Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3904 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2006-11-16
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Platform: Windows XP

Customer Reviews

Hope is important
I first played SWG when it was in it's childhood.
I was there from the beta up to the CUrb (for anyone of newer SWG this was the complete rewrite of 80% of the game called the Combat Upgrade).
Starwars Galaxies starte out as a HUGELY involving mmorpg, crafting systems and class systems were what unimaginably customisable.
I stopped playing around the time that the CUrb was on test servers.
Finally i have returned to SWG and i am not dissapointed!
The game has been dumbed down immensely to make it similar to other MMORPGs to help people get into it - but it's starwars... isn't that why we play it in the first place?
Starwars touches people in different ways, maybe you long to hit things with a lightsaber, maybe you're seduced by the ability to shoot lightning out of your fingers at people like Palpatine does in Empire.
Or perhaps you idolise bobafett? or Han? or you're a total wookie lover?
maybe you just want to play a game where you can spend hours murdering ewoks for some sick pleasure.
OR MAYBE - you just want to be/shoot a stormtrooper
What ever it is that attracts you to starwars, you can live it out here.

I reccomend this game to anyone who will accept imperfection as the price for getting to play out their dreams.
Starwars roleplay will never exist in a better form.

A returning players view
This review is based purely on the current state of SWG, not what has happened in the past. The game, whilst still run by SOE, has new developers and to be honest deserves to be reviewed as a new piece of work. I returned to the game recently on a 10 day free trial (having played for two years upto the NGE affair) and now regularly subscribe. I have also played EQ2, DAOC, WoW, EVE and Vanguard, as well as trialling several others (and dont even mention Dark and Light..) so I have at least some points of reference.

Uniquely in the MMORPG environment, the game employs a FPS style interface for combat whereby players need to aim with the onscreen crosshairs to hit their target (alhtough oddly you dont miss, if you arent on target you cant attack). It seems to be a love it or hate it issue (personally its growing on me and it certainly makes the game feel different to the other offerings out there). It fits with the predominantly ranged professions well, less so with the melee (Jedi mostly) professions. As a sop to those that dont like it, there is the option to return to a 'target locking' approach whereby once you have chosen your target, the game aims for you in the conventional turn based style of other MMORPGs like WoW and Everquest.

In the interests of simplicity, I will just lay out the good, the so so and the bad points of the game:

The Good

Its not a time sink. Unlike many current games of the genre, you dont need to play for several hours a day, seven days a week to get the best gear. XP comes quickly and due to the ease and speed of travelling it doesnt take a long time to get anywhere. In short, casual gamers needent be put off.

Player Housing. No game does the aspect of owning, decorating, locating and moving property as well as this one. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of different items with which to work, dozens of different building styles to work with and they arent expensive to maintain. There is a player driven purge of existing player housing that is abandoned (i.e belongs to dormant accounts) planned for early June this year that will free up a lot of new buliding space.

Diversity. There are so many different aspects to the game, combat, crafting, space flight, entertaining, house decorating, city building and so on that there genuninely arent many moments where you feel you have nothing to do.

Crafting. Crafted items have different stats, depending on the quality of the resources used. Given the amount of different resources available, and that they have a random spawn location (lasting over a period of several days) with random qualities over several different resource attributes, striving to be the best crafter can be a game in itself.

The licence. Its Star Wars, if youre a fan not much more needs to be said, and even if your not at least you have a story line of a sort for the game.

The space bits. They just suit the licence, but to those of us that grew up with the movies the game wouldnt be complete without the chance to fly about and shoot things. Its done well in this game, albeit getting increasingly difficult as you progress through your piloting career.

The So So

Graphics and sound. The original game was released 4 years ago (ish), and hasnt seen any major graphical or sound work since. Whilst this means that you certainly dont need a powerful system to play it, and it is largely bug free, it doesnt compare well in this regard to newer releases. This part of the game now needs attention to continue to attract new players.

There are only 9 professions to choose from, with a experise system that lets you specialise your character to a degree. Its essentially the same as WoW, although the differentiation between classes doesnt seem so noticeable. At least if you choose one you dont like you get to respec to a different one (for an in game fee) without losing level (unless going into or from a non combat profession)

The user interface. Mixing turn based specials and hotbars with a FPS interface was never gonna be a great combination. Setting the game up to move with the mouse occasionally results in shooting things when you dont mean to, which can be problematic to say the least, but the alternative of using keys to move, the mouse to aim and more keys to select specials requires more hands than most of us have. It works, but only just.

Future content and updates. Who knows if there will ever be a future expansion (it really will depend on the success of the current game), but future plans bring back creature handling, kind of, and a story telling utility which allows players to create their own in game events, which sounds interesting. It actually feels like the developers now realise the mistakes of the past and are looking to reintroduce elements that were previously lost.

The Bad

Player base. The game needs more people, as currently there are too many servers with not enough people on each. Logic would suggest that halving the number of servers through merger would bring more people together, which would add more fun into the gameplay, especially in the PvP aspect.

Combat is just odd. If you are the type of player that only looks for the combat aspect then you will feel let down. It works well enough, it just doesnt have a lot of depth to it due to the fact that there just arent many specials available relative to other games. SImilarly, using a FPS style would suggest that FPS conventions would apply also (i.e you can miss if you dont aim well, that ammo is limited or that headshots do more damage etc) but they dont.

Jedi's. There, I said it. Not as a bitter ex pre-CU jedi, but as someone looking to get immersed in the game scenario. Theres just too damn many of them. Its available as a starting profession, and unsurprisingly many people choose to go that route. Its not an unbalanced class like it used to be, but it just doesnt fit with the movies. A necessary concession to the marketing department I suppose.



Overall then, the game is actually pretty good fun. It doesnt require the investment in time of games such as WoW to acheive the best equipment, and it is still the best when it comes to housing and crafting. The combat system is functional for most, and certainly different, but to be honest if thats all you want to do then there are better options out there. The game could use a make over graphically though, and certainly needs a new injection of players, or at least a server merger or 3. Purely on the back of the weird combat system I would say get the 10 day free trial first, just be aware that activating your free trial account, rather than making a new one after purchase of this pack, may cost you the free month worth of play that comes with this pack.

Hoping for a new lease of life to a diminished player base
Having played this game since its launch 4 years ago, it has seen a few drastic changes to the playing system (the Combat Upgrade and notorious NGE) which have unfortunately caused the player base to dwindle, with many older players leaving and fewer newcomers. Since the PvP and player association/guild aspects are of utmost importance to MMORPGs, this has been a major issue. However, with the constant new updates and improvements (which seem to be aimed at returning the game to pre-NGE style) older players seem to be returning, along with a newer player base.

The main reason I have personally not left this title throughout its many changes is due to the social variety; the opportunities to roleplay in an immersive Star Wars style, and the vast, wonderfully detailed environments to explore and enjoy; still holding enough excitement and new features to keep me playing for hours.

The graphics may be somewhat dated by now, but have seen a reasonable update to character textures not long ago, and with a high-end system (using heat-shimmer, volumetric shadows, anti-aliasing etc.) can compete with many more recent releases.

The combat gameplay may be somewhat odd, using a FPS point-and-click style along with RPG elements, but it does demand a level of attention and involvement from the player, rather than complacency; plus this mode is optional as an auto-target/attack mode is also useable. The popular servers (e.g Bria) still have a large PvP base, along with many PvE story-based quests to explore.

Another reason I've stayed with SWG is due to the non-combat aspects. Unlike games such as WOW, this MMORPG is not so entirely focused on combat and PvP. Other professions allow crafting of clothes, food, droids, weapons, armour etc. and the ability to customize these to a high level, giving a competitive aspect to owning shops/vendors. And last but not least, entertaining: one of the most enjoyable professions; learning a vast variety of dances, music, various instruments, whilst lounging around bustling cantinas, performing/buffing for tips and socialising is extremely fun, and seems to appeal moreso to the female gamer (such as myself).

I may be somewhat biased, as this game captured me from the very start, but in an attempt to be somewhat objective, whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, if you like RPGs, flight sims (the space flight aspect is very decent) and socialising online, then give this a try. And perhaps one day it will return to its former glory (maybe.)