PCZone Magazine Preveiw

[KOTORFanactic]

Got this today. A little preveiw. Two points are particulary ineresting. (These have been put in a spoiler tag, due to possible spoiler)

 

Written by Will Porter

The Reason I've been disrespectfully late for work every single, solitary morning this month., is because by night, I'm a nefaurious smuggler turned hero of the Old Republic. In fact, I'm Boba Carolgees, Jedi-in-waiting and, accompained by a jailbait Twi'Lek and a grumpy b***h, the fate of the galaxy lies in my hands. KOTOR, the best Star Wars story since The Empire Strikes Back and the best RPG for ten years has consumed me once again. \Nut it looks like this, my friends, was only the beginning.

 

The pedigree of the people creating Knights of the Old Rpeublic 2: The Sith Lords is unsurpassed. Handed the golden scepter by BioWare, Obsidian has talent that approaches RPG quality royalty. from the likes of The company boasts alumni Icewind Dale and the Baldur's Gate series, and a lead designer (one Chris Avellone) who also pulled lead duties on the sublime Plaunescape: Torment. In these terms alone we shouldn't have to much to worry about, but seeing as the brief is basically to provide a game of the same template, a tweaked engine, and a darker tone, it's highly that fans will be disappointed.

 

The game opens 5 years afetr the close of KOTOR with the trusty Ebon Hawk floating aimlessly in space near Peragus- a planet scarred by fuel mining and surrounding unstable debris. You're the last known surviving Jedi, your unconcious and it's up to a plucky T3 unit to save your freshly created character - the trials of whom make for a skippable tutorial. Back-Story neatly taken care of, your ship is lead into the bowles of a nearby mining colony, and your injured avatar into one of those trademark Star Wars tank/scuba-gear combos. Hear your amnesiac Jedi meets a mysterious woman, and your adventure begins.

 

If your an experienced vibroblade twiddler, then you'll notice right away that things haven't changed that much - pretty much all the character points and menus are just where you left them. There are some things that will streamline your persuit of experience points - such as an option to switch between different weapon set-ups on the fly to make swapping between blasting and a melee bundle less cumbersome - but overall it's the game we know and love, with all the same depths and eccentricities.

 

Obviously (what with you being the last known Jedi and everything) the usual stockpile of classes of scoundrel, soldier, and scout can be waylaid, and you can just leap straight into the Jedi order without without the Force-less preamble of the first game. Now you can be an inordinately force-savvy Consular, a battle-trained Guardian, or the middle-man Sentinel straight from the off. There are 17 new character heads avaliable for your Jedi to choose from as well, all of them mildly attractive, and this time round the code's been tweaked to allow for full-flowing Jedi robes - something which, if you think abut it, was sorely lacking fom the original game.

 

The same fiddling has menat the engine is now firing on all cylinder, and enviromental effects (grass, weather effects, flowing water, flashy particle effects and the like) are now combined with aplomb.

 

There's also the capacity to handle far more enemies on screen which immediately ups the excitement of battles.

One rumble I witnessed outside a Sith Temple on the planet of Dxun had my jaw hitting the floor with the sheer number of dark-siders milling about.

 

 

But what other things could I mention that'll ignite the KOTOR geek inside you? Over 60 new feats and Force powers might tickle your fancy - including Force Scream (a power you can't quite imagine being used by Sir Alex Guiness) and the decidely dark Force Crush (great for making freash juices). elsewhere a visit to Carth's home planet of Telos (or at least what's left of it) is on the cards,

along with the triumphant return of assasin droid HK-47 - undoubtedly the best comedy sidekick we've seen in many a year.

 

 

This is a game that Obsidian is touting as the The Empire Strikes Back to the original's New Hope - a tale with a darker tone and a feeling of constant danger throughout. and from what we've seen, there's absolutely no reason to doubt them or there ability. KOTOR2 is out next February, so we advise you to book some sick days off now.

 

As you can see, little new stuff, but I thought you might appreciate it.

 

When I get the reveiw of KOTOR2 from PCZone, I will put it in here for you all.

[Jedi Master D Murda]

There are 17 new character heads avaliable for your Jedi to choose from as well

 

I don't get that

 

There's supposed to be 30 new faces.

 

By the way, good find Kotorfanatic

[Ersinus]

Maybe 17 for male and 17 for female. total 34.

[Stargate: 2000]

Good find indeed. There are a few things that once agian have been brought up in this preveiw. I have left the original posters Spoiler tage in inorder to protect those who don't want to know any possible spoilers.

 

Hear your amnesiac  Jedi meets a mysterious woman, and your adventure begins.

 

 

along with the triumphant return of assasin droid HK-47 - undoubtedly the best comedy sidekick we've seen in many a year.

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[starwarskid15_19]

ya good find

[kumquatq3]

Feel free to read it, not really spoilerish.

[Masamune]

yeah not really spoiler material, but good to hear none the less.

[KOTORFanactic]

Maybe not, but if I didnt, I would get ppl complaining bout "i didnt want to know u face so many thinies at a temple" or "i wanted it to be a suprise of meeting that guy" etc etc etc. But heh, nether mind.

 

also, its easy to get a good find when it plops through ur mailbox. Me dad has subscription to PCZone Mag. Heh, the easier, the better

[kumquatq3]

Maybe not, but if I didnt, I would get ppl complaining bout "i didnt want to know u face so many thinies at a temple" or "i wanted it to be a suprise of meeting that guy" etc etc etc. But heh, nether mind.

 

no, thanks for the caution (i wish everyone did that), but just saying that the we have heard about the temple on that planet before.

[Meshugger]

Nice to see some non-xbox reviews out there, eventhough there were some spelling errors.

[rika]

Thanks for posting the article, KOTORFanactic.

 

Now, I'm really psyched about the game since one of my fav characters will be in it.