Star Wars: The Old Republic is a title developed by Bioware, who you might recognize from some major titles like the Mass Effect series for console.  This is their first move into the online gaming, or at least MMORPG, genre.  Published by EA Games, this title has been one of the most highly-anticipated, or at least highly talked about games for PC this year.  Throughout development, Bioware has hinted at various features and made claims of the immense level of story-telling and player interaction available in the game.  Earlier developer blogs and interviews displayed systems like extensive cover, multi-speed dual wielding weapons, and more.  Of course, the biggest draw of the game is simply the fact that it is part of the Star Wars universe, which already brings with it millions of fans across the globe.  But does the game deliver on its promises, and how does it stack up against the competition?

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At first glance, the game offers some excellent visuals and stunning environments.  The landscape of the game has a lot to offer, though there were several times we felt "closed off" during gameplay like being in a small zone or instanced map makes you feel.  There wasn't much of the impression that you could just head out and explore the lands, or reach distant areas.  There were a lot of "blocked in" locations with buildings narrowing the landscape or treelines that cut you off from what was beyond.  But when you did get a look at the horizon it was impressive, and the nearby scenery didn't disappoint either.  During character creation you are met with some choices on how your new inhabitant of the Old Republic will look and play.  This was the first encounter with disappointment, and it was a bit earlier than we had hoped.

SW:TOR offers 2 factions to choose from.  You can head toward the dark side, and join with the Sith, or you can follow the light path and join with the Jedi and Republic.  However, each faction has only four races and four classes to choose from.  What's more is that those races are little more than human models with different paint-jobs.  Also, though not without reason, the light and dark side share races between them, for a very low total of overall race choices.  In fact, the only race available that wasn't just a "painted human" was the Twi'Lek, with their head lobes.  If you expected to play any of the iconic races that make the Star Wars universe diverse, like Wookies, Trandoshan, Rodian, Bothan, Mon Calamari, or ANY of the other more interesting alien species, forget about it.  You aren't even likely to see many of those races in the game, let alone the impossibility of playing one.

When it came to class choices, there was a little more variation here, but still very cut down from what one might expect in a newly-released MMORPG in this day and age.  There are only gouravailable classes, made out in the pre-set fashion, so no cross-class or customizing powers here.  Granted, you can choose to specialize later on into one of two options past your initial choice, but this still doesn't offer much in comparison to many other offerings out there (like the dozen or so classes Everquest II launched with, or the multi-classing options in Rift).  There are two classes which focus more on "the Force" in each faction, and two classes geared more toward standard weaponry.  One of the latter is a more military option, and the other offers more stealth-type skills (like the Smuggler, for example).

In terms of actual gameplay there are also some ups and downs.  The addition of the extended cut-scenes is great for those who enjoy more roleplay aspects in their games.  You have the ability to choose your replies, and this in turn affects your gaining of light or dark side points.  Those points come into play later on when dealing with specific item requirements that may need you to have a certain level of dark side to use them.  However, do your decisions affect the outcome of things in the game or change the story depending on your actions?  It doesn't seem so.  They may change the replies you get from NPC's in THAT DIALOG, but beyond that you're not likely to see any lasting affects from what we noticed.  And while, as a roleplay fan I certainl enjoy cutscenes and more in-depth interactions, it is likely many players will not appreciate this component as much.  It is more likely most players will feel there is "too much talk, not enough action".  And even I had that thought crop up from time to time when the cut-scene banter left me a little bored, or the time between cut-scenes was all too short.

Moving on to the other gameplay aspects, there was certainly some fun to be had swinging around a practice saber, and especially the real thing once you moved past your training days.  The moves seemed rather fluid, and there was enough variety to the attack animations to keep it from looking too repetitive.  When it came to firearms-wielding classes, the attacks seemed to be slower and much less interesting.  Particularly when starting off a Bounty Hunter character, the combat felt slow and clunky.  Waiting a couple seconds between various shots and just having nothing else to do felt awkward.  And what happened to this "active cover" that they showed in earlier videos and the action they promised with the firearms classes?  Maybe this was something we missed, but it didn't seem possible to take cover anywhere, though opponents seemed to occasionally make use of it.  Also, though there was some occasional use of cover, the AI overall felt rather "dumb".  Opposing NPC's mostly just stood there and shot and you, or if they were melee they simply ran headlong into oncoming gunfire to attack you.  Didn't see much enemy strategy going on.

The animations in the game could also use some tweaking.  While many of the combat animations seemed fitting (if not a little slow), the running animations look clunky, awkward, and the players seem to have a stick up their back when they jog.  And if you strafe your character, your torso and upper body remains the same while your hips and legs move in the chosen side-ways direction.  This makes the characters look artificial and just plain silly.

Advancing on the game did not feel too labored.  It seems like they have a smooth advancement, though I wonder how far into the game the rather smooth speed of levelling continues.  Is your average player going to be reaching level 50 (the current maximum character level) within the first month of gameplay?  Sure, you always have those die-hard players or the ones who already spent countless hours in beta testing who know the game inside and out that are going to advance extremely rapidly.  But the real sign of proper balancing and depth of content is going to show when the "average" and casual gamers have a go at things.  Will they be met with enough challenge to keep the game going for several weeks, or will things putter out with rapid levelling and leave them wanting more but not finding it?

There don't seem to be many additional features to the game that would entice much long-term playability or replayability.  There aren't any "aesthetics" features like costumes, housing, or an extensive crafting system.  There aren't really any options in terms of "mini-games", unless you want to put the PvP contest of "Hutt Ball" in that category.  And I don't believe there is anything major like territory conquest or control from what we've heard so far either.  So, at least in the short term, there may be little alternative options aside from creating a new player to experience the game over again from scratch.  Of course, this itself means two things.  That you will have to listen to much of the cinematics over again, but that you may also be able to experience some of the dialog options you did not choose the first time around.

What lasting appeal will Star Wars: The Old Republic have?  It is hard to say, especially when the game hasn't even launched yet.  But we think it is safe to say a few things about what exists at this point:

• There is a distinct absense of iconic Star Wars races.
• Few race choices.
• Only four class choices.
• Extended dialogs means too much talk, and too little action.

In the words of The King, "A little less conversation, a little more action!"