Product Description

Engage in this role-playing saga set in the Golden Age of the Republic - over 4,000 years before the first Star Wars film, when both Jedi and Sith number in the thousands. With the Galaxy reeling from a recent conflict with the Dark Lords, the ongoing battle between the Jedi and the Sith rages on. Your actions determine the outcome of this colossal galactic war - and your destiny as a Jedi.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6834 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2004-08-28
• Platform: Xbox

Customer Reviews

Worthy Wars
1. If you've been disappointed with other Star Wars games then don't worry, KOTOR is in a class above the rest!

2. If all you want is action- don't get this game. To be honest, if most of what you want is action then this isn't the game. If you just want to pick up the pad and dispatch a few timesplitters then get Halo or, oddly enough, Timesplitters 2.

3. If you want an intriging story, with significant sub-plots, the sort of game thats makes you forget there's a real world- GET THIS GAME. I was a bit disappointed with the freedom to do what you want, this is no Fable or Morrowind, but this doesn't really matter because of the quality of this game.

4. If you like absorbing 3D atmosphere with beautiful cut-scenes- GET THIS GAME. The music just sucks you in even furthur without you even realising until you sit back and suddenly think, "Wow, thats really nice!". There is an impressive variation of locations and cut scenes that make you feel like you're in a film. It's just slightly frustrating when you want to move the camera around to enjoy wherever you are and it's a bit jumpy.

5. If you want good voice acting, realistic (and comedy- if you want to be a bod guy) dialogue and NPC's who you'll come to love- GET THIS GAME.

6. The combat requires more of a tactical flair than rampant pad-whacking. The characters fight themselves, you give the commands and watch them obey. You can fight real-time or pause-all-the-time. Commands can be stacked so you REALLY CAN control 3 characters at once in combat. This is very exciting.

7. Can you make decisions? You must constantly talk to people and indeed treat people in accordance with who you want to be because it effects who you are and what happens! It's this that makes one persons game quite different to anothers!

Any more to the game? Customisable characters and abilities- always fun. A fair save function- as long as your character looks different to your brothers! A few small in-game games to have a 'break'. Controls make everything easily accessible. The 'Quest book' is very clear (unlike Morrowind- grr!) Even if you don't play it- it has prestige on your shelf. :)

Use your wallet, strike this game from your need to own list
Well, having completeled this game earlier, I sulked about for a bit feeling as though I had just lost my best friend of the previous 37 hours [It could be done more quickly but i like to take time and level up lots]. Then I turned on my X-Box to start over again this time to follow the path of the Sith. This game is absolutely amazing and a must have for any Star Wars fan.

The story is as engrossing as any Star Wars film and will make you keep on playing just to find out what will happen next [I completed the game (all 37 hours) in only four days]. The script is great, in places genuinely funny, and is not nearly as childish and embarrisingly bad as in the films [need I remind you of the scene in Episode III when Anakin and Padme are in her apartment "I'm only beautiful because I'm so in love with you"?].

You're a soldier of the Republic fighting in a War against the Sith. Your ship has just been attacked by a Sith fleet and you escape to a nearby planet, Taris. The Jedi who you are supposed to be protecting [Bastila] has also escaped to Taris and you have to find her and escape the Sith quarantine of the planet. Once you escape Taris, if you head to Dantooine you are accepted into the Jedi order and you can start using Force powers from here on. You and Bastila share visions of an ancient star map which will eventually lead to a thing called the Star Forge which you are ordered to find as it is being used by the Sith, although what this is does not become apparent until much later on in the game. Cue saving the galaxy or using your anger and striking down the bad guy, Sith Lord Darth Malak and taking over the galaxy as the new Sith Lord, destroying the republic.

I prefer this game to the movies personally because I found it more engrossing and also it was me being able to save the galaxy with a blue double-ended lightsaber [yes, double-ended, fighting with two lightsabers or just the one, its all there] and the force i just found more exciting. The story has lots of twists and the game has many sub-quests that you can choose to do. But my favourite aspect of the game is the ability to choose your path to mastery of the force. Will you chose to become the saviour of the Republic, or chose to destroy it? Become greater than Yoda [a true Jedi would never be so proud as to admit it though] or set an example for Anakin and join the order 'too old', become a Jedi and then become twisted by the Dark side? The element of choice does affect gameplay as you have to choose your actions carefully depending on what path to greatness you have chosen.

Gameplay wise the game is not revolutionary of real-time [not turn based] RPGs, you choose what attack you want and it executes that choice immediately. However, this is a system that works well and combat remains largely fluid. The worlds are large to explore and the enemies are quite varied. The graphics are good and you really *do* feel as though you are in the SW universe but I do not really consider good graphics as a necessary factor of a good, fun game so I will not waste words. However, there is one of the most beautiful views in the history of games in one of the last levels of the game which really does almost look like a postcard. The musical score is very SW and I think that many people will want to replay the game if only the once to choose go down the other side of the force.

A couple of minor criticisms, firstly and *this* is my only major annoyance, you can only go to about level 24 after which you stop gaining in levels and you can't, therefore, learn all the force powers. Perhaps I could not level up because I was on the last world but then it is disappointing still. Secondly the enemies do not regenerate when you return to a place you have previously cleared, stopping you from levelling up fast. Combat on medium difficulty was always very easy, even the last battle with Darth Malak posed no real problem to me. some of the sub-quests become unavailable if you make bad or ignorant choices. Lastly, it can be a bore hiking through the vast levels which you have cleared already to get to a place but these are all rather minor and do not tarnish the game as a whole.

Overall this game is huge and well worth the money. If you are looking for a game to keep you occupied for hours this is it. If you are a SW fan looking for something to do now that you have seen all 6 episodes then this it that something. If you are simply looking for one of the best RPGs ever made this a strong contender.

Well worth a bargain buy...
With the new wave of Star Wars movies came the new wave of Star Wars games, and lo! the good lord said 'Let them be awful'. A stream of substandard pish that streamed from Lucasarts gaming orifice. A glimmer of hope came in the form of KOTOR. You could not go anywhere without stumbling over an award trophy or a bit of praise about this game. After aquiring an Xbox, I thought it was about time to dive back into the Star Wars universe.

Set way before the events of the recent episodes of Star Wars, it details a time in the galaxy where the Jedi are at war with a rapidly advancing Sith. One faction aiming to preserve peace in the Republic, the other trying to dominate. You step in as a random, self-generated, grunt in the Republic Army, assigned to this post by a Jedi Knight Bastilla. Bastilla just so happens to be the main target of elimination for the rather nasty Sith Lord, Malak. So you find yourself under attack and crash landing on the planet of Taris, hiding from the Sith and trying to rescue the missing Bastilla. Your journey begins.

Now this is the main problem with the game, your opening section of the game up until the end of the Taris section is atrocious! Possibly one of the worst openings in a game that I've ever come across. The location is bland as are the first few missions. Plus you'll find the fights a pain as your character flaps around in a mystery fashion attempting and usually failing to hit whats in front of him/her. To be honest, I stuck the game away for few months after doing Taris, only now to drag it out again.

At first, the battle system is baffling. You stack orders for your character perform as the action unfolds in front of you. You feel a bit helpless watching it happen, also bit confused as to where the turns are happening, after a while... you DO get used to this. Perhaps its too many years being brought up on the JapRPG style of the various Final Fantasies. By the time you get into the swing of fighting, you've probably left Taris. The game starts to pick up, and not just because you find yourself on the Jedi path and swinging a few lightsabres about (that is obviously a bonus though!). The missions get better, the story more involving, the characters more interesting, the locations more graphically lush, the equipment more enticing, your list of abilites more fun, freedom to use different strategies (go for full on battles or go for a bit of stealth?) greater. Just ... better! Being able to customise the colour of your lightsabre, using F! orce Persuades on custom officials to waive docking fees, all stuff that is damn entertaining to do. Plus you can indulge in some Han Solo-esque banter with Bastilla to raise a smirk.

The conversation mechanic in this game can lead you down several routes. Your character can become affiliated with either the Light or Dark side of the force due to your actions. I have to say, the Light side conversations and actions tend to be a bit bland, while the Dark side are bit TOO psychopatic, as opposed the nicely sinisister style of Mr Vader. Still, the game lets you evolve into the character you wish to be. A nice freedom. This is apparently expanded on to greater effect in the soon to be released KOTOR2.

Struggle through the opening stages of the game, put aside the re-cycling of non-playable characters in the game, get to grips with the fighting system and you've got yourself a decent little RPG. The best of the Star Wars offerings in recent times. Not perfect, but glad I persevered past the opening stages now ... at least its got me thinking about the sequel.