A Masterpiece of a Game
Knights of the Old Republic takes everything from all the good RPG's and combines them together to get an all around great game. The gameplay is a mix of turnbase / real time fighting. You get what you'd expect from a Star Wars game with the sound. The graphics are the normal graphics for an Xbox, nothing that mind blowing.
First off, the gameplay. I'm not a fan of Turnbase fighting. Not at all. But there are those games that are so good that you learn to love the turnbase action. This game is a mix of both real time and turnbase. While you're playing a game, you seem to be walking along, nothing bad is happening, and then all of a sudden, BOOM! You're surrounded by 6 baddies. That's annoying, right? You have to be extremely cautious wherever you go. With KOTOR though, it's the fact of whether you WANT to fight, rather than HAVE to. You see a pack of Twilek thugs? Wow, that one has a big blaster, I think we should stay clear of them. That's it. Simple as that. The fighting, as I said before, is a mix of that. You can disengage combat whenever you want. Just click a button, and you can run away. It's not like you wait turns. Youmerely press a button, and your character attacks, and sometime, the enemy will attack at the same time, it's only a matter of timing.
Next, we'll move the the graphics. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't that blown away by the graphics. They weren't really trying to push the graphics as they wanted nice framerates for the game. But perhaps the game can get a bit too much action, and the graphics cause a bit of a problem. You can face off against 4 people and the framerate will start to slow, and then you might find yourself running towards the enemy you wanted to escape from. Nonetheless, the graphics surpass that of many other games, and their recognition in this game is abundantly clear at times.
Third, the sound. You can't expect anything less than great with the sound in this game. It's Star Wars! They're gonna be dishing out all they can to make this game feel like it's a movie. From the voiceovers to the beeping of the electronics on the Ebon Hawk, you're getting top-notch sound. For some reason, and I have yet to name it though, if you have an Xbox 360, you will hear short spurts of static. This does not effect how the people sound, you can still hear them talking, but it gets to be quite a scarer during the game. You'll be sitting there and all of a sudden static will come in loudly. So if you have a 360, be warned.
Now it's time for the final section of this mid-story. This is the plot. Star Wars was started out with many plot holes. Mostly due to the fact that it started out at Episode IV, and ended with Episode III. None the less, this game helps explain all the hardships the Jedi and the Republic went through to get where the Movies left off. Following your character, a soldier who is very strong in the force, you meet many characters along your way, some join you, others need your help. Depending on what path you choose, you could get 2 endings. A good one, or a bad one. Or, if you feel the bad way is good and vice versa. In the end, it all boils down to a secret that not many would guess.
In conclusion, this game was great. The graphics, the sound, the gameplay, the plot, everything. Nothing will match up to this game in a long time. You don't need to be a fan of Star Wars to love this game. Now, if you don't mind, I must go finish my story in KOTOR II.
