Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-on Preview

Story, story, story. We get it. Star Wars: The Old Republic is doing things no MMORPG has done before. It’s fully voice acted. It’s cinematic. It’s got plot, dialogue, politics, drama, emotion, cutscenes – everything you expect from a BioWare role-playing game. But, let’s be honest, at the end of the day, we want to twat people in the face with a lightsaber. That is the great boyhood dream. To feel like a Jedi, or, if you’re a bastard, a Sith. To feel like you’re actually wielding the Force. To feel all powerful, all knowing, all conquering.

There is still some mystery surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic. We’ve seen only snippets of the game so far; self contained missions designed to demonstrate its cinematic story credentials. Perhaps that’s why there still linger questions surrounding what traditional MMORPG features it’ll have. Chief among these is combat. Will twatting people in the face with a lightsaber be any good? Perhaps more importantly, will it be any different to twatting people in the face with a big sword in that other MMO? At EA’s recent Winter Showcase event in London, BioWare lifted the lid on the game’s last two yet-to-be-revealed classes and gave us some precious hands-on time with one of them. Answers are coming…

Before allowing us to turn our monitor on, however, BioWare wants to make a few points about combat and classes and your role on the battlefield. The development team is at pains to stress how badly it wants players to be able to find a group in the blink of an eye. No waiting hours for a healer to answer your “Looking For Group” request, no quitting the game because you can’t find the class you need to raid. How the game will achieve this, though, we don’t know.

Class customisation is fast and frantic. You’ll tear through your ability tree “quickly”, fine tuning your play style without having to pump tens of hours into the game. BioWare uses the Smuggler, the opportunistic, reckless Han Solo class, as an example. It has abilities including Take Cover, Dirty Kick, Headshot and Stealth. But the Smuggler can be further specialised once players reach level 20, when two paths will open up: the smooth-talking Gunslinger grants access to dual pistols, and is best at range, whereas the Scoundrel has medicinal skills and excels in stealth, where it can get up close and go all rogue.

Time for the exciting stuff: the final two classes. The first is the Sith Inquisitor, a ranged class that uses dark side powers to brutal effect. It fulfils the Emperor Palpatine fantasy: are you the kind of person who cheered the Emperor on as he burned Luke Skywalker with lightning bolts? Are you the kind of person who says “it’s all going according to plan” in a menacing voice, just for fun? Do you wear hoodies with the hood up? If so, then the Sith Inquisitor is the class for you.

Customisation will be further bolstered by the companion system. Every class can use one companion at a time, chosen from a small group. The Sith Inquisitor’s first companion is Khem Val the Deshade, a huge tank who likes to get up close and personal. He’s designed to compliment the Sith Inquistor so that as your enemies focus their attention on him, you’ll be able to fry them with lightning attacks at range (think Darth Vader tanking Luke Skywallker as The Emperor does ranged DPS). The Inquisitor’s second companion is Xalek the Kaleesh, a high damage class based on Episode 1’s red-faced Sith apprentice Darth Maul. Again, he sounds like the Inquisitor’s perfect foil, but is perhaps the cooler of the two: having you own personal Darth Maul bodyguard sounds wicked.

Opposing the Sith Inquisitor is the Jedi Consular, a thoughtful Jedi who fulfils the Yoda fantasy. He uses telekinetic powers to neutralise enemies from range. Remember that bit in Episode 2 when Yoda used the Force to stop that hulking pipe from crushing Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin? That’s the kind of thing you’ll be doing as a Jedi Consular. BioWare shows the class in action in a live gameplay demonstration with a level seven Jedi Consular on the homeworld of Typhon. His Mind Maze ability freezes enemies in place and his Lightsaber Lunge finishes bad guys off as you’d expect it to. Other attacks involve more violent use of the Force. Force Pull does exactly what it says on the tin – I imagine it will be a popular mob pull technique during challenging raids. Force Slam lifts an enemy up high into the air then slams it down. The poor Flesh Raider Deathwatchers never stood a chance.

My hands-on, however, is not with the Jedi Consular, but with the Sith Inquisitor. A level eight Sith Inquisitor called Erin, in fact (BioWare is yet to show to press any character above level eight). A quick scan of the action bar reveals a number of interesting abilities. Saber Strike is a basic lightsaber attack; Shock is a lightning blast; Electrocute stuns; Overload does area of affect damage; Lightning Drain is a channelled power; Whirlwind stuns enemies for 15 seconds; and Dark Gift heals.

The playable area is set on the Sith homeworld of Korriban (KOTOR fans will know it well). Ephram Zell is a nearby quest-giving NPC. I talk to him, triggering a Mass Effect-style conversation, complete with a dialogue wheel that highlights BioWare’s point about genuine innovation in MMO storytelling. Not only is Ephram fully voice acted, but so is my female Sith. I wonder: will the game have a catch-em-all male and female voice for player characters, or will there be options to choose from? Either way, it is hugely impressive to hear your character speak in an MMORPG.

Ephram wants me to head into an ancient tomb and find the resting place of legendary Sith, Tulak Hord. There I’ll find the Red Engine, his terrible machine. I am to activate it. The only problem is, the machine won’t get out of bed for anything less than an extremely messy sacrifice. I need to head inside, kill anything that moves, activate the machine and return with the ancient scriptures it gives up.

This is a bog standard MMO fetch quest – nothing special – but it does help to clear up a few combat questions I had buzzing inside my head. The game plays fast. I kill escaped slaves and insect-like ravagers in what feels like a rate of one every 10 seconds. They pose no threat. Not even in groups. I tear my way through the tomb with glorious abandon – the mini-map guides me breezily towards my objective. I sporadically use the Sith’s various abilities, trying to play smart by stunning enemies before tackling others, but there is no need. Simply standing still and spamming Saber Strike, aka the number 1 hotkey, is enough to get the job done. I’d call it monotonous if it weren’t for the speed I’m going.

This feel is deliberate. The game is designed to be solo friendly and make players feel awesome, early. I certainly feel awesome. Indeed I feel all powerful. Solo-ing is a simple affair, much more so than in any MMORPG I’ve ever played. BioWare wants every player to feel like the star, not some tiny cog in a machine too big for its own good. But will the game end up too easy?

Probably not. I later learn that level eight is too high for the area I quested. But BioWare’s design decision stands. The Old Republic will be a game for heroes, not pawns. Combat feels fast, well animated and responsive. Jedi and Sith auto deflect weapons fire with casual flicks of their lightsabers. But it works, fundamentally, as most MMORPGs do. Action bar abilities, WASD, hit points, Force powers, stand there and take damage and deal damage. This is not a criticism. It’s an observation. BioWare may well be revolutionising the genre with its storytelling, but the familiar and comfortable combat is grounded in MMORPG tradition.

As my hands-on comes to an end, new questions replace old ones. Just how will dialogue-based cutscenes be resolved when a five man party is arguing over what decision to make? How is the game structured? How will you travel from planet to planet? How much of the game world will be instanced, and how much will be persistent? What about PvP, in-game economy, auction houses, guilds, crafting, character progression, endgame, all that stuff? BioWare reassures me that the game will have all the traditional MMO features fans of World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online and the like expect as standard. We just haven’t seen them yet. Hopefully, the lid will be lifted soon.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is due out exclusively for the PC. It is yet to be dated.