Every so often this combat doesn’t work well of course. There are bugs and animation issues. Sometimes characters walk or move through other characters and static objects, sometimes they get stuck behind objects unable to figure out how to move around it, and occasionally a character will stand still without automatically choosing an opponent if an action hasn’t been ordered from you.
One other gripe I do have with the real time combat animation is when you’re attacking a person with a hand-to-hand weapon while he has a gun. He’ll stand there unrealistically trying to shoot you at close range, despite the fact your wielding a sword in his face. Some type of animation routine for that situation would have made it more realistic, like when you’re fighting an opponent with a hand-to-hand weapon himself and animations showing you block, dodge and feint to his actions.
Clearly, the combat system will not please everyone. At the end of the day you are playing a turn based game and wind up being nothing more than a spectator. Personally, I like watching the spectacular battles unfold, but for those who like being a part of action you’ll be disappointed.
Another gripe I have with combat is that all Star Wars fans will know that Jedi’s and light sabres should be strong, and I don’t have a problem with that. Nevertheless, blaster weapons I feel are just a bit too weak, and later in the game become relatively useless. You soon learn that fighting hand-to-hand and using force powers is the way to go.
Exploring the Star Wars universe
Besides the turn based/real time hybrid of the combat system the rest of the game is your traditional RPG. You set up your central character, going around places talking and interacting with the people you meet and solving various puzzles and quests. The great thing though that despite the sheer size of the game all the characters have voiceovers (all the dialogue is spoken) even the alien races. Games like Morrowind, and older RPG’s, only use text or occasional voices for some important characters, but in KotoR every character speaks.
The only real big problem I have with the voices is the female ones used. So many women characters in the game have highly strong British accents. Not a few, but quite a lot. It’s almost like an episode of EastEnders (very popular English soap for all those outside the UK) talking to some characters, and it makes you cringe.
Also, like traditional RPG’s you get an array of sub-games thrown in. These include a card game called Pazzak, which is a cross-between Black Jack and Poker, a type of drag racing called ‘Swoop racing’ and a shooting sub-game (when your ship is under attack and you need to man the guns Millennium Falcon style). These aren’t particularly bad, as are most sub-games in computer games, but not that inspiring either. However they do the job well by breaking up the gameplay every so often, your just not going to be that amazed by them that’s all.
“You cannot resist the dark side”
The game itself is somewhat linear, in that the main story usually has one (physical) path to victory, with the areas you battle accross being quite restricting and one way. This isn’t always the case however. Occasionally levels are vast and have multiple routes, and some of the dialog quests have multiple outcomes depending on the choice of answers you give. The beginning of the game feels quite constricting, but give it time and as soon as you reach the second planet KotoR does open up to you. You can then tackle planets in whatever order you like, and can move between them freely. When this happens the game is a lot better as it makes you feel like you are free to do whatever you like, whenever you like, despite this not being strictly true in reality.
The whole light side/dark side issue again opens up the game hugely, enabling a player to choose his destiny. Whether you go light or dark (or in-between) is decided by the choices and actions you take whilst solving tasks and quests. Making choices that dictate which side of the light/dark side aren’t naturally obvious either. In my first game I tried desperately to be good, yet some non-obvious actions actually give you dark points, so I found myself getting dangerously near the dark. Equally, being bad all the time isn’t as easy as it appears either, as occasionally some actions may seem wrong and 'evil' to you, but actually give you light points. It’s not because the game is bugged, but when you sit back and think why you were given those points afterwards it does make sense. You really have to think about your actions beforehand.
