Followers of the Force, Take Notice
BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is probably one of, if not the best Star Wars video game ever made. It manages to capture that classic Star Wars feel that everyone knows and loves better than even George Lucas has with his prequels.
Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR for short) has everything you could want in a great RPG: an involving, epic story (with a twist!), characters you could actually imagine yourself befriending in real life, great art direction, character customization that's as deep or as simple as you want, and a subtle but impressive soundtrack.
BioWare has taken great lengths to make KotOR as accessible as possible - no prior RPG experience is necessary. It's easy to automated things like upgrading stats or learning new abilities if that's more control than one needs. The game is also played form a 3rd-person perspective that makes it look more like an action game than a typical isometric Western RPG.
It's obvious BioWare took great care with the story in KotOR. Because the game is set thousands of years before the events in the popular films, they were free of the restrictions one might face when trying to write a story in between key events. The narrative is well-paced (if a little slow to really get going), you are always well aware of the context for your actions, all the characters are well developed (all with their own backstory), and the plot is always developing at a rate that keeps you hooked. All of the dialogue is also well-written, which is nice considering the thousands of lines of dialogue you will hear over the course of the game.
In terms of presentation, KotOR is a little dated by today's standards, but it still manages to be impressive. Technically, the textures are not as high-res as one would like and the models definitely have fewer polygons than today's graphical powerhouses, but the art direction is good enough that you don't really take notice. Characters all display basic emotions, and the combat animations (especially lightsaber duels) are top-notch. If only it would run at a smoother clip on my PC...
The sound design also deserves praise. Most of the sound effects are from the films, so you'll always get the authentic blaster-shot sound and lightsabers sound just as cool as in the movies. There is also an original score that is familiar enough that it sounds distinctly "Star Wars-y", but isn't so derivative that it sounds like a weak attempt to imitate John Williams. All of the dialogue in the game is also fully voiced, and amazingly most of the voice-over work is quite good, with the more important characters giving better performances. The alien speech does get a little tiresome, however.
Overall, KotOR is one game that Star Wars fans should definitely get (and probably already have), but it is also good enough that fans of video games in general would do well to pick it up. Playing this game will connect you with the Force in ways no other game ever has.
