but the dark side looks cooler, so I let the guy get shot to pieces. As I progressed, I began to do missions for a Hutt named Zax, earning even more Dark Side points.

Becoming a Jedi and Your Lightsaber

Here was where I was confronted by the Jedi Council, and they determined that if I took these three tests I could become a Jedi. So I took these tests, deciding to become a Jedi Sentinel, who relies on swiftness and a little evil to get the job done. Also, I was a “Dark Jedi,” which gave me access to certain skills like drain life and corrupt mind. This is where the game really got fun, what with the ability to customize your own light saber (which you could now wield), and do more side parts of the game, like playing the card game Pazaak. I would continue, but that really would spoil the game.

Overall

There really wasn't anything wrong with this game at all. The missions, gameplay, graphics, and weapons were all exceptional; however, after a while, the game seemed to lag on my machine- but my computer isn't exactly great so that isn't a valid negative comment. Basically, if you love the RPG genre or Star Wars, or even if you don't and are looking for something cool, spend your money on this gift from God to PC's.