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Advent Calendar - Day Seven: Old Republic
Every day during the run-up to Christmas we'll be giving you a special treat. What could be behind today's door?
Written by Andy Griffiths, 07 December 2009
For day seven of our Christmas extravaganza we have a detailed hands-on with next year's biggest MMO, Old Republic.
It's rude not to use your lightsaber.BioWare know Star Wars. In fact their record with George Lucas' universe is more impressive than the big man himself. So it's no wonder that with the excellent Knights of the Old Republic and plenty of other great RPGs under their belt, we were very excited when we finally got to sit down and play their new Star Wars MMO for a bit, during an exclusive hands-on event.
Vibroblades make a welcome return.Old Republic is BioWare's first attempt at crafting a fully online-enabled title and despite their inexperience they seem to have nailed all of the standard MMO concepts. The interface was clean and integrated many elements like level progression and equipment into the hot bar. During our thirty minute playtime it was hard to grasp how our mission would change with the involvement of other gamers in the party, but at least gameplay was friendly to those who like to play solo.
"She's behind you!" Well it is panto season after all.We were placed in control of one of the recently revealed classes, the Sith inquisitor and were tasked with finding her recently lost master. Every NPC we ran into was fully voiced and the calibre of acting was as high as we'd expect from BioWare. There was something instantly more atmospheric about being told about your next quest, instead of reading a wall of text. Scenes were represented in a cinematic letter boxed manner and the camera panned to accentuate a characters mood and actions. As expected multiple options were available during discussions and we went for the typically sinister Sith tone which swayed between mildly annoyed to substantially psychotic.
MMOZine Issue 13
For our latest Old Republic coverage, click here to download MMOZine Issue 13 for free.After speaking to a fallen comrade we progressed into a temple, where we had to recover several stolen artefacts and slay countless enemies. At this point it was not easy to forget this was an MMO, as legions of worms and enemy soldiers were simply waiting for us to wander into their aggro field.
Combat felt very MMO-centric with rechargeable powers related to the Star Wars universe like Force Push, Pull and Choke. In some ways we expected more than the standard combat model, but it's unfair to judge at this early stage.
The look and feel of the game was rather basic, but BioWare have maintained the aesthetic which fans of Knights of Old Republic will instantly recognise. The visuals have a timeless look to them, more a kin to a modern version of WOW or Warhammer Online.
There's no doubt in our minds that Old Republic will be absolutely huge when it's released next year. Everything about it screams serious MMO whilst pandering to the Star Wars lust apparent in the vast majority of the population.
Obviously we've only played one quest of a very early build. Nevertheless we were impressed with the basic structure and how BioWare have once again recreated that iconic Star Wars feel. The most important elements of how the game will work on a full server and how character choices shape the experience are still unclear, but we are very confident that the developers can pull it off.
We'll have more exclusive reveals regarding titles from every platform during the run-up to Christmas. Check back every single day for another fantastic surprise!
Old Republic coverage available in MMOZine Issue 13 - click here to download it for free!
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