There are a metric ton of Star Wars games out there. Some of them are classics and some of them are Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi. Luckily for me, Bioware cranked out a fun game with Knights of the Old Republic (KotoR). The game is so good, in fact, that I even forgot about Greedo shooting first for a couple minutes. While KotoR has some flaws, and even a couple big ones, the overall experience is quite satisfying overall.

Like most people who grew up in the 80's, I am a huge Star Wars fan. The original trilogy is something to be revered in my book... the new trilogy... well... still has a film left to redeem itself. KotoR is set about 1000 years before Episode 1, where things are pretty much exactly the same. There is a Jedi Council, familiar planets like Tattooine, a Millennium Falcon-like ship that is even named after another bird and a big bad guy who uses a high tech 'cancer kazoo.'

Basically, everything is in place to give the gamer a new yet familiar Star Wars experience. Knights of the Old Republic is a role playing game (RPG) for those who did not know. I need to make this distinction since a lot of people are under the assumption that this is a free roaming GTA-type of game with a Star Wars facelift. It is definitely not. The game, however, is far from linear though. You can visit planets in basically any order and complete or leave alone a large number of side quests. In addition to the number of things you can do, you are given the freedom of choosing which side of the Force you are going to complete them on. You can be good, evil, or a little of both if you wish. It is a very nice touch especially given that people love to play the role of the bad guy, especially one that can shoot lightning bolts from their fingers and choke an admiral just by thinking about it.

You have a lot of control over what your character is too. You can be a male or female character from one of three different classes which equate pretty much to the classic fighter, wizard and mixed classes that you are most likely familiar with if you have played RPGs before. You can also customize the looks to a decent degree, however I think it would have been nice to include some alien races to the mix. As it stands, you can create a lot of different looks which really should satisfy most people. Unfortunately, you are going to see a lot of familiar faces throughout the game as they did not make a lot of extra faces for the non playable characters. It probably will not bug you too much though, since the good far outweighs the bad here.

Knights of the Old Republic starts off right in the middle of the action with your character being caught in the middle of an ambush on your space ship. Even with all of the chaos happening around you, Bioware still took the time to give you a training level to get everyone familiar with the game's controls and design. I am not qualified to tell you if KotoR controls similarly to other Bioware PC RPGs since I tend to only dabble in the RPG category on the whole, but I can tell you that no one should be lost in this game. If you take a little time to ask questions or, god forbid, read the manual, then you will be on easy street. The best part about the training level were the laughs though. I am not sure if it was intentional, but there was just something funny about asking a character how to equip armor when everything is blowing up (accompanied by a rumbling controller) around you.

My favorite aspect about the game has to be the sound. Sure, you could argue that all they had to do was plug in existing Star Wars sound effects, which they did of course, but Bioware did not stop there. One of the things that I am sure you have heard over and over again from Mike and I are complaints or compliments on voice acting. Bioware delivered a LOT of quality voice acting in KotoR and it really helps make the experience that much better. Bad voice acting can make you want to shut a whole game off and never return. Knights of the Old Republic is a joy to listen to pretty much the whole way through. They even made the aliens who speak other languages speak in their native sounding tongue... however, you will realize soon enough that the alien tracks tend to loop and repeat. It is a minor point though since we really can't understand the fake languages anyway.

The music in the game certainly did not disappoint either. For the most part, it sounds like it belongs in the Star Wars universe and does an excellent job in setting the mood for the game. I would probably even get a soundtrack of the game if they released it, but I tend to be a whore for game soundtracks anyway. The music is also dynamic in the fact that it will change depending on the situation. Battle music will fade to ambient or nothing in between skirmishes, or just continue if you jump saber first into the next fray. Every once in a while I would hear an abrupt transition, but it certainly wasn't anything that would ruin the experience. The rest of the sound effects in the game do everything they are supposed to do. Blaster fire sounds like blasters from the movies and the Light Sabers "hum" and "whirm" just like you would expect and then some. All in all, nothing to really complain about.

The graphics in the game are a reasonably nice treat, however some areas seem like they could have been better with a little more tweaking. Don't get me wrong, the game looks great, but the Xbox can certainly pump out more. If the game did not load at all in between rooms, then I would be a little more forgiving, but it does load a bunch of different sections of the game as you go from area to area. You will notice some frame rate choppiness in some of the more sprawling areas, but overall it remains pretty smooth. The characters look wonderful and change visibly when you change around their equipment which includes headgear, armor/clothes, and weapons. A lot of the equipment also feature metal bits which reflect light in real time. There are a lot of little touches like that which you will notice in the game.

The battle scenes in the game tend to be a little bland at first but really pick up as the game moves on and your characters level up. It excels when you start wielding a lightsaber though. You will see your character parry away attacks while dealing out some nice carnage, in addition to deftly deflecting blaster bolts back to their sources. If you want to use an all Jedi party at some points, it is quite a sight to behold. Mixing blade types and colors in addition to the Force powers, blasters and explosives give you quite a show to enjoy.

A good portion of the cut scenes where characters are involved are done in real time. Since the cut scenes are in real time, your characters will be wearing their current equipment. This helps keep you in the game a little better rather then having a pre-rendered scene with your characters in completely difference looking equipment. The only issue with the real time cut scenes is that it led to a show stopping bug in the game.

I guess I will take this opportunity to talk about the bugs. All in all, while most RPG players probably manage multiple save files, you can land in really deep shit if you don't do that in KotoR. One notable example is the "Leviathan Bug." There is a bit of a spoiler ahead but it is a necessary evil in this case. Basically, there is a part in the game where you need to take one member of your party and need to rescue your main character. If you choose a character who uses stealth, and you release the prisoners while still in stealth mode, after you complete the mission, the following cut scene will still have the character cloaked. Not a big deal unless your 'awareness' level is high enough to 'detect' the character, otherwise, the game just locks up and does not allow you to continue. There is another one called the "Galaxy Droid" glitch which can really mess things up as well if you are not careful. Save multiple files and often, that is the only advice I can give you.

The glitches are pretty manageable at least for a savvy gamer with access to the internet. I am afraid that a lot of gamers out there are going to be S.O.L. when it comes to these glitches though. Other then that, the gameplay is quite good. I preferred to keep the game set to full turn based as opposed to the 'on the fly' management. It is fine early in the game, but I appreciated the time between rounds later on to tweak my strategy. The menu system is very detailed yet extremely manageable given the control layout. You hit pause to access the menu screen and the triggers then select which area you want to access whether is equipment, the map, saving and loading games, etc. I am sure PC gamers who are used to more control options with a full keyboard will balk, however most console RPG players should appreciate the layout.

The story in KotoR is very classic Star Wars, with some interesting twists thrown in. I certainly have enjoyed the story in this game more than the Phantom Menace. I know, I know, that isn't hard to do, but still. Bioware did at least throw some effort into this title and I greatly appreciate it. The story even has some twists depending on what side of the Force you are playing on. At least that gives you a reason to play through the game as the other side, although there are multiple endings to see.

The characters in KotoR are also exceptional for the most part. Not only do they have excellent voice acting, but they also all have fully developed back stories which can lead to multiple side quests. Some of them even lead to a great deal of comic relief as you meet up with an old Jedi who likes to mess with your head and a different type of protocol droid with an affinity towards violence and calling anything organic a 'meatbag.' Picture C3P-O with an attitude and a blaster rifle. Sure, sometimes it can be annoying to listen to everyone's problems when you playing through the light side version of the game if your real inclination is to be a dick, but it's great to see developers spending the time and effort to put it in there.

In the end, Knights of the Old Republic gives games yet another reason to own an Xbox. Star Wars fans should not be without this game and it is certainly showing us that great Star Wars experiences can still happen. Knights of the Old Republic is a very well done RPG for the console which really gives you plenty to do and see. There is also some planned downloadable content from Xbox Live which isn't out just yet but I will surely be checking it out soon. KotoR filled the summer lull perfectly with this adventure and I am still looking to play it some more, which is a sign of a well done game. For me to want to invest another 30 or so hours into a game is huge and I would like to thank Bioware for the fine job on the game overall. Just tighten up the bugs next time, guys, ok? I lost an hour on that Leviathan one.