Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)

[  1 | 2 | Next Page »  ]

Meet the Bounty Hunter, The Old Republic's Boba Fett class.

That’s one hell of a trailer, isn’t it? What, you haven’t seen it yet? Then what are you waiting for? Go watch it. Down there, on the bottom left of the screen - click on the cinematic trailer. Don’t worry, we’ll wait.

Wow. Not bad, huh? That trailer, which depicts the Sacking of Coruscant, is probably the best bit of Star Wars CGI ever made. It doesn’t tell us anything about how the upcoming MMO, The Old Republic, will play, but it doesn’t half make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

 Advertisement

“Now that is what Star Wars is all about,” enthuses Blaine Christine, producer at BioWare Austin, during a behind closed doors presentation of the game. He’s just shown the trailer again in case anyone missed it during EA’s media briefing. “Kick ass action-packed combat and a heroic, engaging storyline.” Quite.

The thing is, anyone who’s played any MMORPG before will watch that trailer and think, that’s cool, but if The Old Republic ends up simulating that kind of combat then I’m a shaven Wookiee. Well, it’s time to get your hedge trimmers out guys, because the game might just do it.

Christine reiterates BioWare’s central goal with this ambitious project – to tell a story. While this sounds simple on paper, BioWare reckons no MMO has managed to do it before. Not properly, anyway. And by properly, BioWare means full voice over, cinematic cutscenes, Mass Effect-style dialogue wheels and decisions that have real impact on character, plot and gameplay - basically, stuff beyond pages of text and screen after screen of boring background lore.

The Bounty Hunter's flamethrower is a nifty close combat weapon

For the first time, BioWare shows how it’ll all work with a gameplay demo running off of live servers back at the BioWare Austin, Texas, studio. We’re shown the Bounty Hunter class, of the Imperial faction, making his first tentative steps in The Old Republic. Based around iconic fan favourite Boba Fett, Bounty Hunters begin on the world of Hutta – this is the first time Hutta has ever been fully realised in a video game. As a fledgling Bounty Hunter it’s your mission to find your way into an event called The Great Hunt – sponsored by the Mandalorians to find the greatest Bounty Hunter in the galaxy. This is the Bounty Hunter’s opening quest line, designed to ease players into the game, introduce the mechanics of the class and get you off the planet.

From a third-person perspective we move towards an NPC and initiate our first ever conversation as a Bounty Hunter. Usually in an MMO a window would open with a page of text to read. In The Old Republic, however, a cutscene with full voice over triggers. The Old Republic is the first ever fully voiced MMO. Every single character class, male and female, and every single NPC, has full voice over. The amount of dialogue in the game must be mind-boggling.

The man we’re talking to is Braden, a gruff human who acts as your mentor through The Great Hunt. Like in Mass Effect, you pick from a number of dialogue options in real time from a conversation wheel, albeit a basic one. You’re introduced to Mako, a girl who will provide intel and tech, and Jory, a “big bruiser” who handles heavy lifting. You’re impatient: “Personally I’m just here to kill people and cause damage.” As a player you can decide how you interact with people. Every conversation will be like this.

Outside the base we see Hutta in all its glory. It’s run by the Hutts, of Jabba the Hutt fame, who moved in, enslaved the native populace and turned the planet into an industrial wasteland filled with toxic fumes and poisonous gasses. It’s a barbecue-coloured area, with spiralling structures providing an eye-catching background and imposing metal buildings ominous in the foreground. The art style suggests a look inspired by the computer-generated Star Wars series The Clone Wars, with cartooney, almost caricature character designs and a graphical fidelity that won’t push your PC too hard. “We like to refer to it as stylised realism,” Christine explains. “We’re not going for a photorealistic look, but we want something that’s easily identifiable as Star Wars: The Old Republic if you see a screenshot or you are in the game. It’s more like a painting.”

It’s not long before our Bounty Hunter gets his wish - killing people and causing damage. As a ranged class, most of his abilities are blaster based, but he’s got some rockets for extra damage and a stun dart for crowd control. Up close, he’s got a flamethrower (you can see it in the trailer – you have seen it right?). We see him taking on multiple Fa’athra street thugs at once. BioWare wants players to feel heroic, so you’ll be able to take on groups of enemies at the same time without breaking sweat. “You’re not just killing bunny rabbits in our game.”

[  1 | 2 | Next Page »  ]