I’d like to start this off by saying:
1) I have only played Star Wars: The Old Republic to level 14, so this review is based on my admittedly limited experience with the game. However, I feel that I have played enough of the game to support an accurate and thorough review, as well as to offer some concrete suggestions for making the game better.
2) This article is meant to give praise for what BioWare did right (and hopefully they won’t change these things!) and suggestions for how to make the game better in weaker areas (not many). Since it is far easier to be a critic than it is to actually make a game (I know, I am a pro), let’s try and stay on topic here and provide some quality feedback for BioWare. Thank you.
OK, so let’s get down to it.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that SWTOR is easily the best MMORPG to date. BioWare has managed to strike a winning combination of retaining features that have made previous MMO’s popular (Read: World of WarCraft) while adding new dimensions to the game such as player companions, interactive and animated story lines, and player “alignment”. (Read: BioWare / Mass Effect etc.) The character animations are top notch, the skills trees are deep and seem to be well balanced, and most importantly the game is hard enough to warrant teaming up with other people, which is the entire point of an MMO.
Having said that, let’s break it down and take a look at each area of the game and see how it stacks up to the hype:
GRAPHICS (8 OUT OF 10):
Let’s put it bluntly. MMO’s generally sacrifice terrain resolutions, total number of polygons and levels of detail for the sake of compatibility with the largest number of mainstream PCs. If you are looking for another Skyrim or Crysis, in terms of graphics, you aren’t going to find it in this game. Another (very minor) problem with SWTOR is that there are still some graphics bugs such as popping textures and missing textures in certain instances which detract a bit from game play. However, these glitches are few and far between and are just a minor annoyance in an otherwise great set of game artwork. These issues are what takes the game from a 9 down to an 8, currently, but will probably be fixed in upcoming patches.
Having said that, there is little doubt that the graphics are gorgeous in their own right. The graphics deeply and richly convey the Star Wars universe in a way that is both fresh to MMOs (no more horses and clanging swords!) and beautiful to behold at the same time. It is obvious that BioWare and Lucas Arts have painstakingly detailed this universe to both stay true to the Star Wars franchise and also to meet the needs of demanding content consumers. Expect some “cartooniness” to the game, but be prepared to fall in love with it. The artwork is creative, original and quality, and if you meet the hardware requirements, which are very reasonable, it should prove a highly enjoyable experience.
SOUND DESIGN (10 out of 10)
This is one area where I can find no fault. Not only do the sounds stay true to the sound effects used in the Star Wars movie franchise, the sounds in and of themselves are very well recorded and really add to the depth and “cool factor” of the game. From humming light sabers to blaster bolts, to ricochets and rocket packs, the sounds convey the essence of each character’s fighting abilities, and the ambient sounds convey the universe of Star Wars effectively. For those coming from any “medieval MMO” these new sounds are going to be a fresh and different experience from previous MMOs. Also of particular note are the voices of alien NPC characters. This game has gone back to the roots of the Star Wars movie franchise by using make believe languages run through effects processors and accompanied by subtitle translations. This is a boon for hard core Star Wars fans, like myself, who remember how cool and original the original Star Wars was back in 1977. Welcome back!
The same quality goes for the ambient sounds. The blips of robots, the sound of machines, the gurgle of running water. All of it adds to the depth of an immersive experience and is very polished.
MUSIC (9 out of 10)
If there is one iconic piece of music from the realm of movies, it is the opening theme by John Williams of all 6 of the Star Wars movies. While this is the only piece of music in SWTOR that John Williams did himself (to the best of my knowledge, I could be wrong) the in game music echoes the tone of the movies in both mood and dramatic scores, further adding to the overall immersion of the game. While some of the music is not particularly remarkable on it’s own, all of it fits the environments to a tee and also echoes the movies, which is a darn good thing.
ACTING / STORYLINE (9.5 out of 10)
If there is one area of video games that seems to suffer, it is usually the voice acting combined with bad character animations found in a lot of games, so I had some doubts going into SWTOR about whether these characters were going to be convincing or engaging or just plain annoying.
I can happily state that the character voices, the in game cut scenes, and “acting” of the characters themselves is very convincing and also compelling. Adding this level of polish, depth and detail to an MMO was a risky and bold move by BioWare, but it’s also what they are good at, and in SWTOR, BioWare’s level of expertise with characters shows in the storylines, the character acting and even the player’s own voice and intonations. You can tell just from watching the cut scenes that these are good, professional actors behind these characters. (Hey! Is that Anthony Daniels actually doing the voices of the precursors to C-3PO??? Sounds EXACTLY like him…)
(Once again, in case you missed it before , many aliens speak in unknown languages with subtitles and it’s awesome.)
The combination of these elements has made me actually engaged with my character and actually interested in the story lines of the game. This is a huge leap forward in the evolution of MMORPG games, and I believe this sets a new standard for the genre. (Period.)
ANIMATIONS (9.8 out of 10)
One word: Wow! (Not related the previous MMO of the same name…_) I mean “Wow, these animations are amazing!” Of course, technology (especially motion capture technology) has greatly enhanced the ability of game designers to create believable characters and animations over the last few years, but it’s not just the acting animations that are great in this game. The game play animations and abilities of your character very accurately mimics the AWESOME light saber duels and blaster fests of the Star Wars movie franchises and is amazingly fun to play and watch. I am playing a Marauder Sith Warrior, and when I see my character blocking blaster bolts, blasting enemies with force abilities or throwing down a combination of 4 acrobatic light saber slashes only to see my enemy collapse and die in front of me, it never gets old. I thought this was cool until I saw a bounty hunter thunder into the air on rockets and lob bombs from 3 feet in the air only to hear the booms of the explosions a second later. Combat in an MMO never felt this good.
But it’s not just the combat. Going back, once again to the “acting” in this game, there are hundreds of little, subtle nuances to the character animations and really gives a lot of polish and believability to the story lines. Its not like you are just watching the movie, you are actually IN the movie.
For movie fans who grew up wanting to be a Star Wars hero or villain: This is IT.
COMBAT/DIFFICULTY (9 out of 10)
THANK YOU BioWare! (And please take note.)
The MAIN reason I quit my previously played MMO was that the developers of that particular MMO decided (for whatever silly reason) to make the game TOO EASY. If you take away the difficulty from an MMO, then what is the point of playing an MMO with other people? That’s what an MMO is about, at its very core. It’s about teamwork and overcoming obstacles that are challenging, or dare I say it, actually DIFFICULT to overcome. This leads people to really learn how to play their class and get good at it, and it makes every member of the team essential for success. This means no one is ever left out of the fun, and makes it so that every class is the “best” class to play.
Any GOOD MMO knows that this is the CORE of MMORPG play, and only the unwise forget this golden rule. For now, it is obvious that SWTOR is a serious MMO for serious players. I can’t thank BioWare enough for this. It’s brought me back to the world of MMOs and I look forward to many adventures ahead.
CHALLENGE: This is what made World of WarCraft GREAT for 4 (through BC) years and this is what ultimately forced me to quit the game once it went away. Ignore your players at your own risk.
USER INTERFACE (7 out of 10)
OK, I’m going to say it. If there is one area of SWTOR that is woefully lacking (which by the way the devs sort of agree with in a roundabout kind of way…) it’s the User Interface of SWTOR. You can tell from the lack of polish and depth in this area that this was really the area of the game that was rushed and where BioWare probably cut corners (and features) in order to get the game out by Christmas of 2011.
This is really a minor point in the grand scheme of things, because BioWare has already stated publically that they are going to work on making the UI customizable for demanding players.
So, I’m not going to go into all the things that are wrong with the UI, but there are a few glaring defects that need to be noted:
0) Only 2 rows of ability buttons on the bottom of the screen??? SWTOR characters have so many abilities (which is a good thing) that there simply isn’t room of all of them in 2 rows of 10 buttons. I know that you can use the arrow keys to switch between action bars (to get to bars 3 and 4), but seriously who does that in the middle of a boss fight??? I can’t go all the way to the right or left action bars either because I am running at 2560x1440 resolution, so those action bars may as well be in Zimbabwe for all intents and purposes. Another glaring feature of this is that if I want to put my companion’s action bar on the screen at the same time as my own, I lose 10 buttons of my own abilities? Once again, I may be doing it wrong. I’m going to look into this tonight.
(If anyone has a suggestion)
In any case, it’s not very intuitive or helpful, so this gripe is #1 on my list. The fix for this is either more buttons for those 2 rows (maybe 20 across) or some other customizations. Anyhow, I am confident these things will be fixed later because BioWare says they are working on it. Good enough for me.
1) Mouse over gear stats comparison does not work with your companions! (At least I couldn’t find a way to do it.) Gear in your bag is always compared to your character’s current gear and never to your companion’s gear. Since managing multiple characters is a central part of SWTOR, this is must have feature addition for future builds because the current system gets really annoying really quick. The fix for this is to change who the mouse over stats are comparing gear to based upon who is selected in your character panel. This shouldn’t be too difficult to fix and would be a big upgrade to the UI.
2) In game chat limitations. I was unable to talk with my best friend only when we were in 2 different zones. This makes it really difficult to team up with friends who may be anywhere in the galaxy…
3) The ability to open more than 2 panels at the same time. I found myself having to open and reopen windows a LOT when trying to manage my things. Of particular note is having the ability to have my bank, my personal storage and my item customization and/or character screens all open at the same time. You can have your character sheet and you bags open or your character sheet and your bank open, but not all 3. This is really detracting when you are trying to manage a large amount of items.
4) Basic descriptions of the Crew Skills. Right now the only thing that comes up is “train now” and I really had no idea what anything was. I had to go to an external website to read up on what skills I should get that work well together.
5) One final thing: Why aren’t there any movie animations between planets and the fleet or the fleet and other areas? I did see one movie when I first left Korriban, but after that, nothing. It would add GREATLY to a sense of “place” when traveling between areas.
Is this a bug on my machine?
GAME DESIGN, OVERALL (9 out of 10)
In the grand scheme of things, my “nit-picking” about the graphics issues and the User Interface are peanuts in a game made of elephants. The vast majority of SWTOR is so well put together that the totality of what BioWare has accomplished here vastly outweighs any negatives about the game that are likely going to get fixed later on anyway.
What really sets this game (far) apart from previous MMOs is that instead of the end game (level 50+) being the goal of the game, the goal of SWTOR is to have FUN at every point along the way. Like other people have said, this is a game that is more about the journey and what’s going on right now FAR more than it is about what’s going to happen 30 levels away. It is engaging and immersive without being overbearing, boring or distracting. The balance between cut scenes and game play is darn near perfect.
Overall, the design works and is a very entertaining experience which is what games, in general, are all about.
FUN FACTOR (9 out of 10)
Of course, this is entirely subjective, but I have to say, I am only level 14 and have been playing this for 3 days. I can’t wait to get home tonight and get back to SWTOR! MMORPGS may not be your thing, but if you love MMORPGSs, this game has you covered, and how much fun is that?
REVIEWER’S TILT (9.5 OUT OF 10)
Is SWTOR the greatest MMORPG to date? I think BioWare nailed it. Enough said.
FINAL SCORE: 9.0 (8.98) out of 10.
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