Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
This is a truly phenomenal game, the sort which drives you to continue playing until the early hours of the morning when your eyes are red and you're on the verge of heart failure. As an enduring fan of the original Star Wars franchise, this proved to be a breath of fresh air.
This was also my first venture into the world of role-playing games. I have deeply-entrenched action game sensibilities - I enjoy the immediacy and control of a proficient action title. This made KOTOR frustrating to begin with, but the fighting mechanics are sound and exciting. The lightsaber combat in particular was captured brilliantly. I was very quickly won over.
The beauty of this game lies in its meticulous attention to detail. The story is an overarching concern, yet every encounter bears weight, due to the amount of voice acting. Every NPC has its own voice, and whilst after a while you'll hear the same voice actor or sentence in Huttese or Selkath, it makes each encounter more believable than if it were text only. The relationships your player's character forges with other members of his or her team on board the Ebon Hawk are particularly engaging. There's such a diversity - a hardened soldier, the jaded hermit, an optimistic, brilliant warrior, a psychopathic assassin droid - and yet the attention to detail is such that you feel compelled to engage with each one.
The other major mechanic for which KOTOR is renowned is its morality system - the ability to follow the light or dark side of the mystical Force, or various shades of grey in between. This affects the kinds of powers, dialogue options and looks of your character, and it's fantastic to have feedback from your crew on the Ebon Hawk relative to which alignment you choose. There are benefits of tending to either extreme - which compels you to spend another 30 hours or so playing through a second time to have every bit that the game has to offer. It's rewarding whichever way you play, though, as the range of responses from characters populating each planet is so rich and diverse.
This must be played by any self-respecting Star Wars fan who indulges in video games. It's an outstanding title, one set apart from more recent Western RPG's by its combat system (which is essentially turn-based rather than real time). It moves at a deliberate pace, coming to a stirring conclusion after significant twists and turns. Highly recommended!
