The Review
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...”
Something from deep within my heart splurts out with glee as the opening
fanfare blasts out of my speakers. I had waited almost two years for this
moment, when I begin my journey into Bioware’s multi-million dollar MMORPG:
Star Wars The Old Republic. Then a month later I couldn’t put up with my poor
internet connection anymore and stopped playing. Unfortunately it seems I wasn’t
the only one who stopped, as poor subscriber numbers have caused them to resort
to a free-to-play model. Aside from a few features trimmed to make subscribing
the “better” way to play, the game is just as enjoyable as it was when I first
read that opening screen last year.
I’ll get this out of the way straight off: SWTOR
is not better than WoW. But in my opinion, it is also not worse
than WoW either. The similarities between the two franchises are clearly
visible, from the moment you begin designing your character and to the first
time you hand in 10 X items to person Y. There is little innovation towards
normal game mechanics that separates the combat or overall feel of questing in
the game, meaning that if you weren't a fan of WoW this isn't going to
be your cup of tea.
That’s not to say the game doesn't have its own
original ideas. In many ways, by keeping the basic game play the same tried and
tested method which has allowed Blizzard to dominate the PC gaming industry
allows SWTOR to try other things, new ideas that make the experience a
lot more engaging and enjoyable.
One of biggest features added to the game was
making it entirely voiced. Every NPC, every quest giver and every hero has
fully voiced dialogue. The sheer scale of how much dialogue and emphasis on
making the player feel like a hero in this game is staggering, as you move from
planet to planet and begin to realise just how much work has been put in to
make the game’s narrative feel just as polished as any other Bioware game. The
NPC companion feature from games like KotOR and Mass Effect is
also included in the game, a master-stroke idea that works twofold.
In game terms it allows players to have an NPC
that balances their classes, giving my ranged Smuggler class a companion that
could be set up as a tank, soaking up the damage whilst I picked off enemies
with a mixture of grenades, blaster rounds and severe disrespect towards an
enemy’s... *ahem* “lower features.” As you progress through the game you find
more companions who use different strategies that let you customise your play
style as you wish, again adding to that sense of having a personal adventure
within a massive gaming world.
Story
In story terms the companions will interact
within the dialogue sections, as well as being either approving or disapproving
your conversation options (more on that in a bit) that can unlock further back
story and companion specific tasks and quests. It’s a nice touch and a much
better way of doing NPC relationships than most, but despite playing the game
for several days I've yet to have any of my choices pay off, so perhaps it won’t
be as useful or rewarding as I'm hoping it will be.
Gameplay
The game play, though basic, feels highly
entertaining, replacing the standard “hit boar with sword” action with having you
take on groups of monsters or ruffians, chaining one attack after another that
gives new life to the traditional grind of RPG combat. Crafting is also
similarly dynamic, with companions being able to gather resources and build
them into new gear whilst you go off exploring, limiting the amount of times
when the great hero stops to pick flowers or search through metal junk or stand
still making twenty identical trousers in order to unlock the mysteries of
making gloves.
Narrative
The main narrative for each player is dependant
on their class, with the majority of quests being preceded with an interactive cut scene, complete with morality options for certain key points a la
Mass Effect. I've never been a fan of moral choice options as they always
seem a little too “Jesus or Satan” in terms of choice and aside from the rare
moments when they’re used in a more interesting way, SWTOR tends to keep
to this trend. What makes this option worse however is that certain powerful
items are locked unless you reach a certain level of good or evil, making the
whole role-play experience pointless if you want to use some of the better
items.
Despite some of these advances and drawbacks
the game is still roughly on par with WoW, counterbalancing certain
elements of streamlined game play to balance out the great presentation and
narrative heart of SWTOR.
As a Free to Play title SWTOR does the
unheard of by allowing people to access all of the game’s content for free.
From start to finish, it is possible to play every quest, every PvP map and
every dungeon and raid (or as SWTOR calls them “Flashpoints” and “Operations”)
that the vanilla game offers. However, this is balanced by a rather severe
handicapping system, that restricts certain aspects and customization to reduce
the power of a non-subscriber.
These range from small details such as changing
your character’s title and the appearance of your companions to rather more
frustrating options like making vehicles and reward items much harder to
obtain, as well as restricting how many times you can access the more
challenging (and more rewarding) party missions. When a game with areas
designed with the player owning a speeder to move about them takes away that
privilege until you either repeatedly complete tasks or pay the developers
money, something has gone wrong within that monetization.
Though I applaud Bioware’s work in giving us
one of the most detailed and most entertaining MMORPG’s ever, for every great
design feature or superb dedication to presentation, there’s another part that
restricts and slows down game play. WoW is the most successful MMORPG
because of how easy it is to play. You don’t realise how long you’ve been
playing it because of how much time Blizzard spent making the game play as
smooth as possible, constantly tweaking and improving the game since launch.
SWTOR doesn't have the advantages of over seven years
of improvement, but until the day that WoW goes free to play there isn't a better alternative than SWTOR for the casual MMO gamer. More than
worth your time if only for those moments when you manage to clear your way
through a final boss or a Flashpoint with a group of friends and feel the
supreme sense of achievement that comes with that victory.
Matthew V
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