TEH. BEST. GAMES. EVAR.
By Andr'e Swartley

Issue #10
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Lucasarts
Platform: Mac, PC, Xbox
Rating: T for Teen

It's difficult to explain to someone who didn't live through the 1980s just how quickly and completely Star Wars saturated our culture during that decade. All of my friends, male and female, had Star Wars action figures, lunch boxes, breakfast cereal, bed sheets, underpants, etc.

And, of course, there were video games. You could fly down the Death Star trench in monochrome 3D in large arcade cabinets or play through the films on all of the home consoles from the Atari 2600 onward. The Super Star Wars trilogy on the Super Nintendo was a particularly bright spot in those early days of home video games.

But by the early '90s, you couldn't help but notice that everything related to the Star Wars universe was just recycling characters and events from the original films, with a few exceptions. Certain comic books strayed outside the confines of the series.

Author Timothy Zahn had created tremendous excitement among Star Wars nerds (I happily include myself in that category) with his outstanding Heir to the Empire trilogy of books, which to me still stands as the deepest and best story arc in the Star Wars universe. And the Dark Forces series of video games took a lateral step in storytelling by following a new character, Kyle Katarn, through a series of new events occurring in tandem with familiar plot points in the Star Wars films.

It was only after George Lucas abused and sickened longtime fans with the first two installments, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, in his new trilogy of tripe that someone finally took the series in a brand new direction. Or, more accurately, in a brand "old" direction.

Bioware was already a respected software company, having developed the fantastic Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series (they are also currently making news with the strong recent release of Mass Effect 2). But they would need to do something special to win over embittered Star Wars fans. They scrapped Luke, Han, and Leia and delved thousands of years back into Star Wars mythology to the era of the Old Republic.

Knights of the Old Republic was the first big Star Wars roleplaying game, and it begins with an old RPG convention: amnesia. After you choose your character's race, gender, and class in the game's opening menus, the character wakes up on a hospital bed with no memory of who he or she is.

But there's no time to worry about that; your ship is under attack! The tutorial level requires you to rush through the crippled ship and engage in simple battles, which you can play in real time or pause between moves for a more strategic approach, until you find an escape pod.

Rather bizarrely for science fiction game, your initial armament consists of a shiny metal sword, not dissimilar to a ninja's katana. I know what you're thinking: Where's my lightsaber?! Yes, this was neither the first nor the last Star Wars games to wait until about a third of the way through the story to let you swing around that most iconic of science fiction weapons. Withholding the lightsaber is curious case of delayed gratification in a medium synonymous with constant positive reinforcement.

But that's okay, because unlike the aforementioned ghastly Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, you've got an enjoyable story ahead of you. Right away you discover your actions have consequences in the world(s) around you. In every location there are nonplayable characters having arguments, committing crimes, or in need of assistance. You can mediate, defend, or rescue these characters, or simply kill them all and steal their stuff.

Your actions make other characters, especially the ones traveling the galaxy with you, respond differently to you. Play your cards right and some side characters may even begin to make romantic advances. In addition to the characters' relationships, your consistent behavior at either the Light or Dark side of the Force spectrum will eventually reward you with powerful abilities.

The story of Knights of the Old Republic will take you to several varied and interesting planets across the galaxy, including a Jedi training ground where you learn the ways of the Force and build your own lightsaber from scratch (worth the wait!).

But the reason this story works-and the reason the new trilogy of films failed-is that the plot, while interesting, takes a back seat to the characters. Your companions grow and change, even the hilariously evil robot you pick up halfway through the game. By the end of the 20-30 hour campaign, you truly care about your friends and the job you must all do to save the galaxy.

Final Grade: B+