E3 2011 Hands-On: Star Wars: The Old Republic - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 09 June 2011 / 4,764 Views
Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPG's) are big business. World of Warcraft is beyond huge and is a cash cow for Activision. Now Electronic Arts and their darling developer, BioWare, are getting in on the action with one of entertainment's biggest names on board for the ride: Star Wars.
Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place some 3000 years before the events of the modern Star Wars films. It focuses on the Old Republic and the Sith/Jedi war that eventually drove the Sith to the brink of extinction. In The Old Republic, you choose a side: Jedi or Sith, and the adventure begins. For the purposes of this hands-on demo, we were put in the roles of various Sith classes on Tatooine, the future home of Luke Skywalker and a level 26 area.
Before putting our hands on the keyboard and mouse, we were treated to a tutorial video explaining the classes and some of the tactics. There are four major Sith classes: Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter, and Sith Inquisitor. Each major class then has two advanced classes. The Sith Warrior can be a Juggernaut (tank) or Marauder (DPS). The Imperial Agent can be a sniper or an operative, which uses stealth. The Bounty Hunter can be a Mercenary (dual-wielding ranged) or a Powertech (heavy weapons). Finally, the Inquistor can be a Sorcerer (ranged powers/healing) or an Assassin (stealth and lightsabers).
I sat down at a computer that put me in the armor of a female Bounty Hunter Powertech, which made me look like Boba Fett with a figure. The heavy weapon they gave the Powertech for this demo was the flamethrower. Accompanying me was a companion. Companions are like pets in many other MMORPG's except these are humanoid and can be given some direction in battle. My companion was a Jawa named Blitz.
We started by interacting with a console that gave instructions for a mission to kill some Tusken Raiders. I summoned my personal Jawa, then got out my speeder by clicking a little button, making it materialize from nowhere. I rode around a bit before being attacked by some rogue droids. We were warned that if we run too close to hostiles, we would pull agro and I did just that. Right-clicking on the enemy fired my blaster, then I experimented with the flamethrower and a stun-stick that were in my abilities loadout.
Handily dispatched, I headed off to get me some Tusken Raiders. Before doing so, I found a downed Imperial ship seeking assistance. Being BioWare, I discovered they have brought their classic dialog wheel into Star Wars: The Old Republic. I was able to accept or decline helping them. Being a bounty hunter, I took the neutral approach of saying I'd help, but for a price. The Old Republic takes a page out of DC Universe Online's playbook with fully voiced NPC's. The Imperial officer was well-voiced and enemies all made the appropriate (and highly recognizable) Star Wars sounds as they attacked, defended, and inevitably died.
I then finally caught up with my fellow demo players at the Tusken Raider hideout. Grouping up into parties was easy and made it a breeze to take out some groups of Raiders and some large reptilian fauna as well. The players and companions worked together to make short work of all our foes. The combat was pretty standard fare for an MMO, which makes it very easy to get in to. Powers and abilities are just a number key away and there is room for a multitude of abilities to be assigned to hotkeys.
Graphically, the game looks pretty good, though nothing impressive. The pre-rendered videos used for the trailers look gorgeous, but the game itself is pretty standard MMO fare. It's hard to expect too much texturing and dynamic graphics in an MMO, however. There are massive worlds, a great host of players, and hundred or thousands of enemies the game has to process. Nevertheless, the deserts of Tatooine looked very good and never felt so vast in a video game before.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is really shaping up to be a powerhouse MMORPG. The gameplay elements are all there and the classes are very deep (and I only got to see the Sith side!), particularly for a game that hasn't even launched yet. Any Star Wars or MMO fan has to be excited about Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it looks like you won't be disappointed.
