Author: Tanis
Date: 8/16/04
Rating: 9.5
Platform(s): Xbox/Windows/Mac
Purchase on Amazon.com
Xbox
| Windows
| Mac
First, the overall score I'd give KOTOR would have to be a 9.5 out of 10. It's just that good.
Now, to explain why I gave it said score. Let's start with the graphics, shall we?
I really didn't have any complaints regarding the graphics. They aren't drop dead gorgeous like the graphics in some games, but they don't really suck either. They're just what you'd expect out of a 40+ hour RPG. Granted, there's a graphical glitch here and there, such as Sith soldiers firing at you while standing on part of a slanted wall, or firing at you through said wall. There's also the fact that some large creatures, namely Rancors and Krayt Dragons, can be sliced up once they're dead to see if you find anything more on their corpse; this causes the corpse to just disappear without a trace. Overall though, KOTOR has solid graphics that shouldn't disappoint.
On to music/sound in general. I really liked the KOTOR music. Some of the music you'll recognize from the Star Wars movies or other Star Wars games. Namely, the music that plays along with the credits(Which just about any Star Wars fan should recognize and even anticipate). Much of the music, however, is newly composed for the game itself, which is a plus. I really can't name any music that actually annoyed me or was bad in any way. None of the music was really damned good and had me humming it either, but that doesn't happen too often. Well, the music that plays when you're making your character was excellent and did have me humming it often, to tell the truth. I can't really find fault with the sound either, although hearing various people say "Boo! Boo!" every time I lost the third round of the swoop race on Manaan very soon became annoying.
Bugwise, the game really did quite well. Granted, there were some noticeable bugs. These included typos, enemies perched in strange spots(As mentioned), the game playing an FMV I had not yet seen as if I had(Apparently, BioWare expects you to go the planets in a certain order, yet the fact that I went to the planets in a different order may have caused this bug). There really weren't any very bad bugs, although I did once have to restart my Xbox because I was fooling around with the pause button as I entered a Cantina and had the game pause right before the Cantina started to load, and I was unable to unpause.
Plotwise, I found the game to be quite sound. As I've always preferred, the game starts you off with a tutorial, but more of an on the move tutorial, much like the one found in Halo, for instance. You wake up on a Rebel ship that is ambushed by various Sith ships, as the Sith are attempting to board and take an important Jedi, Bastila, captive. As you explore the ship and try to escape, you encounter locked doors, gain a level, fight enemies, get stuff out of containers, etc. and are told how to accomplish said tasks. The plot quickly takes shape and goes on from there in a straightforward manner.
I didn't have too much of a problem with the AI, except for two things. First off, you will sometimes have to wait to enter a new area simply because one of the two companions you always travel with will sometimes get stuck behind something and needs time to catch up. Not really that big of an issue, but one that should be fixed in KOTOR 2, hopefully. Second, and more importantly, I found the AI scripts rather lacking. Basically, they are "Fight, but do not use items of any kind," (The default script) "Use grenades and fight, but no other items," and "Use all your force points up, then fight." I'd have preferred a script that basically said "Fight, and use Force Heal/Medpacks when needed," which would have made fighting much easier.
Making your character and leveling up is pretty much self explanatory. I liked the various feats and force powers available, although I'd wished that they had more passive force powers. Stats seemed well done, and I liked how they didn't go overboard with stat raising(One attribute point every few levels). Also, the level cap of 20 seemed adequate, as you usually get to level 20 soon before the game ends. Autopause was amazingly helpful, especially considering that the game is in fact turn based. The ability to change the difficulty while playing was also unique and was useful for when you were having trouble on one part and could lower the difficulty to help out.
On the subject of controls, I have no complaints. They were well mapped out and easy to learn.
One of the best things about KOTOR was light and dark alignments. Basically, whenever you talk with people, you can choose from several answers oftentimes. For example, if you are threatened and told to pay 500 credits, you might choose either "I mean you no trouble, kindly let me pass," "Sure, here's 500 credits," "I can't afford that," or "Over my dead body! Die!" If you were to choose the last option, for example, not only would the thief attack you, you might also gain dark points. Depending on how evil you are, you gain either light or dark points sometimes in conversations. Not only does this affect how you are treated sometimes, but it also causes light force powers to cost less force points if you are good, and vice versa for evil force powers.
Overall, great game. Some cool FMV sequences too, and several instances where you get to shoot down a half dozen Sith fighters with a laser cannon, much like when Luke and Han Solo do so in the first three Star Wars movies on the Millenium Falcon. :)