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Star Wars: The Old Republic

I’ve never been a big fan of online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft, but if any game were to change my mind about the genre, Star Wars: The Old Republic would be it. Developed by BioWare — the company behind fantastic modern RPGs such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age and the similarly titled and themed Knights of the Old Republic — Star Wars: The Old Republic seems like it’d not only be a great online RPG but a chance to be the next step forward for the genre.
   
It’s not, however. The Old Republic stubbornly clings to old genre mechanics, perhaps because of an unwillingness to alienate those who are already familiar with them. Take away the Star Wars license and the unprecedented amount of polish, and there’s a fairly rote online RPG at its centre.
   
There’s no denying that the designers dress it up well — few other games can even come close to the consistently high level of presentation here. You can choose from eight classes — four for the Republic, four for the Empire — and each one has its own unique storyline to go through, complete with the incredibly in-depth dialogue trees and morality choices that BioWare has consistantly done so well in its games. The amount of content here is staggering and it’s all technically superb, every second of it showing off the years of work and hundreds of millions of dollars that have been put into it (all of which helps to justify the monthly $15 subscription fee required to play).
   
So much effort has been put into making this the first story-driven MMORPG (or massively multiplayer online role-playing game) that it seems like the developers didn’t feel like having it play like something different was necessary. The archaic combat system is the game’s nadir — which once again highlights the biggest problem I have with the genre: battling enemies simply consists of standing in place near them and tapping the same keys on your keyboard ad nauseam until they’re dead. It’s such an inelegant, unexciting way to express combat and yet it makes up the majority of the game; each quest seems to consist of marching through a linear area, running up to bad guys so you can stand near them for a while and tap an attack key every few seconds when it recharges. For a game that’s supposed to be so revolutionary, it’s sad that it chooses to stick with such dated and unwieldy mechanics as this — especially since BioWare has already made games that have featured far more exciting and intuitive battle systems.
   
And that’s The Old Republic’s biggest problem. While it’s a very solid MMORPG, it makes hardly any attempt to appeal to anyone who isn’t already a fan of the genre. This is a game made to win over players of World of Warcraft, not anyone else. This is more of a missed opportunity than the genre-changer it should’ve been.

Bits & Bytes
   
Capcom has officially announced Resident Evil 6, the latest instalment of the zombie-killing franchise which will eschew its survival horror roots for a more action-packed globe-trotting adventure. It’s due out on Nov. 20 for the 360 and PS3.

Upcoming Releases
   
Feb. 7 — The Darkness 2 (360, PS3, PC); Resident Evil Revelations (3DS).

   
Mel Stefaniuk is a writer who can tell the difference between Mario and Sonic.