Star Wars: The Old Republic

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2879 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,378 out of 2879
  2. Mixed: 545 out of 2879
  3. Negative: 956 out of 2879
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  1. DarthPreamp
    Dec 10, 2012
    5
    Bottom line - I played this game for several months; the story/s and voice acting are the best in the business. But this/these great Star Wars stories are eclipsed by Bioware's and EA's money making scheme almost entirely. Story = 10; EA's money grab that is imposed on the ENTIRE design of the game = 0. Score = 5
  2. TUHD
    Dec 15, 2013
    5
    If you're planning on being an sub the whole time, go ahead. The storyline is neat (it could use some improvement, but it is better then in the most MMO's), gameplay isn't too bad... it's worth your money if you've got the time for it. It easily deserves an 7-8 at least.
    If you're planning on going F2P: STAY AWAY! You'll get nickle-and-dimed every second, and no amount of Cartel Coins    If you're planning on being an sub the whole time, go ahead. The storyline is neat (it could use some improvement, but it is better then in the most MMO's), gameplay isn't too bad... it's worth your money if you've got the time for it. It easily deserves an 7-8 at least.
    If you're planning on going F2P: STAY AWAY! You'll get nickle-and-dimed every second, and no amount of Cartel Coins will make this go away. While sure, you can play the storylines for free, the amount of grinding necessary at later levels is absurd (from level 20+ you're getting an 25% XP penalty!) and the amount of restrictions and 'in-your-face-you're-not-an-sub-thus-not-an-customer'-moments is close to being spiteful of you. There's way too much to say about the F2P option... and with Rise of the Hutt Cartel (the expansion, which you'll need to buy at €17/$20 as F2P-player while subs get it free!) it has become even worse. For the F2P-option I can give an 3, max. Stay. Away.    … Expand
  3. Chlodwig
    Mar 17, 2012
    5
    Mass Effect meets MMO meets Star Wars. And while this sounds like it almost HAS to be a 10, it's not. Not by a long shot.

    The MMO part is old. There is simply nothing new, everything has been here before in MMO land. It's the same point-and-click interface that we've known since the days of Everquest and that was already stale in WoW. The only "new" part is that the boring stuff (like    Mass Effect meets MMO meets Star Wars. And while this sounds like it almost HAS to be a 10, it's not. Not by a long shot.

    The MMO part is old. There is simply nothing new, everything has been here before in MMO land. It's the same point-and-click interface that we've known since the days of Everquest and that was already stale in WoW. The only "new" part is that the boring stuff (like selling craploot) is dumped on your sidekick. Yes, every class is a pet class and everyone got a sidekick. Which sounds great, hey, while I go and play the game, I send the drone to do some boring menial work. Nu-uh. Imagine Warlock without blue blob. That's how efficient you are without your sidekick. So, in a nutshell, what it means is that everyone is a pet class. And the whole "genuinely new concept" ends right there.

    Then, the Mass Effect part. A metric ton of dialogues, a storyline with a detail level that is unparalleled in the MMO world... which is nice until you do some group quest for the n-th time and still have some guy in your group that doesn't skip the cutscenes that you can by that time recite verbatim because you have heard them n-1 times. And who doesn't know that choosing the "wrong" answer leads to even more and even longer dialogues.

    Then there's that idea, just like in Mass Effect, that you may forge your character's path with his answers to dialogues, join the "light" or "dark" side, make friends or enemies... which is really exciting until level 10 when you get your first sidekick and notice that your answers affect your sidekick's opinion about you. And his opinion in turn affects his efficiency. And the difficulty of the game is geared to having a more or less "loyal" sidekick. So can the idea to "choose your own path", you better choose the path your sidekicks want you to. The idea that you can choose your character's "light or dark" path falls flat on the face here.

    Oh, to be fair, you can "buy" their love with gifts. If you can afford them. I foresee a nice source of income for goldsellers in the days to come.

    So what's left when you strip the new game smell is a standard MMO without too much that makes it stick out from the crowd, neither negatively or positively. It's a solid MMO, mostly balanced (for PvE at least), with mostly working quests and a lack of serious endgame content, just as you would expect from an MMO that's fresh on the market. If you like Star Wars or if you liked the story elements of Mass Effect and like MMOs, you should give it a spin, if you're just looking for a new and fresh MMO with new elements that aren't staler than a week old loaf of bread, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  4. Setman428
    Aug 6, 2012
    5
    I believe this game is rather overhyped. I've seen the gameplay, not impressive. Seen the graphics, eh, Guild Wars had much better graphics. Only hope for the gaming world now is GW2. I'm pretty certain this game is dead after August 28th this year. No way anything (even WOW) will compete with that game. It's solid even in betas.
  5. CriticAlmighty
    Jan 16, 2012
    5
    Played since head-start. Visually, unappealing. Play style, not nearly as good as Rift. Cut scenes, ugh! (When will you realize that mouth interiors are supposed to be darker than the face!) The areas after the starting zone are uninspired. Animation is OK but path-finding for my companion is herky jerky. Music and sound are awesome. Finally, as a subscriber, I should not be subjected toPlayed since head-start. Visually, unappealing. Play style, not nearly as good as Rift. Cut scenes, ugh! (When will you realize that mouth interiors are supposed to be darker than the face!) The areas after the starting zone are uninspired. Animation is OK but path-finding for my companion is herky jerky. Music and sound are awesome. Finally, as a subscriber, I should not be subjected to queuing. You might want to fix that Bioware. It's not total crap, but feels designed for F2P.… Expand
  6. Pitt90
    Dec 30, 2011
    5
    Well, I have a mixed response to this game. I pre-ordered, and was given access on 12/14, and have been playing a huge amount since then, so that's what this review is based upon.

    The Pros It's really pretty. The graphics are delightful to this ole' guy's eyes. I have a two year old computer and have all my settings on high and it runs really well. I've heard lots of complaints from    Well, I have a mixed response to this game. I pre-ordered, and was given access on 12/14, and have been playing a huge amount since then, so that's what this review is based upon.

    The Pros

    It's really pretty. The graphics are delightful to this ole' guy's eyes. I have a two year old computer and have all my settings on high and it runs really well. I've heard lots of complaints from people about FPS, and I believe them, but so far I haven't experienced. The story is also really good, and I enjoy the voice acting, although, yes, a few responses are clearly repeated from time to time. "Give me the whole story, and more slowly this time" was said by my Jedi Knight more than once on the way to level 35 (my highest so far). So that's a little frustrating, but minor.

    The Cons

    Of course there are bugs, and while the game is reasonably solid in all crucial aspects at roll-out, there are a few game destroying bugs that have not been addressed. First of all, Customer Service sucks ... I mean, rotten, smelly eggs. Perhaps they weren't prepared for the onslaught, but it's nearly impossible to get real, substantive help. Reports take days to get responses to, and when you do, it's automated and canned and not helpful. Calling the 800#s are just as bad.

    But the clincher for me? At lvl 35, I decided to redo my character. Yes, I'm crazy, but I had a sense of how the game is played now, and wanted to do it over and "fix" my mistakes. So I sent some items and all my cash to an alt and deleted my guy, remaking him with the same name. I received all the items and cash fine on my alt, but when I mailed it back to my new main, it disappeared into the ether. To the tune of 83,000 credits worth of two weeks work. I cannot get a response or help from the CSRs. Apparently there's an issue where if you remake a guy with the same name, problems happen. There's a thread on the website where many people have had the same experience, and yet it's still not listed as one of the "Known Problems" so that you don't do this by accident. Nor has it been fixed. It's very disappointing, so beware of that. It's nearly killed the game for me. I don't mind starting over, I do mind all my work going to into the ether and not getting help from a game I'm paying for. From the responses some people have received (I am not one of them, since I haven't received a non-canned response), its' like the CSRs think all people are scamming them and won't help get anything back.

    It's this kind of problem, and utter lack of response to fixing it by the CSRs and techs, that make me unable to give this game a high rating. It's unfortunate, too, because it has the makings of something really good otherwise.    … Expand
  7. ltx
    Dec 25, 2011
    5
    Large number of MMO mistakes are weighing this game down, however the experience is propped up by mildly interesting chain of class quests like something out of a single player game, a new direction in MMOs previously only poorly implemented in AoC. The Good: Storyline driven class quests with voice acting, lightsabers, personal ships, companions with some personality that can be dressedLarge number of MMO mistakes are weighing this game down, however the experience is propped up by mildly interesting chain of class quests like something out of a single player game, a new direction in MMOs previously only poorly implemented in AoC. The Good: Storyline driven class quests with voice acting, lightsabers, personal ships, companions with some personality that can be dressed up, dialog options, sound. The Bad: boring combat and gameplay, PvP lacks open world combat, depth and balance, no variety in armor and weapons, outdated graphics, monotone environments and dungeons, zoned and instanced world, lack of polish, lack of focus on social and massive multiplayer features.… Expand
  8. ImmoralAtheist
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    Very Lifeless world. Bad graphics. Linear/boxed enviroments. "holy trinity". Cliche bioware stories (the witcher has better storytelling). Uninteresting crafting. No interesting (real) open world pvp. Mob's still follow the aggro ring principle.
  9. TheangryOne
    Dec 26, 2011
    5
    Well, after more than a year of waiting and all the hype Bioware put behind it, here it is, WOW:TOR. This game has truly become a shining example of Bioware's stagnation and ineptitude. To summarize: This game takes all the classic mistakes all gaming companies love to make and thrusts them into one giant $15/mo flop. The most obvious shortcoming is that gameplay is literally the EXACTWell, after more than a year of waiting and all the hype Bioware put behind it, here it is, WOW:TOR. This game has truly become a shining example of Bioware's stagnation and ineptitude. To summarize: This game takes all the classic mistakes all gaming companies love to make and thrusts them into one giant $15/mo flop. The most obvious shortcoming is that gameplay is literally the EXACT same thing as WOW was; it even has the same problems (extreme lack of customization, massive grindfest, limited character creation, specialization issues, bad endgame). Considering how much was spent on this game, there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of laziness; it's 2011, Bioware. WAKE THE F*** UP! Next, is the stories which Bioware was basing all their success on. These stories are hit-and-miss, as are the companions (Some are epic, some just fall flat.). I've been saying for years that Bioware shows extreme favoritism in their character and story design, and if this doesnt prove it, nothing does. The only true saving grace here is that, despite everyone's whining about the voice acting, I actually thought it was pretty good. Still, would it've killed Bioware to make a few selectable voices for your character? They spent 300 million (yes, million) dollars on this. However, all of these things can be ignored, since it is a reliable system, even if it is outdated. I'll probably get alot of flak for that but it's the truth. I won't bother talking about the graphics for the same reason; ultimately, they make little difference in an MMO as long as they work. The one thing, however, that cannot be overlooked, and the one thing that kills this game (and killed WOW) is the monthly subscription. Not cool, Bioware, not cool. There are plenty of free MMOs out there that can more than match this, so close your wallets and open your eyes. Learn from SWG, learn from GW. You are not the powerhouse you once were, and Warhammer 40k's lore more than beats Star Wars'. Learn.… Expand
  10. Ravager
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    I want you to imagine World of Warcraft back in 2004.

    Now replace the Warcraft universe with the Star Wars universe and add in a lot of voice acting.

    Thats all The Old Republic is.

    If you enjoy MMOs, I'm not going to deny that you will enjoy The Old Republic. If you are looking for something a little different, you wont find it.
  11. Cell1e
    Jul 8, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am rewriting my review. I think this game does not deserve the very high score I gave it initailly. Pros- The voice acting and cut scenes are way cool! I find the stories and quests a heck of a lot more interesting and meaningful with the cutscenes and choices of responses. The crafting system is interesting but VERY expensive! The armour crafting does not let you make visually unique armours. Some romances are such a bonus and are done quite well so far, although they are triggered by the affection system which is easy to raise with gifts so I managed to get most of the romantic convos quite early and have been waiting a while for the next lot to trigger now in part two. Some roamnces are truely awful and must have been written by idiots.
    It amazes me that there are so many beginning stories and storylines, way to go Bioware! The effort you put into this really shows. Gameplay/fighting is mostly good, I love the smuggler close combat moves, slap across the face, kick between the legs and gun whip, hehe.:D You are never forced into PVP. There are pvp choices and places but you dont have to worry about being attacked while you are out doing your main mission quests and side quests. You are never forced in group play either, thank goodness! Why some mmos insist on people being in groups to complete quests is beyond me. I am a solo player and refuse to pay for a game I can't play my way in. Bioware recognise people have different play styles and have gone out of their way to accomodate this. I love the space ship! But I need a quick way to get there! CC needs a heck of a lot more options. For a mmo it is sorely lacking. I am hoping too there will be a barbershop or beauty salon in game too! Oh and companion helmets? Id like the option to hide those! The textures and armour designs are truely a let down wiht most of the outfits/armours looking like they were drawn by a 7 year old with a felt tip pen. Good grief in this day and age I would think standards should be a lot higher for textures, designs, colours and other choices. Details are so important. The female armours are nasty. Well a joke really.
    I have levelled a good few characters to middling levels but have got frustrated with the lack of money, the awful grind to level.
    I wont go back until Biowore starts improving character customisation and perhaps makes the legacy system less of a money sink as well as the levelling. I could never afford with any of my characters to get the hugher driving license. Crazy!    … Expand
  12. Fortysixter_UK
    Mar 15, 2012
    5
    Long time SW fan, and I've enjoyed a few of the SW games released over the years. Read plenty of SW books, seen the films a lot.

    SWTOR is not going to get an easy ride from me. The game engine is competent. The character models, acceptable. The classes good to start with, of no doubt. The game falls over in a few key places, and these issue made me quit prior to my first month    Long time SW fan, and I've enjoyed a few of the SW games released over the years. Read plenty of SW books, seen the films a lot.

    SWTOR is not going to get an easy ride from me. The game engine is competent. The character models, acceptable. The classes good to start with, of no doubt.

    The game falls over in a few key places, and these issue made me quit prior to my first month completing.

    There is no auto group system in the game ( as their is in Rift and WOW ) so looking for random groups in that first month could take hours. Not good.

    The game has been in development for years, I remember it being on the front cover of issue 2 of GamesTM ( a uk based gaming mag). The game eventually got released whilst issue 116 was on the shelves. So why did the patching system cause me, and apparently many others so much grief ? If you've not had this issue this comment will mean nothing to you. It was almost a game breaker by itself for me.

    The chat system, in that first month at least, would randomly bar you from a chat window, like "Party Chat" for no apparent reason. The only way to resolve was to exit the game. Then you lost your group. See my first point.

    The music. John Williams wrote amazing music for the original SW trilogy. The game uses soundbytes of his music at best. Why is John Williams music not looping in game continuously and being used creatively? Some of the stuff they put in their is frankly dirge like.

    I played as a jedi to level 34 and a smuggler to level 24. I found I DID NOT want to repeat many of the quests a thrid time around with alt characters. Many quests were simply dull . ( for me personally)

    This game is NOT an open universe. Everything is instanced. To travel from one planet to the next requires no less than 5 load screens around 30 seconds each, plus copious amounts of running between areas in between. Very dull.

    There is no open space combat, it is instanced and on wires for YOU only. Why isnt this game one vast open universe with space you can fly through real time , and planets that are genuinely open ( like WOW and Rift) ?

    The game is NOT cross server compaitble, so any unusal hour sessions in game can be a somewhat barren experience without the auto group system. I score this game 5/10, it commits the worst crime, it's not good, it's not bad...it just illicits ambivalence from me, and all but 1 of the 11 friends and family members who joined me on launch of SWTOR.

    I think SWTOR is a good game for a game made by committee and a dev team who were not the folks who made the original KOTOR. There is something coldly business like about it. It does not "FEEL" very Star Wars to me, it fails to illicit that warm fuzzy feeling that the old games, comics, books and films manage.
    In many ways it just misses the point and doesn't tick enough boxes for my inner Star Wars fanboy.

    A great opportunity missed by a fairly wide margin. I'm back to WOW & Rift already. Why mess with perfection and dev teams that seem to care ( in the case of RIFT at least ).

    If I could sell my Collectors edition and account in some way, I think I would. I wouldn't miss htis game in the slightest    … Expand
  13. Fursnake
    Feb 23, 2022
    5
    I've played this game since it's beta days and I have always felt that it was kind of mediocre in ways. The game has some pretty good storytelling for individual classes and the game world in general, although the story took a hard nose dive with the Eternal Empire content. The gameworld is colorful and detailed, but this is offset by some of the ugliest character models and faces to everI've played this game since it's beta days and I have always felt that it was kind of mediocre in ways. The game has some pretty good storytelling for individual classes and the game world in general, although the story took a hard nose dive with the Eternal Empire content. The gameworld is colorful and detailed, but this is offset by some of the ugliest character models and faces to ever plague an MMO. There's plenty of content and various things to do, but currently the whole game just feels like a platform for the Cartel Market (cash shop). The current content update being touted as an expansion is anything but an expansion, it is more like a teaser to eventual updates that overall amount to an expansion but have no business being called that with this staggered release of the content. The game engine is so heavily modified that is has constant issues and my bugs have not been fixed for years. They hyped up this "expansion", delayed the "expansion" and then released a piss poor amount of content and a Combat Styles upgrade that was underwhelming as can be. Underwhelming is a good term to describe this whole content update and what it does to the game. My sub will run out in March and I will never resub to this game, Bioware has killed it in my eyes.… Expand
  14. ref
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    A modest attempt from BioWare. Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't an awful game -- but it is a game we have all played before. This is basically every other MMORPG with voice overs. Quests are what you expect -- fetch 10 of this, kill 20 of these. It is one of these MMO's. The thing people like to bring up is how it is voiced -- the voice work for these fetch quests for the most part isA modest attempt from BioWare. Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't an awful game -- but it is a game we have all played before. This is basically every other MMORPG with voice overs. Quests are what you expect -- fetch 10 of this, kill 20 of these. It is one of these MMO's. The thing people like to bring up is how it is voiced -- the voice work for these fetch quests for the most part is average and not inspiring. Where this voice acting does immerse you is in the class stories. Most of the class stories are interesting, while others are predictable and subpar. A step above Dragon Age 2 writing quality, in my opinion. The classes themselves, are alright. All of these abilities you will be using should be familiar as they mechanically similar to every other MMO out there. This game has dungeons, raids, standard run of the mill features in an MMORPG. Basically, SWTOR is "meh". The voice acting and story does not make up for this reused and worse done game play that we have all seen before.… Expand
  15. nomercy
    Jul 22, 2012
    5
    Before I start this review off, let me tell you that BioWare's KotOR (2003) is without a doubt the best (singleplayer) game I've ever played. I usually finish games once or twice before I put them away and the box gets covered completely in dust. However, BioWare's KotOR got me hooked so much that I've finished it a record seven times. Everything in it was perfect. The story, the music,Before I start this review off, let me tell you that BioWare's KotOR (2003) is without a doubt the best (singleplayer) game I've ever played. I usually finish games once or twice before I put them away and the box gets covered completely in dust. However, BioWare's KotOR got me hooked so much that I've finished it a record seven times. Everything in it was perfect. The story, the music, the gameplay... everything got you hooked to the game. With that being said, I was hoping I could say the same about TOR as a multiplayer game. I knew what BioWare was capable of and my hopes were high. I knew that every new MMO was called a 'WoW killer' but that no one was able to actually do it, but I saw perspective when it came to TOR. Boy was I wrong. At first you get really hooked to this game, because they were somewhat innovative by having the entire game voice-spoken. Unlike World of Warcraft, you don't have to read anything at all. Unless the Wookieees roar, of course. Each of the eight classes have their own class story and that makes it extremely fun to level up characters. However, that's the only innovative thing this game has. Once you've reached the maximum level, it's all about doing flashpoints and operations, which you can compare to heroics and raids in World of Warcraft. All of the game updates so far focussed on flashpoints and operations and not on class story, the only thing this game is unique at. You'd think they would focus more on their own uniqueness. I've been unsubbed for a while now, and one of the reasons was also the terrible game engine. I know my computer is not a good rig (3.0GHz Quad-Core, GTX560) but if I get the same performance on both high and low settings, something is wrong with the engine. In fact, I got better FPS with high settings than on low! The terrible engine got exposed once the servers had many 50s and they all gathered together on a PvP-focussed planet called 'Ilum'. In this planet you have a warzone much like Wintergrasp in WoW. The point is to take bases and kill each other off. Whenever a medium battle was going on, literally everyone was stuck with FPS between 0.8 and 5. Instead of looking into the problem, their next patch made changes in PvP that made it irrelevant to go to Ilum any longer. In other words, they avoided the problem rather than fixing it. Another thing wroth mentioning is their poorly written security key app. I have an Android phone, and the app crashes 2 or 3 times before it finally gives me a key that I can use to login. But besides that, the most funny part is that you need to sync the app with your forum account to set it up. Once you've done that you need to use the security key your app gives you to login to both the game and the forums. The thing is, I deleted the app a while ago and now I can't login to the game and forum anymore. If you think reinstalling it you're wrong. As I said earlier: you need to sync the app with your forum account. But after you did that, you need a security key to login to your forum account. Now that you removed the app, and reinstalled it, it keeps asking you for a security key if you try to login to the forum. All that you can do now is make an expensive, international phone call. There's NO other way to get it removed. I've already suggested them that they can allow you to manually remove it by answering three of your security questions, but they don't really care. That brings me to my next point:

    Garbage customer service. Tickets or e-mails are not read at all. You always find yourself getting a copy-pasted answer and in most cases it's totally not the answer you were looking for. Example: I wrote them last week telling them I can't access my ingame and forum account anymore because of the security key, and suggested them a way to let us remove it manually. The copy-pasted answer I got told me to write my suggestions on their suggestions forum, even though I specifically wrote that I CAN'T ACCESS MY FORUM ACCOUNT! Lately a lot of big producers got canned and it's awfully quiet on the forum. Many people are wondering if this game has any future, and to be honest, I don't see a future anymore for this game. It had great potential, but in the end they didn't seem to know anymore what way they wanted to go with this game. It started off rather unique with the fully-spoken quests, but in the end became a straight copy of World of Warcraft. I used to play a Warrior for years in WoW, and I felt the only difference between my Jedi Guardian and the Warrior was the lightsaber. Within a week of PvPing I already found myself to be among the best PvPers, purely because they have EXACTLY the same skills. Unfortunately I have to rate this game a 5/10. This game has nowhere near the impact that KotOR had. I wish they would've just focussed on a new KotOR instead. Hell, I would even appreciate a new KotOR on the OLD engine a lot more than this.    … Expand
  16. Pinchy
    Feb 16, 2012
    5
    Most of the budget went into voiceovers.

    Deadbeat gameplay at 50 that copies a 7 year old game design, with most of what made it good missing or broken.

    Overflowing with fanboys trying to convince you the game is only about reroling new characters over and over - but the game can only add content after 50, FAIL.
  17. Necrotaur
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    Don't think of Star Wars: The Old Republic as an MMO. It's closer to a single-player game where you have the option of playing alongside others, sort of a Knights of the Old Republic with co-op and pvp. It's very story and dialogue driven, which is refreshing, but also somewhat amusing when you spend a couple minutes talking to someone only to get a quest to kill 10 droids. In that respectDon't think of Star Wars: The Old Republic as an MMO. It's closer to a single-player game where you have the option of playing alongside others, sort of a Knights of the Old Republic with co-op and pvp. It's very story and dialogue driven, which is refreshing, but also somewhat amusing when you spend a couple minutes talking to someone only to get a quest to kill 10 droids. In that respect TOR is like most every other MMO out there - kill quests, fetch quests, 'go here, activate terminal' quests etc. etc. It's been done to death so badly even WoW is trying to avoid it, so why isn't Bioware? Graphics are bland, particularly the character models/equipment - it feels like they were pulled straight from 2003. Animations and character faces are awkward and wooden, and there is a distinct lack of racial choices. Who seriously thought 8 flavors of near-humans were a good idea? The voice acting is decent enough, but nothing particularly stellar. Gameplay is heavily instanced and jarring at times when you run into a huge red barrier that says you can't enter because you're not the appropriate class .Combat is the typical MMO button mashing affair, with a couple added twists such as actual companions with interaction (good) and the occasional starship piloting sequence (on rails - could have been better). I can't really speak about PvP in any serious depth, so perhaps that might interest you. In conclusion, SW:TOR *might* be worth a try solely for the story, but it's very doubtful it will have anything to draw you back once you finish it, which is absolutely essential for an MMO.… Expand
  18. AlienSpaceBats
    Feb 16, 2013
    5
    It's Star Wars meets World of Warcraft! Players will no doubt get more out of this game if they are 1. insane for Star Wars or 2. love MMORPGs. If that's your cup of tea, jump right in. The Old Republic has done little to convince me to stick around, however. It's not badly made, it's just bland, and throughout I wondered why time was wasted making it an MMO when an excellent single playerIt's Star Wars meets World of Warcraft! Players will no doubt get more out of this game if they are 1. insane for Star Wars or 2. love MMORPGs. If that's your cup of tea, jump right in. The Old Republic has done little to convince me to stick around, however. It's not badly made, it's just bland, and throughout I wondered why time was wasted making it an MMO when an excellent single player game could have been made. I am impressed that the player character is fully voiced (Jo Wyatt, Jennifer Hale, Grey DeLisle) and there is a conversation tree similar to the one used in BioWare's Mass Effect and Dragon Age II but the majority of game time plays out as tedious fetch quests and lengthy, unnecessary and boring point-and-click combat.… Expand
  19. krkbomb
    Jan 21, 2012
    5
    The storylines and the very low difficulty make this game a blast to play while leveling up, but once you hit 50, there is nothing much to do. Most of the endgame PvE is broken, and the PvP has a horrendous grind and is just poorly designed and dull. I would recommend it as a single-player game, to play through some characters to see the storylines, but once you hit cap you should eitherThe storylines and the very low difficulty make this game a blast to play while leveling up, but once you hit 50, there is nothing much to do. Most of the endgame PvE is broken, and the PvP has a horrendous grind and is just poorly designed and dull. I would recommend it as a single-player game, to play through some characters to see the storylines, but once you hit cap you should either roll an alt or cancel your subscription.… Expand
  20. Daisai
    Jan 16, 2012
    5
    After 1 month of playing this game and leveling a character to lvl 50 and reaching valor rank 40 i can give a proper review on the current state of the game.

    The game is a polished piece of crap. They have made some fundamental mistakes in this game that prevent any sort of proper gaming. Leveling a character to max level in a mmo is only a way to learn to play your class, the real game    After 1 month of playing this game and leveling a character to lvl 50 and reaching valor rank 40 i can give a proper review on the current state of the game.

    The game is a polished piece of crap.
    They have made some fundamental mistakes in this game that prevent any sort of proper gaming.

    Leveling a character to max level in a mmo is only a way to learn to play your class, the real game starts and should be focused on max level.
    It seems Bioware doesnt know this and has made the way to max level more fun then the content at max level.

    The community support is non-existent.
    There is no support for teams who play pvp together, for a game which is released at the end of 2011 this is unacceptable.

    Bioware has also made sure that world pvp is being prevented in many ways.
    Instancing many group quests, locking up city's and capitals from the other factions is one of the ways that Bioware used to prevent world pvp.

    Also making separate quest areas for both factions in neutral planets is also a way to prevent world pvp.

    Also placing insane npc's with huge amount of health in simple taxi areas is a other way to prevent world pvp.

    Also the netcode in the game is pathetic, playing as a melee class pvp is simply impossible.
    Server running out of sync is also something that happens alot.

    So pvp this game scores a 4.

    So much about pvp time to move on to pve.

    Pve this game is reasonable and scores about a 6, without having a proper LFG system in a game from 2011 is just something that prevents this game from getting a good score.
    Sure you can spam LFG for ages to form a group like WoW 5 years ago.
    Only games evolve over time and this game doesnt have a LFG system and this is unacceptable for a game from 2011.

    So overall, if you arent sure if you should play this game best thing to do is wait a couple of months and see how the game evolves.
    Chances are this game is going to fail if it doesnt fix its core issues.

    So if you want to buy this game or not depends on how much you want to play this game and for what.

    If you play mmo's for pvp then pass on this game, its not a pvp game without proper esport community support.

    If you play this game for end game pve content then its best to wait a few months before playing this game.

    If you play this game to carebear around leveling up alts and do nothing at level 50 then this is the game for you.    … Expand
  21. Grutzy
    Jan 13, 2012
    5
    SW:TOR is an MMO with a heavy dose of single player gaming. To me it feels like a contradiction of the genre both in scope and playability. Somewhere along the line, the development team seems to have forgotten the credo of game development, "Make it FUN." There are heaps of blatant design decisions that either don't make sense, or were just plain not thought about, such as making sure aSW:TOR is an MMO with a heavy dose of single player gaming. To me it feels like a contradiction of the genre both in scope and playability. Somewhere along the line, the development team seems to have forgotten the credo of game development, "Make it FUN." There are heaps of blatant design decisions that either don't make sense, or were just plain not thought about, such as making sure a group of friends stay in their group when entering/exiting a warzone. Despite its many flaws, the game does have some redeeming qualities.
    1) It is chalk full of Star Wars goodness
    2) It has a wide variety of play style options
    3) It caters fairly well to the casual audience

    Ultimately, I feel SW:TOR has a very large uphill battle to fight in order to retain their customer base. I feel it's fair to say that the bar has been raised to a much higher level of expectation for new titles hitting the market these days, and if that bar is not taken into consideration with what gamers expect to see in an MMO, then the battle is half lost before the title ships. There is a sever lack of PvP and End Game content for players who have maxed out their level, and there is next to no reason to replay any of the content that has already been seen.

    For all of the advancements that have been made in the genre through the many titles that have come before it, there really seems to be a lack of "Learning from other peoples mistakes" taken into account for the development of this product.

    My score of 5 I feel is fair, as the nature of the universe and the store for each class have been well done and warrant at least one play through to max level, but beyond that, don't expect too much to hold your attention unless you are a die hard Star Wars fan.    … Expand
  22. Avadon
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    A few key points from my experience in the beta and at launch: THE GOOD: - Cool voiceovers - Class stories are great for MMO standards (mediocre for single player standards but anyway) - The game is pretty stable and ping times are ok - Some of the planets are very well designed and put a smile on your face. THE BAD: - Terrible engine is as heavy as Witcher 2 but looks like WoW withoutA few key points from my experience in the beta and at launch: THE GOOD: - Cool voiceovers - Class stories are great for MMO standards (mediocre for single player standards but anyway) - The game is pretty stable and ping times are ok - Some of the planets are very well designed and put a smile on your face. THE BAD: - Terrible engine is as heavy as Witcher 2 but looks like WoW without antialiasing. It also dislikes more than a couple players on screen at the same time, which is not great for an MMO - Long queues to play - Heavily instanced and phased, which hurts the MMO part - Laughable "space combat" - Refuses to break the mold that WoW set, instead follows it to the letter - Combat system is disappointing, one would expect action-style combat in a game with lightsabers and rifles, but no, they might as well be shadowbolts - PvP needs a few years of class tweaking before it can be taken even remotely seriously - No endgame content. As Warhammer and AoC showed pretty clearly, any MMO that ships without lots of endgame content under the mentality of "we'll just focus on the leveling for now and add that later" will simply bomb regardless of launch sales, because noone will sub after their month is over. Catastrophic mistake by Bioware. In general, if you have a month with lots of free time, this is a game worth buying, you will get your money's worth, but it is certainly not worth suscribing to. Play your month and check back in a year or two, if it still exists, for some endgame. Shame.… Expand
  23. lalaland4
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    This game is mediocre at best. The first turn off was the horrible character creation and how little you can customize appearance. Next was the horrible graphics. My PC can run most of the latest games on high settings and I can barely run this game on low without shadows. And it's not like state of the art graphics by any means, just a bad engine. The interface is pretty good but isThis game is mediocre at best. The first turn off was the horrible character creation and how little you can customize appearance. Next was the horrible graphics. My PC can run most of the latest games on high settings and I can barely run this game on low without shadows. And it's not like state of the art graphics by any means, just a bad engine. The interface is pretty good but is pretty much like WoW with a star wars skin. Also there is nothing innovative for an MMO in this game at all besides the addition of voice acting which isnt that great its just like a quest giver reading off the objectives to you and gets annoying very fast. For the "most expensive game ever made" it is pretty average and I don't see it having a lasting community or following. It is definitely not a "WoW killer" and is absolutely not worth paying $15 bucks a month. Needs major improvements.… Expand
  24. Allions
    May 4, 2012
    5
    My first review was: "This is a fantastic MMO in my opinion. The game mechanics are the same of many others with some new things. Of course is very similar to Ultima Online and in particular to World of Warcraft BUT: 1) it's Star Wars. If you're a fan you must buy this game. 2) There are some new stuff, like companion, story class questline, voice acting for every quest, light/dark side 3)My first review was: "This is a fantastic MMO in my opinion. The game mechanics are the same of many others with some new things. Of course is very similar to Ultima Online and in particular to World of Warcraft BUT: 1) it's Star Wars. If you're a fan you must buy this game. 2) There are some new stuff, like companion, story class questline, voice acting for every quest, light/dark side 3) Nice graphics for an MMO I played wow so much but i think this is a better game for who like the wow style MMO. 4) Non all grinding quest system"
    After a month of playing, i drop my score down to 8. It's good but it's just another wow style MMO. The plot and the quest are nice... but it takes too long toi grind the levels! And many quests after the 30 level are annoing. Not worth 14â    … Expand
  25. Razor464
    Jan 8, 2012
    5
    If it wasnt for the star wars license this game would be a major major flop. In my opinion it still will be it will just take a little longer. How a game can go from a smooth running beta to a broken retail client is beyond me. Forget the fact that this is just a bog standard rehash of any mmo you have ever played but with voice acting the main problems lie underneath.

    The engine is very    If it wasnt for the star wars license this game would be a major major flop. In my opinion it still will be it will just take a little longer. How a game can go from a smooth running beta to a broken retail client is beyond me. Forget the fact that this is just a bog standard rehash of any mmo you have ever played but with voice acting the main problems lie underneath.

    The engine is very very poor. i have a hi end rig that blows BF3 out of the water on ultra and my fps in this game is horrific. Bioware fails to acknowledge this even after page after page of forum posts highlighting the issue. There is no AA (really its 2012 not 2001), Textures are crappy and low res. Customer service is non existent and clueless about their own game. Its overrated tosh and i expected more from bioware. It seems like when they got in bed with EA they dropped the ball completely. And dont get me started on how much it is to buy...    … Expand
  26. ColdestForever
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    My SWTOR experience has been limited to a few months of beta testing; My last experience with TOR had been in the beta weekends spanning from September to October. Although SWTOR does offer something new to the MMORPG genre it hardly offers any innovation. SWTOR essentially utilizes the same old stale MMORPG formula that we've all grown to love and loath. The cutscenes did not add much toMy SWTOR experience has been limited to a few months of beta testing; My last experience with TOR had been in the beta weekends spanning from September to October. Although SWTOR does offer something new to the MMORPG genre it hardly offers any innovation. SWTOR essentially utilizes the same old stale MMORPG formula that we've all grown to love and loath. The cutscenes did not add much to immersion and seemed like a novelty at best. As SWTOR hardly offers anything new to genre, aside from another Star Wars title to replace SWG, I've decided to opt-out and hope for something better in the future.… Expand
  27. MrWhiggy
    Jan 8, 2012
    5
    If you like Star Wars and MMO's, get this game. If you just want a new MMO to play, don't get this game. This is your typical, mediocre MMO mixed with the Star Wars Universe. That's not to say this game isn't enjoyable, it just loses it's freshness quite quickly.
  28. vandana
    May 3, 2012
    5
    Now that nearly 6 months passed and I experienced all that SWTOR has to offer I can repeat a phrase that so often comes up when people review SWTOR: "I really wanted to love this game". That's because I was excited for Star Wars MMO and the game launched with much success and made a great first impression fuelled by amazing, fully voice-overed questing experience which made even "kill 10Now that nearly 6 months passed and I experienced all that SWTOR has to offer I can repeat a phrase that so often comes up when people review SWTOR: "I really wanted to love this game". That's because I was excited for Star Wars MMO and the game launched with much success and made a great first impression fuelled by amazing, fully voice-overed questing experience which made even "kill 10 boars" quests interesting and adding emotional touch to them. It also seemed that the game had all the ingredients for success: proven developer, big budget, legendary IP (setting) and plenty of time for development. The developers were not pioneering and could have learned from the experience of others. Only they didn't. The money was spent on marketing, voice-acting production and (I guess) IP rights. The proven developer turned out to have absolutely no experience in MMO. The learning from mistakes of others turned to copying from World of Warcraft in a state it was when the development of SWTOR started 5 or so years ago - it seems like they stopped in time at that moment and didn't move forward, sometimes going backwards (archaic talent system, no swimming, no real world PvP due to design decisions - just to name a few examples). Since the money was not spent primarily on the technical development itself Bioware adapted a "do it yourself", cheap, licensed engine to create the game which to this day results in lags and low fps even on more modern computers due to lack of optimization. That already resulted in a fiasco of removal of world PvP zone from the game which simply was not working for majority of people. As its stands today most embarrassing bugs have been fixed, the difficulty of PvE endgame content is improving, rated Warzones are coming and things start to look better. There is a potential for positive changes - as a Star Wars fan and passionate computer gamer in my 30s I especially look forward to space combat (I won't even start on the current one) which is on the devs' table. Currently, I give this game a 5. The only reason I am still playing it is my guild and friends I brought and made in the game. I still want to love this game only I donâ… Expand
  29. ABNMP
    Feb 4, 2012
    5
    A vanilla game. You can get similar game play from a "free to play" title. In no way, shape, or form is this worth a monthly subscription. If you haven't been gaming on a PC since 1986, and this is your first foray into the genre, you will probably tolerate it.
  30. Mozu
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    Rethinking my earlier review somewhat, I think a two is a bit harsh. A five is more in line with what you should expect from TOR. Mediocrity. It is simply a clunky WoW clone (in space!), with instanced zones, "romances", and tons of voice acting. I genuinely wanted to like this game, and for it to actually be the "WoW-killer". Instead we got a mediocre single-player game with MMORethinking my earlier review somewhat, I think a two is a bit harsh. A five is more in line with what you should expect from TOR. Mediocrity. It is simply a clunky WoW clone (in space!), with instanced zones, "romances", and tons of voice acting. I genuinely wanted to like this game, and for it to actually be the "WoW-killer". Instead we got a mediocre single-player game with MMO features that feel tacked on somehow. There's not much I can say that other reviewers haven't pointed out already. Bioware and EA took an IP with a ton of weight behind it, and a rabid fan base, and instead of making something that could've been huge and game-changing, as far as the MMO genre goes, they played it safe and lazy, frittering away time and absurd amounts of money, deciding that a WoW clone would be the easiest way to cash in on both the IP and the sense of familiarity that comes with being yet another WoW-wannabe. The only reason that I'm giving the game a 2 and and not a 1 is that the music really is excellent. My suspicion is that many of the 10s on here are either blind followers of all things Bioware, trolls, or shills for Bioware hiding behind false identities (which has happened before).… Expand
  31. Disgust
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    I had high hopes for TOR... I was an avid fan... until I got to play it. The only word worth describing it with is Mediocrity. Nothing new gameplay wise... copy pasted gameplay from World of Warcraft... terrible PvP balance...the absolutely most stagnant world ever created for an MMO and horrible repeatable combat.
    So much money spent on development just to copy what we've already played    I had high hopes for TOR... I was an avid fan... until I got to play it. The only word worth describing it with is Mediocrity. Nothing new gameplay wise... copy pasted gameplay from World of Warcraft... terrible PvP balance...the absolutely most stagnant world ever created for an MMO and horrible repeatable combat.
    So much money spent on development just to copy what we've already played hundreds of times.
    By supporting this product you support the cloning of gameplay. Buy it if you enjoy WoW style MMOs but don't complain when there's no other titles that could provide you with alternate gameplay.

    and No... the voice over does not make up for all it's flaws. It's nice in the beggining but gets tiring very very fast...you have a nice conversation with an NPC only to get the typical "go kill 10 x" quests...    … Expand
  32. HunterZolomon
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    The Old Republic is not a horrible game. It's just so mind-numbingly mediocre, average, bland. Bioware is one of the finest gaming companies on the planet with a proven track record. How could they release a game that not only feels unfinished in some areas, but also a game that disappoints you from the start?

    Character creation is a joke. There are only identical humanoid species    The Old Republic is not a horrible game. It's just so mind-numbingly mediocre, average, bland. Bioware is one of the finest gaming companies on the planet with a proven track record. How could they release a game that not only feels unfinished in some areas, but also a game that disappoints you from the start?

    Character creation is a joke. There are only identical humanoid species available, same body, different skin. I was expecting at least a few alien species in addition to much more customization. The Star Wars universe is so rich with alien beings, why settle for virtually unknown "races" that all look the same? Questing, boring. Combat, boring. Bland, boring environments, graphics and animation. Horrible UI, no really, you can't even scale it. No surprises whatsoever, nothing grabs your attention. It's a derivative, cookie-cutter mmo if I ever saw one. It should have been released 5-6 years ago.

    The ONLY thing that sticks out as good are some of the storylines and voice acting is really good. True to form, Bioware delivers on that count. But it simply doesn't blend well with the traditional mmo parts. The quests feel detached from the storyline.    … Expand
  33. Egomaniacal
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    The MMORPG is one of the most stagnant genres in gaming. New features usually revolve around social or aesthetic elements rather than trying to alter game play. The Old Republic falls victim to this as well. While it's interesting on your personal quests to hear dialogue, the generic quests you run into while you race towards the level cap are entirely unnecessary. They tend to bog downThe MMORPG is one of the most stagnant genres in gaming. New features usually revolve around social or aesthetic elements rather than trying to alter game play. The Old Republic falls victim to this as well. While it's interesting on your personal quests to hear dialogue, the generic quests you run into while you race towards the level cap are entirely unnecessary. They tend to bog down progression and quickly become a nuisance rather than a treasured feature.

    The claim of being a hero in a game full of heroes was never a great premise; you end up doing what you do in every other MMO: fighting a gigantic boss with other people. That's fine. That's what you're supposed to do -- play an MMO with people. The focus on your character and your character alone doesn't work with such a large crowd. Stunted animations, boring looking gear, oddly balanced PvP brackets and of course a community that seems to want to be the immovable object in regards to shortcomings and you have a game that feels entirely sophomoric.

    If you were looking for something exciting and refreshing, this isn't the title for you. If you were looking for a quality MMO to leave Rift or World of Warcraft for, give The Old Republic a few months or better yet.. don't.    … Expand
  34. Littlebomb
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    The best word to describe this game is mediocre. They straight copied WOW and spent way too much money on boring Voice Overs. I wasn't interested in why Timmy the NPC needed 6 bundles of wood and I most certainly don't want to listen to 5 minutes of why he needs bundles of wood.

    Also the corridor's are crazy. I spend so much time running. The game is mostly empty space. Even the mobs    The best word to describe this game is mediocre. They straight copied WOW and spent way too much money on boring Voice Overs. I wasn't interested in why Timmy the NPC needed 6 bundles of wood and I most certainly don't want to listen to 5 minutes of why he needs bundles of wood.

    Also the corridor's are crazy. I spend so much time running. The game is mostly empty space. Even the mobs hardly move at all. The wolrd feels very dead. The cities are even phased so you don't have the feeling of a mmo.

    Really it bums me out because I want ot like this game.

    I do enjoy the pvp though and the class design though they need duel spec ASAP. (tons of features missing that are very basic like chat bubbles)    … Expand
  35. GrayGhost79
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    First off no this isn't something completely new and different. This is a theme park MMO, though it is a fairly polished MMO. Whats refreshing is the voice overs, the scifi setting and the SW IP. What SWToR is, simply put, is well done. I don't need to combat a myriad of bugs and exploits to try and gleam some enjoyment out of the game. It's a lot more fun than many MMO's that have comeFirst off no this isn't something completely new and different. This is a theme park MMO, though it is a fairly polished MMO. Whats refreshing is the voice overs, the scifi setting and the SW IP. What SWToR is, simply put, is well done. I don't need to combat a myriad of bugs and exploits to try and gleam some enjoyment out of the game. It's a lot more fun than many MMO's that have come out lately, but it's not an extremely long game if you just start baging out quests. Me, I've been treating it like a sandbox to an extent. I'm going out exploring and filling my coffers and getting levels in the mean time. When I get bored with an area I'll turn in the quests and start in a new place. SWToR is simply a refined theme park MMO. Nothing massively innovative, but it is highly polished and it's built upon a lot of the core mechanics traditional MMO's have used. When you combined that with the scifi setting and the SW IP well you have something that's fun and will only get better with time. When taking a look at a lot of these reviews here about SWToR please keep a couple of things in mind. 1) Anyone saying this is Torcraft of a WoW clone should instantly be ignored. What TOR is, is a theme park MMO so yes it will share many mechanics and features with WoW just like WoW does with EQ, EQ2, Rift, Aion, etc. etc. etc. This isn't cloning, this is simply whats been standard themepark since before WoW. TOR has as much in common with WoW as it does LoTRO or SWG (Post NGE). 2) Be wary of the SWG fans, SWG just shut down with the launch of TOR and many fans of SWG are extremely jaded and looking for someone or something to blame other than an aging game that had little to moderate appeal at it's prime. If your on the fence about SWTOR simply wait for a free trial or wait for actual reviewers to review the game as many people with their own agenda's are out in full force with the launch of TOR.… Expand
  36. Synner
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    I give this game a "5" simply because it REALLY is a middle of the road game. It's not "bad" ... it's not "good. It's just... meh. If this game were released under any other IP than Star Wars I wouldn't even consider playing it. PvP is boring and undynamic... PvE is formulaic.... the story is interesting but that's about all the game has going for it. Once the story is over I don't seeI give this game a "5" simply because it REALLY is a middle of the road game. It's not "bad" ... it's not "good. It's just... meh. If this game were released under any other IP than Star Wars I wouldn't even consider playing it. PvP is boring and undynamic... PvE is formulaic.... the story is interesting but that's about all the game has going for it. Once the story is over I don't see myself staying.… Expand
  37. CashewsOfChaos
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    You got your Single Player RPG in my MMORPG! Unfortunately these two great genres don't necessarily taste good together. I'll admit I'm biased because I have a lot of good memories of the late Star Wars Galaxies. Before the infamous"New Game Enhancements" SWG was a very bold MMO and in my opinion was far superior than the competition including WOW. When SWG was at its peak guilds wereYou got your Single Player RPG in my MMORPG! Unfortunately these two great genres don't necessarily taste good together. I'll admit I'm biased because I have a lot of good memories of the late Star Wars Galaxies. Before the infamous"New Game Enhancements" SWG was a very bold MMO and in my opinion was far superior than the competition including WOW. When SWG was at its peak guilds were building their own cities, there was a complex economy, and the game tried its best to give guild politics some civility in the form of elections. Star Wars Galaxies delivered in its name, it allowed players to influence the world(s) around them. Now we have Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game that focuses in delivering a Single Player Experience, but unfortunately the MMO is sadly neglected. The game is functional, I can see why many people will enjoy it. But it lacks ambition. The "Single Player" stories for each class are good with great Voice Acting, the actual goals for each quest are not too memorable but that's a trapping that every MMO has suffered so it's forgivable. But the end game, it's what you've experienced in so many MMORPGs and its just by the numbers. There's not much I can really say about it other than that you've played it in many MMOs. I imagine that Bioware will be adding a lot to the end game in coming months but with the way many MMOs (including EA's Warhammer Online) just crap out after they launch I'll be cautiously optimistic. At this stage I wouldn't recommend buying The Old Republic. Bioware needs to get out of their comfort zone, people don't play MMOs to watch stories. They play MMOs so they can create their own stories.… Expand
  38. requiamer
    Dec 21, 2011
    5
    Medium quality game. The Bioware touch is nice, but not to the point they could avoid a better work on the gameplay. The polish is nice, but only because usually mmo are buggy mess, some people praise the polish of this game, but i found it pretty medium. Finally i never felt as playing a star war game, but as playing a mmo with a star war skin, this alone deserve a negative review, butMedium quality game. The Bioware touch is nice, but not to the point they could avoid a better work on the gameplay. The polish is nice, but only because usually mmo are buggy mess, some people praise the polish of this game, but i found it pretty medium. Finally i never felt as playing a star war game, but as playing a mmo with a star war skin, this alone deserve a negative review, but i'll keep my rating at 5.… Expand
  39. Uachet
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    SWTOR is a very mediocre offering that who's only claim to fame is a voice overs. The mechanics of the game are dated, the graphics are dated and glitchy, and the world itself seems to be tomb-like. Let me explain more on why the world seems like a tomb. Though you may see an indicator stating there are over 100 people in your particular area, for some amazing reason you only really everSWTOR is a very mediocre offering that who's only claim to fame is a voice overs. The mechanics of the game are dated, the graphics are dated and glitchy, and the world itself seems to be tomb-like. Let me explain more on why the world seems like a tomb. Though you may see an indicator stating there are over 100 people in your particular area, for some amazing reason you only really ever see about 5 to 10 other people. Also the worlds lack any fauna and talkative npcs outside of quest givers. It also lacks a day and night cycle, so depending on the planet you are on it is always day or always night (I felt no feeling of a passage of time).

    Anyhow, the developers seemed to have squandered there budget on voice talent (which is pretty good in some instances and poor in others). It is unfortunate for me that the most expensive online game created yet, is also the most shallow one I've experienced. This offering truly feels like a quick cash grab, instead of an attempt to make a game that is lasting.    … Expand
  40. donkeycum
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    It feels very unpolished. Ill consider trying ti again in 6-12 months, hopefully its been patched and polished a little more by then.
    It doesnt feel innovative and in fact feels like a clone of WoW minus the 10 years of polish.
  41. Raygun
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    Guess most of 0 point reviews are just really big disappointment "venting". My thoughts are they made mistake of using Hero Engine. Google it and check wikipedia, watch youtube videos too (Faxion Online, Hero's Journey) and see similarities. You cannot do major mmorgp with "Game maker XIV". Of course you can, but certain game engines have a limitations and those limitations are well seenGuess most of 0 point reviews are just really big disappointment "venting". My thoughts are they made mistake of using Hero Engine. Google it and check wikipedia, watch youtube videos too (Faxion Online, Hero's Journey) and see similarities. You cannot do major mmorgp with "Game maker XIV". Of course you can, but certain game engines have a limitations and those limitations are well seen in swotor. Although Bioware has it's usual strong points. Storyline, Music and Dialog voices, but it really falls short of game play. Try it...you yet maybe get kick out of it, but don't except too much. You will be disappointed.
    I predict this game will be a subscription free or f2p sometime end of the next year or two.    … Expand
  42. Stormie
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    Competently executed, but completely lacking in innovation, this is really a 2005 MMORPG launched six years too late. Mechanics are largely copied from WoW, which is not uncommon, but really doesn't work to well in a sci-fi/space opera style of game. The unique selling point is the voice-acted storyline, but I didn't find the story to be significantly above other MMOs in quality, and feltCompetently executed, but completely lacking in innovation, this is really a 2005 MMORPG launched six years too late. Mechanics are largely copied from WoW, which is not uncommon, but really doesn't work to well in a sci-fi/space opera style of game. The unique selling point is the voice-acted storyline, but I didn't find the story to be significantly above other MMOs in quality, and felt that the voice acting was rather poor - half of the voice work was stilted and wooden, the other half was "zany" and over the top. And none of the conversations felt anything like conversations, they just felt like two voice actors reading from a script. Hugely disappointing, especially when the game really has nothing else going for it that isn't already provided by WoW, LOTRO, EQ2, Rift, and other such games of this style.… Expand
  43. Cixi
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    This is an overrated game imo. The world ain't really "open", it's just a bunch of planets with linear quests that's placed so u can do them in a linear sequence. There is never really any soul to the maps either, I seriously can't see me going back to an earlier explored place when I been there once. And as people keep on saying, the combat mechanics is just exactly what u expected if uThis is an overrated game imo. The world ain't really "open", it's just a bunch of planets with linear quests that's placed so u can do them in a linear sequence. There is never really any soul to the maps either, I seriously can't see me going back to an earlier explored place when I been there once. And as people keep on saying, the combat mechanics is just exactly what u expected if u played any other mainstream mmo. The character creation doesn't leave any chance for chars that actually differ from another char, except in body size. Like who wouldn't like to have at least have an small alien option and a big alien option, its the Star wars universe ffs, the possibilities was limitless but still BW/EA chose options that all are human-like in every single way.

    But with this said, I like to say that I understand why some people like it, but I also understand why people don't like it. And if the game is given some time, BW might actually fix a lot of downsides with very interesting endgame content.    … Expand
  44. EndOfRine
    Dec 22, 2011
    5
    I miss the days when reviews weren't paid for by the publisher of the game being reviewed. This game has some good points, to be sure, but any knucklehead giving it an 8-10 is deluding themselves, or flat out trolling. Personally, I didn't enjoy the game, as it was way, way, way too similar to WoW, but if that's your thing, more power to ya, but PLEASE don't try and obfuscate the factI miss the days when reviews weren't paid for by the publisher of the game being reviewed. This game has some good points, to be sure, but any knucklehead giving it an 8-10 is deluding themselves, or flat out trolling. Personally, I didn't enjoy the game, as it was way, way, way too similar to WoW, but if that's your thing, more power to ya, but PLEASE don't try and obfuscate the fact that it IS a WoW clone, and they STATED that straying from the WoW formula was bad business.… Expand
  45. Sov
    Dec 26, 2011
    5
    If it wasn't for the IP or developer name attached to it this would have garnered very little attention. It is incredibly stale and formulaic while missing out on many opportunities to do something fresh. In many ways it feels like a lobby with many tacked on mini-games and instances to try and keep you riding the theme park or "break things up" as they say. It really offers nothing to aIf it wasn't for the IP or developer name attached to it this would have garnered very little attention. It is incredibly stale and formulaic while missing out on many opportunities to do something fresh. In many ways it feels like a lobby with many tacked on mini-games and instances to try and keep you riding the theme park or "break things up" as they say. It really offers nothing to a seasoned MMO gamer and while playing you might find yourself asking, "Where did all the money go?"… Expand
  46. R_O360
    Dec 26, 2011
    5
    It is no secret at this point that Star Wars: The Old Republic is a traditional MMORPG, much like Everquest and it's astoundingly popular predecessor World of Warcraft. SWTOR plays it safe and literally uses almost the entire basic formula of these traditional MMOs with little too no innovation or inspiration. But I think we all know the question is, does it work? I mean, if it ain'tIt is no secret at this point that Star Wars: The Old Republic is a traditional MMORPG, much like Everquest and it's astoundingly popular predecessor World of Warcraft. SWTOR plays it safe and literally uses almost the entire basic formula of these traditional MMOs with little too no innovation or inspiration. But I think we all know the question is, does it work? I mean, if it ain't broken don't fix it right?

    Nope...sorry, that is very, very wrong. One of the main issues with SWTOR is the fact that it is a game completely based on a gimmick, and that gimmick is "the story driven MMO". I hate to break to all potential players, but it is not a revolutionary shift in the genre.    … Expand
  47. Sptiz257
    Dec 28, 2011
    5
    Just wasn't the game I was expecting. I was expecting something to totally blow me away and instead it just reminded me of other MMO's and video games of the past. Very overpriced game Character creation is almost as basic as World of Warcraft. Quests where the same boring stuff we have done in most MMO's for the past 8 years. If your new to games then this will be a hit, but if yourJust wasn't the game I was expecting. I was expecting something to totally blow me away and instead it just reminded me of other MMO's and video games of the past. Very overpriced game Character creation is almost as basic as World of Warcraft. Quests where the same boring stuff we have done in most MMO's for the past 8 years. If your new to games then this will be a hit, but if your a seasoned gamer then you will probably find this game some what boring. Of course this is my own opinion and I would atleast give the game a shot when theres a free trial to see if you like it.… Expand
  48. LilSaihah
    Dec 28, 2011
    5
    A fairly mediocre entry. The game puts forward some good ideas, but it's weighed very heavily down by frustrating bugs, unpolished features, downright backwards design in places, and Bioware being seemingly incapable of telling stories through subtleties.
  49. Chickensalad
    Dec 31, 2011
    5
    Another mediocre MMORPG. The only thing innovative about this one is the voice acting, which, personally, I don't care about at all. Hearing someone tell me I need to "kill 10 of x" isn't anymore immersive to me than reading it. SWTOR is basically WoW with lightsabers, except with less features. No LFG tool, bad UI (Even FFXIV lets you move around and resize the things on your screen),Another mediocre MMORPG. The only thing innovative about this one is the voice acting, which, personally, I don't care about at all. Hearing someone tell me I need to "kill 10 of x" isn't anymore immersive to me than reading it. SWTOR is basically WoW with lightsabers, except with less features. No LFG tool, bad UI (Even FFXIV lets you move around and resize the things on your screen), no combat log, etc. The planets are sharded so even on a high population server you may see only a handful of people around you at once. As MMOs continue to steadily evolve into glorified lobby games, I have to question why we are still being charged $15 a month for them.

    BioWare played it too safe with this game, choosing stick with the generic WoW-ish formula instead of trying new things. While not a terrible, it is incredibly average and simply feels outdated, as if it should have been released 4-5 years ago. If you have a hard on for Star Wars or Bioware you might like it, but otherwise it's probably best to pass on it until they release a free trial.    … Expand
  50. sobaka770
    Jan 3, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a short version of the review posted on Gamespot Sobaka770. (character limit)

    BOREDOM. This is a feeling that trumps all the talk about the good points of the game. If there's one thing that Bioware does well, it's the story writing and dialogue. In such a huge game as TOR is, there are bound to be the highs and lows in everything but in ensemble the whole of the writing is a solid A and another solid A for voice acting. I see why people would enjoy this game especially during the initial levels when the skills come fast, the quest chain quickly and the main storyline is developing at a frenetic pace. And then there are the 20-s and the 30-s, the levels (out of 50 by the way) when things tend to slow down in MMORPGs and when my love for this game vanished and the veil was torn off my face. This is the time when you start to really loathe the fact that the gameplay mechanics are duplicating those from World of Warcraft (and there can be no discussion on this front) and even more so, there's no improvement whatsoever over them in any way. This is more than playing it safe, this is blatant copying. I guess there's no patent for gameplay mechanics but running the fetch quests and kill the mobs quests was the trademark of vanilla WoW and this game cannot be compared to vanilla WoW. The market just doesn't work like that. Sure the original World of Warcraft had just one raid and several instances and bugs, but at the same time everyone seems to forget that it was innovative in so many areas. It had quite a quick leveling structure , accessible mechanics, and it was streamlined for mass market. Never before crafting, questing, dungeon-running was so simple and attractive. TOR 2011 is neither more accessible, neither more innovative and neither more fun than any other game on this market. There's a lot to be said for main storyline and "gripping" fully-voiced quests. Unfortunatlely, from my point of view, those are not an essential element of the game. I had no problem with reading quest plots before, and fully voiced quest givers while cool initially started to wear out their welcome also towards level 20. As of now things work like this: there's a quest hub with around 5 (more or less) quest-givers. You spend half an hour just talking to them all and then you get 5 generic quests in your log all for the same zone and unless you're particularly invested in the storylines or just very attentive you might remember the reason behind killing the particular mobs on this level. As of now let me just say that I'm yet to see one quest that would break the monotony of mindless slaughter. Sure you can say that Space combat is cool. But it's not tied into any storyline and frankly on the 3d mission the space combat gets boring. PvP is accessible since level 10, and while there are no brackets. the stats scale as to match people in terms of health at least. To Bioware's credit, with proper class balance and maybe some tactics, this can be actually salvaged.
    What can't be salvaged though is the dullness that is the graphic component of the game. This is yet another example of "realistic" brown-gray filter art that makes all the locations look bland. It looks like the best animators and artist were drafted to the ME3 team. Add to it the world which is splintered into subzones and the feeling of the immersion is somehow lost. You can see the effort on the part of the team, in the art-deco style of Coruscant and the ship designs, but once again the spark is missing. The zones are empty and filled up with artificial people you can't even interact with. A good example is the Senate of Coruscant which looks good from afar but you can't walk around it, you can't even climb anywhere around it, therefore the structure looks like a painting. What is worse is when you enter the senate you get the main hall (good) and corridors on each side with same architecture separated as there's only a unique class able to access certain areas. That's not how a cohesive world is created! And here is the main problem with the game. It was not designed as a multiplayer game world from the start. Overall, this is not a good continuation of Kotor. The atmosphere is still there among the plotlines but the feel is certainly not the same. There's a distinct lack of polish (mentioned before unclickable NPCs, empty locations, several simple chat, group and UI functions not available). Compare this not to WoW but to KOTOR the first where you can't go to cantina in Sith uniform on Taris to see what I mean by polish and attention to detail. I only recommend it if you're a die-hard fan of Star Wars, but the KOTOR players will probably be disappointed. At this point even the Mass Effect universe is overall a better crafted and genuinely interesting world compared to the one of TOR limited due to the licensing. If you're new to MMOs , WoW is a better package and I honestly can't recommend this game over it.    … Expand
  51. Shinywalrus
    Jan 4, 2012
    5
    Star Wars: The Old Republic is a bit bi-polar. As with many long-in-development games, it has a terrific amount of polish and plays quite smoothly, but it also feels very specifically engineered to be marketable to a certain market segment: players of World of Warcraft. That is a bit unfair, of course. The truth is that it is two games in one, which is why I don't completely understand theStar Wars: The Old Republic is a bit bi-polar. As with many long-in-development games, it has a terrific amount of polish and plays quite smoothly, but it also feels very specifically engineered to be marketable to a certain market segment: players of World of Warcraft. That is a bit unfair, of course. The truth is that it is two games in one, which is why I don't completely understand the reviews that insist upon giving TOR a "0." One of these games is a slightly slimmed down but generally entertaining third part to the generally well-received Knights of the Old Republic single player games. There are eight reasonably well developed, interesting and thoughtful single player plotlines in TOR to follow with a good bit of foresight, occasional difficulty and all too rare instances of player choice. These alone make this game worthwhile for a good group of Star Wars fans, if not the miracle that everyone was hoping for. The MMO components feel, rather unfortunately, tacked on to the single player component in an unwieldy way. Combat gameplay is simplistic and lacks any inventive mechanics. Player skill as a deciding factor in either difficult PvE or PvP interaction is minimal. Numbers and equipment are back to being the absolute dominating factor. The cartoony graphics, the repackaged magic skills and the marginal class differences between factions make the MMO component of this game feel like little more than World of Warcraft with Lightsabers. Your character will likely not feel different from anyone else's like it would have in EQ. You will likely not become attached to a particular part of the world, a particular city like in SWG. You will not likely feel any faction pride like you would have in DAOC. The strong opinions here give testament to that. Those who enjoy the simple, waypoints-for-everything, slick presentation, easy to step into game with very little differentiation like WoW will likely love this as a bit of change of pace. Those who were hoping for a genre-changer, a game that would take Star Wars Galaxies and expand it, fix its broken mechanics but keep the open feel, the control over the world and the broad fear of exploration that was what made MMOs popular in the first place (EQ)...well, those people are very disappointed indeed. It is average, but that's just the midpoint. If you love WoW and lightsabers, you will adore this game. If you liked KOTOR and aren't expecting anything grandiose here, you'll find it an adequate use of a couple weekends and a worthy purchase. If you were expecting the Next Great Game, you will abhor everything about it.… Expand
  52. tttsssrrr1
    Jan 6, 2012
    5
    This is about as much time, money and effort as you can put into a game and still have it come out average. Underneath the veneer of storyline and the glossy Star Wars theme lies what will strike anyone as instantly familiar. This isn't always a bad thing, but in the case of Star Wars, it is. I just don't think many people wanted a Star Wars game that felt like Warhammer Online, butThis is about as much time, money and effort as you can put into a game and still have it come out average. Underneath the veneer of storyline and the glossy Star Wars theme lies what will strike anyone as instantly familiar. This isn't always a bad thing, but in the case of Star Wars, it is. I just don't think many people wanted a Star Wars game that felt like Warhammer Online, but that's what we ended up with.

    The PvP in this game is bad. The best solution they could come up with for healers is to put a 30% healing debuff to all PvP based combat. The actual combat is clunky and unresponsive. Stopping and starting movement is not registered and communicated crisply. Every class has a plethora of crowd control abilities, roots, and interrupts that will make the briefly entertaining PvP warzones into a mind numbing, headache inducing experience in even the best of circumstances.

    End game feels like a chore. The dailies are not entertaining. The heroics are too easy. PvP victory is determined by levels, team comp and gear. Skill in this game is based more off of understanding how your class works and targeting the right enemy and there is not really a lot of room for stellar individual play.

    I did not find the storytelling to be interesting. I just hope that I can enjoy Mass Effect 3 after being subjected to SW:TOR's abuse of BioWare's storytelling mechanic. In fact, once you get to end game, and you have to go through daily quests and daily flashpoints and you see that same story over and over again... you can't tap that spacebar quick enough.

    The talent trees are pretty much the standard "This is how you'll build and you'll get 1 or 2 discretionary points to waste at the end" that WoW is trying to move away from. Stats are already very inflated... SW:TOR is going for short term success by hitting the MMO sweet spot way too early. My level 50 has a 32% crit chance without any raiding. The mirrored classes don't really feel successful. The two faction system is so tired and boring. It basically forced them to come up with some pretty cheap gimmicks trying to come up with enough content for 8 individual stories spread out across 50 levels of content and two different factions. The talent on this game feels like it was spread out way too thin.

    If you buy it, you'll play it and you'll like it for a little bit, but that feeling you get when you are playing a solid and exciting MMO title won't last long, and in the end, this game is going to feel very transitory. If you are burned out on the standard MMO formula pioneered by WoW, there is not a lot going on here that is going to rekindle your interest in the genre.

    Even in World of Warcraft, you'd put in the effort to gear up because you know the next grand challenge is just around the corner, but what grand challenge does the Star Wars universe really offer that is so exciting to look forward to? The story before and after this little slice of time is already told. It's nice to be apart of something big, but the Star Wars universe is so big, you get lost in it. In the end, I just don't think this was a good way to design a Star Wars MMO and it sounds like a lot of people agree with this feeling.    … Expand
  53. marinara
    Jan 8, 2012
    5
    Fun single player game with some mmo co-op online. TONS of bugs, bio ware should be ashamed of the shoddy work on this. Virtually every feature has development flaws, gfx error at random intervals, sorting items, skills in lists doesnt work, gear compare only works on main not on companions, no addon support.
    If you want a new knights of the old republic with some mmo aspects and a TON of    Fun single player game with some mmo co-op online. TONS of bugs, bio ware should be ashamed of the shoddy work on this. Virtually every feature has development flaws, gfx error at random intervals, sorting items, skills in lists doesnt work, gear compare only works on main not on companions, no addon support.
    If you want a new knights of the old republic with some mmo aspects and a TON of bugs, this game is fore you.    … Expand
  54. Hamziz
    Jan 11, 2012
    5
    A passable attempt at an MMO, but nothing all that special, either. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they intend on squashing bugs and adding content as the months pass, but until then, I would recommend that any prospective players do the same - pass.
  55. greywolf00
    Jan 12, 2012
    5
    Think single player game with on okay story and a monthly subscription. If you weren't an altolic in WoW this game provides limited replayability, no more than 10 or 15% of the quests are class specific and the stories aren't amazing. As far as MMOs go, as much as it pains me to say it, WoW does everything better. Once you hit 50 there is no more story. PvP is basic and more generic thanThink single player game with on okay story and a monthly subscription. If you weren't an altolic in WoW this game provides limited replayability, no more than 10 or 15% of the quests are class specific and the stories aren't amazing. As far as MMOs go, as much as it pains me to say it, WoW does everything better. Once you hit 50 there is no more story. PvP is basic and more generic than WoW. It boils down to the normal PvP / Raid gear grind that has driven so many of us away from WoW but in a much less polished and much less original wrapping.… Expand
  56. Amorphous_Blob
    Feb 8, 2012
    5
    I got this game when it came and i'm already bored of it. I feel i've done everything there is to do at level 38 and i don't see the need to grind to 50 to get a couple of extra powers and see another couple of lifeless worlds. During development Bioware raved about how the story would make this game better than other MMOs, and it would, were the story remotely engaging. I'm worried thatI got this game when it came and i'm already bored of it. I feel i've done everything there is to do at level 38 and i don't see the need to grind to 50 to get a couple of extra powers and see another couple of lifeless worlds. During development Bioware raved about how the story would make this game better than other MMOs, and it would, were the story remotely engaging. I'm worried that bioware have lost their story writing talent, because this is their second game of 2011 that has been severely lacking in the story and story-telling department. I feel like i'm just running an unconected series of errands(like in DA2) rather than contributing to anything. Think of how in dragon age origins you were given, near the start of the game, a goal(defeating the blightand killing the arch demon) and this goal was then reinforce through conversations throughout the game. In swTOR, as a jedi consular, i'm given a goal for act one(save a few dudes), buts its difficult to see exa tly why i'm doing this and it all seems quite contrived.
    Anyway i'm cancelling my subscription this month because i dont see myself playing anymore. I'm giving it a five because while its not a terrible game as my 40 odd hours playtime will show, i've spent almost three times as long playing skyrim and that cost me 15 squids less.    … Expand
  57. BoosterGold
    Jan 13, 2012
    5
    Fun as a single player but once you play through a class quest line or two it loses most of its interest. Very reminiscent of Burning Crusade + Kotor. The worlds are heavily instanced and often feel very empty. It fails in smoothness of game play, obtuse travel, bad static UI, no lfg tool, no combat log, no mod support, no pvp brackets, no hd textures, ect. Once you've seen the storiesFun as a single player but once you play through a class quest line or two it loses most of its interest. Very reminiscent of Burning Crusade + Kotor. The worlds are heavily instanced and often feel very empty. It fails in smoothness of game play, obtuse travel, bad static UI, no lfg tool, no combat log, no mod support, no pvp brackets, no hd textures, ect. Once you've seen the stories it goes downhill fast.… Expand
  58. Killspre
    Jan 13, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Swtor is a fun game to me but I am not gonna pretend it is the perfect mmo. There are plenty of problems with the game I find, graphics that look horrible and the game still doesn't run smoothly, a basic and partly broken combat system, unbalanced pvp, crappy customization and it is way too easy to max your level. I was especially disappointed with the cover mechanic, which they bragged about, for it can send you right into the middle of a crowd of enemies you didn't mean to fight because the green cover icon was off screen. Also in the tough of times it delays and is easy to knock you off which screws you over because all of your good skills are only usable in this mode. These things being said I can't honestly say I have had no fun playing, the companions are well implemented, I find myself enjoying there company much more than any random pet from other mmos. The story also has a great appeal to me and is what definitely keeps me going through the game. Though not all of them gems I do wonder how it will end although the side missions stories eventually become predictable and a bit boring. This being said though I cant help that bioware messed up by making the next Kotor into a mmo, the things I like about it were already mastered in previous kotor games. The few group things that you do need for are ruined by lack of story or even the way to difficult nature of getting a group together. Flashpoints after the first lack any story or any real choice good or evil (in one flashpoint you actually choose to either kill or imprison a group of engineers on a ship you are going to destroy), pvp has come down to whichever side has more lvl 50s, and heroics are even more pointless than the flashpoints to me. Bioware knows how to make great single player games and I can't help but think if the kept it Kotor 3 this game would've been way better.… Expand
  59. josephene
    Jan 16, 2012
    5
    SWTOR delivers both a watered down MMO experience and single player RPG experience. It seems that where they have stumbled is tying their story content to the world in which it takes place. It is as if your story line takes place in a cocoon rather than in the huge universe that is the Old Republic. Bioware made a nice attempt at the story content ( it can be fun ) however some of the verySWTOR delivers both a watered down MMO experience and single player RPG experience. It seems that where they have stumbled is tying their story content to the world in which it takes place. It is as if your story line takes place in a cocoon rather than in the huge universe that is the Old Republic. Bioware made a nice attempt at the story content ( it can be fun ) however some of the very cool features of the typical Bioware Single player RPGs are not there:
    1. Companions - you can never lose a companion and everyone will end up with the same ones which makes the companion "story-ing" and interactions meaningless.
    2. Your choices have zero impact on the world.

    Now as far as the MMO goes:
    1. there is really ZERO to do outside of questing / battlefronts 2. crafting is not a game within itself, its all done by your companions
    3. Linear questing - swtor gives you no choice of leveling areas it is linear and you have no choice but to follow the line at the theme-park.

    Personally the linear questing did it in for me as I could not get past level 30.    … Expand
  60. bleh910
    Jan 20, 2012
    5
    It's a bad WOW clone. That's all there is to it. They copied WOW and added the BIOWARE dialogue choices and cutscenes that we all love from Mass Effect and KOTOR but it just doesn't work in an mmo.

    PVP in this game is a unbalanced broken mess. All you do is stand opposite of each other and spam abilities at each other. Questing is boring typical crap you can find in any korean free mmo.    It's a bad WOW clone. That's all there is to it. They copied WOW and added the BIOWARE dialogue choices and cutscenes that we all love from Mass Effect and KOTOR but it just doesn't work in an mmo.

    PVP in this game is a unbalanced broken mess. All you do is stand opposite of each other and spam abilities at each other.
    Questing is boring typical crap you can find in any korean free mmo. Go fetch this, find that, walk here and back. It becomes a grind at about level 30.
    Cutscenes are nice at first but after you play through the game they become an annoyance you can't skip fast enough. To many same options to pick from and ugly graphics, bad voice overs, repetitive npcs.

    I can only suggest someone buys this game if they are a diehard mmo fan and must try them all.    … Expand
  61. Rawne1980
    Feb 1, 2012
    5
    Not the worst but certainly not the best game out there. Take away the cutscenes and the voice acting and you have a standard MMO that seems to be missing some of the features expecting in an MMO coming out towards the end of 2011. Had this been a 2004 release it would have been a damn near excellent game, however, it follows the same route as all MMO's except this one is totally linear.
  62. Setsuna86
    Feb 5, 2012
    5
    This game was a huge disappointment. With so much hype and such a highly promising development you could imagine this one being the new kind of MMOs to come. Sadly this was not the case. I have been playing quite a few MMOs so far (WoW, Rift, GuildWars) and to me Swtor didn't bring anything really innovative or revolutionary to its genre. Sure, the full voice acting is an awesome plus andThis game was a huge disappointment. With so much hype and such a highly promising development you could imagine this one being the new kind of MMOs to come. Sadly this was not the case. I have been playing quite a few MMOs so far (WoW, Rift, GuildWars) and to me Swtor didn't bring anything really innovative or revolutionary to its genre. Sure, the full voice acting is an awesome plus and the game itself is not really bad, though you can hadly call it a MMORPG game.
    The character progression is way too easy compared to other MMOs, and since you level up so quickly you would imagine the developers planned it with a lot of endgame content. Sadly, not. Once you reach level 50 there's not really much you can do. The terrible aspect of the game is the MMO side: you have a companion which is really nice (reminded me of GuildWars) but that's not what breaks the game as MMO. The real problem is you're not actually forced to make a group to do anything else apart from Flashpoints (instances), and you're not even forced to do them. You could reach level 50 without virtually doing any group-quest or instanced zone, because you can simply skip such content and level up in some other ways (space battles, next zones). Quests don't really have any impact on the storyline, the choice you have with dialogues gets you to the same result eventually, so there's no point at all. This game could have been a single player game. That really shocked me: it doesn't -feel- like a MMO game, it's just a bad attempt to mix the ingredients. And the result is a flat MMO, with somewhat empty zones and a LOT of room for improvement. It wouldn't be so bad, really, if it was a free to play MMO, but paying 13â    … Expand
  63. homer2324
    Feb 8, 2012
    5
    NOT NOW. maybe later. It is bioware's first MMO following their successes with Dragon Age (arguably?) and Mass Effect. The dev's arrogance can be felt throughout their mannerism. (1) adjustment to classes are made base on the dev's without sound justification - often dramatically reducing the enjoyment of the class in the process; (2) increasing frequent lengthy patch time, fixing very fewNOT NOW. maybe later. It is bioware's first MMO following their successes with Dragon Age (arguably?) and Mass Effect. The dev's arrogance can be felt throughout their mannerism. (1) adjustment to classes are made base on the dev's without sound justification - often dramatically reducing the enjoyment of the class in the process; (2) increasing frequent lengthy patch time, fixing very few bugs each patch (average 3-4 according to patchnotes). 3 patches happened last week, all during European day time; (3) patches often DO NOT address existing bugs in existing content; (4) in-game issues (bug) assistance is non-existent, it takes 3-4 business days for them to reply to any ticket, in the form of an generic form requesting more information, can happen multiple times for the same issue; (5) devs uses a 'triage' system to prioritize issues - bugs and issues are prioritize base on the amount of people complaining AND affected by it. As a result, there is no ETA to be seen for most non-functioning skills/talents/bugs of the least popular classes and 'end-game' content bugs. TO CONCLUDE: this game is obviously trying to focus on short-term capitalization instead of making a fun game.… Expand
  64. DnDcHick
    Feb 13, 2012
    5
    Okay, so going in as someone who has never played an MMO before, I can't give a contrasting opinion to the veterans of the genre. However, if anyone else out there is considering picking this up, I would recommend strongly that you think twice. The closest thing I can compare it to is being in an amusement park with a bunch of spoiled, bratty kids running around doing everything they canOkay, so going in as someone who has never played an MMO before, I can't give a contrasting opinion to the veterans of the genre. However, if anyone else out there is considering picking this up, I would recommend strongly that you think twice. The closest thing I can compare it to is being in an amusement park with a bunch of spoiled, bratty kids running around doing everything they can to ruin your fun. The story missions are pretty good, but the combat is bland as all get-out, doing anything takes forever, and the star wars franchise died when the prequels came out. As a bonus, at least this game tipped me off to KOTOR, a game I had never played, but am now enjoying immensely. I would recommend anyone on the fence about this game get the older single-player game instead. I'm having much more fun with it, and I think this MMO will be dead in a year anyway. What a waste of time.… Expand
  65. Jinzouningen
    Feb 19, 2012
    5
    If this game came out as a single player game (which it is) with a co-op option my score would be different. I actually played one character to level 50. People who review should play to the max level. I had to force myself to just to say that i had. Story is a plus, voice acting is a plus but this isnt an MMO. Team fortress 2 is more of an MMO than this. If I only had to pay $60 for theIf this game came out as a single player game (which it is) with a co-op option my score would be different. I actually played one character to level 50. People who review should play to the max level. I had to force myself to just to say that i had. Story is a plus, voice acting is a plus but this isnt an MMO. Team fortress 2 is more of an MMO than this. If I only had to pay $60 for the game and no monthly I would have played all the class story lines. Nothing in this game atm and i mean nothing is worth paying a $15 monthly. If you buy it, dont worry about upgrading your hardware. It wont help anything or add any benefits visually. Heres a warning i wish i had before hand. The game is heavily instanced not going to guess why but it is. You'll be able to run around a whole planet and see no one else. Background (mountains, buildling etc) are just that backgrounds. You cant explore them or even get close to them. Its like a painting back there for decoration. if you buy this choose a server that has a heavy / very heavy population. Even if it has a queue youll be glad you did. As empty as the game will seem atleast maybe with a H VH server youll have a chance to group with someone for flashpoints. Servers with Low or so called standard pops make it almost impossible to get a group without a hours worth of spamming for one. It says Star Wars on the box which hooked alot of people, but be ready to be extremely disappointed or pleasantly pleased.… Expand
  66. distractonator
    Mar 15, 2012
    5
    i was very exited for this game but the lack of freedom and any actual improvements over the wow gameplay saddens me, although the dialog and story are very well done.
  67. SnakeTooth
    Mar 16, 2012
    5
    If i had to describe SWTOR in one word, it would be "disappointment" I'm not even a Star Wars fan & this game was a total let down from the get-go. The character creation screen is very limited, everything is pre-set. Want to re-shape that terrible nose you have? Nope, sorry! Pick between these 12 pre-set noses & get on with it! The amount of races is also lacking. We're supposed to be inIf i had to describe SWTOR in one word, it would be "disappointment" I'm not even a Star Wars fan & this game was a total let down from the get-go. The character creation screen is very limited, everything is pre-set. Want to re-shape that terrible nose you have? Nope, sorry! Pick between these 12 pre-set noses & get on with it! The amount of races is also lacking. We're supposed to be in the Star Wars universe but everyone pretty much looks the same. Questing is where SWTOR shines the most, simply because of the voice overs & cutscenes. Having said that, you'll still find yourself going over to "kill X amount & collect Y amount" & it can get abit tendious after a while. This is the first MMO i have played where it felt like i was playing a single player game. Everything is on rails & it's very linear , the game practically holds your hand. The planets are rather terrible, there wasn't many i enjoyed at all, most of them feel "lifeless" & "bland" . For some strange reason, there is not enough ambient music/ enviormental sound in the game whilst you're questing & exploring the planets. Most of the time you will here your footsteps & the noise coming from your speeder. Majority of the enemies stand in a pack of 3 or 4 waiting to be killled. You can only explore so much because there are exhaustion zones, if you conintue to go through them you will die. Everytime you want to go to a new planet you're met with loading screens & copy/paste space stations. All of this leaves the player detatched from the world they're playing in. The combat isn't really exciting. It does the job, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Ability delay still exists even though it was mentioned in BETA & after the game was released. Although it's not the worse combat i have experienced, it is not the best. The best way to describe it would be "clunky". The companion system is poor. Everyone gets their own healer, dps & tank companion, leading to people not needing others to help them. Most of the 2-man "heroics" & some of the 4-man i could solo myself simply because of my companion. I did not need another player to help me, nor did they need me. Everyone is soloing most of the things on their own. Companions craft for you. You send them on "missions" to collect or craft items, leaving the player feel like they're doing nothing. I like to craft my own things, i like to see my character craft, instead my companions do all the work.

    I could go on & on. PvP is nothing but a stun-fest, open world is non-existent, my first open world PvP encounter was at level 42. The endgame PvP planet is a mess & Bioware has admitted it. End game PvE is terribly easy.

    Most of what SWTOR has to offer is average, leading to an average MMO & a boring game. The only thing worth note is the cutscenes & voiceovers.    … Expand
  68. Paranoia
    Mar 27, 2012
    5
    i played for a month but i dont know what to think about this game, it was fun from the start, but i find it hard getting into the game and play it. It feels like a torture to level up, but afterall it was a good MMO which some people prefer over other games and i respect that.
  69. dont_be_fooled
    Apr 13, 2012
    5
    As customer I am thoroughly disgusted with the actions of EA/BW Management and incoherent game designers that have lost touch with the player base. Please do not be fooled by those that rate this game a perfect ten, I imagine EA/BW are having their developers up the rating. Until EA/BW management, game designers, and developers start to listen, I foresee this game becoming free two withinAs customer I am thoroughly disgusted with the actions of EA/BW Management and incoherent game designers that have lost touch with the player base. Please do not be fooled by those that rate this game a perfect ten, I imagine EA/BW are having their developers up the rating. Until EA/BW management, game designers, and developers start to listen, I foresee this game becoming free two within two/three months from now. There is several major issues in play here, 1) Game designers do not listen to the community, they sure make a lot promises, such as "it's now our highest priority"; "We'll have this in an update coming soon"; etc. Well it's been four months since the release and the game has only had two major updates. The first was Patch 1.1 in which EA/BW lost close to 300,000 players, then next is the current Patch 1.2 ( which if not fixed soon, will be the deciding factor to when this game goes Free-to-Play. 2) Population issues, during prime-time I did a few tests, logged into several different servers to look at different populations on each server and each of the planets, there was some planets with a mere 7-10 players and others with 30-40 players during prime time except for Fatman, the only decently sized server out of the other 60-80 servers. Server merges are needed, but instead of addressing the issue, EA/BW continues to ignore the community. If you like playing a MMO solo the entire time, not finding any groups to do some of the more "tedious & time consuming" instances, well this game might be for you. 3) Story - It's hit or miss, you either like it, or you do not. After 30, the grind is apparent, the stories lose focus and the position of each quest is put as far as they can on the map that has several objectives. Anything to waste player time I suppose is one of their game models, the Dark side responses get quite old, several repeats of the same four or five responses. For spending close to 300 million dollars on the game, I was expecting quite bit more variety in the choices. Several issues were raised up by key players, even more detail topics such as the Combat Medic/Healer changes by Ruku and several other top healers, but tend to go completely ignored by the one of the lead game designer GZ who literally makes changes without providing valid reasons for the change. I am done listening to their promises for content to be delivered and then reluctantly determining the key feature it is not ready the day of the patch after advertising the updates the weeks beforehand to get players to re-subscribe to the game. Another key feature missing is the looking for group tool, EA/BW stance is against having players use a tool in order find a group for an instance/flashpoint with no basis as to why this is. This game started out casually based, but with the recent patch, that is no longer the case, in order to stand a chance in the game's 8v8 warzones (yes only 8v8, could be same faction vs. same faction, population issues again here) you are now expected to grind for months straight to get Battle Master Gear, and then War Hero gear on top of that. So lets say, you have three alts, each alt would have grind out a full set of Battle gear in order to use that gear to get the next set, they definitely gated this - it is a requirement because the armor has expertise on it, similar to resilience in WoW, Radiance in Lotro, or Keys/Flagging up in Ever Quest. The new legacy system introduced in 1.2 is also quite costly for credits, plan on playing for eight hours a day in order to save up for one or two of the cosmetic/droid/buff, legacies they introduced. Crafting is also terribly designed, having a companion run missions for materials takes the fun out of crafting. There is nothing too great here, many other games are far superior in this area. There is nothing real of great value worth mentioning, everything is bland and generic, no heroic battles, it's all stationary with little to no strategy. No day night cycles, no underwater, constant lag through warzones/player vs. environment content, 1.2 also introduced audio glitches in each of the warzones, I do not see how their Quality Assurance department releases content that is all buggy. Quests still cannot be abandoned or reset, instances and raids are bugged out still since launch, it makes really no sense how this content still gets developed when all these other issues are continuously ignored.

    PLEASE... Please read the official forums to get a consensus of whether or not to purchase this game, EA/BW is all about making promises and not delivering on those, do not be fooled into buying this game without careful review. SWTOR forums (Sort by replies/date and that should give you good idea of how they treat their player base). The game was 6 yrs development, 300+ million budget, final score 5.5, but do your research, do not fall victim to a review done by a critic how has no experience as to what the game has to offer past the level 20.    … Expand
  70. VitaminK
    Apr 27, 2012
    5
    Just very disappointed with this game. Lacking real last content and EVERYONE looks the same. Disappointed that they made the leveling so fast, seriously 1-50 in a week. Then nothing to do. Servers are already maybe half the population they had at start.
  71. Smallbubbles
    May 2, 2012
    5
    The game is a huge disappointment, graphics are not even that good, gameplay kinda unresponsive, and the races are all the same, just different type of skin color. I loved the movies and the expectations were maybe a little to high, storywise the game was great, but this is a mmo, and not a single player game.
  72. rabid_panda_1
    May 16, 2012
    5
    SW:TOR is a bit of a letdown. IT's not a bad game, per se, it's just been done before and done better. Everything feels like classic WoW in space. The questing and combat systems are standard MMO fare. The dialouge with the NPCs starts off as rather interesting but gets dull quickly. I found myself just skipping and picking the option I thought would best improve my companion.SW:TOR is a bit of a letdown. IT's not a bad game, per se, it's just been done before and done better. Everything feels like classic WoW in space. The questing and combat systems are standard MMO fare. The dialouge with the NPCs starts off as rather interesting but gets dull quickly. I found myself just skipping and picking the option I thought would best improve my companion. Playing as a Sith Maruader I didn't feel like a powerful wielder of the darke side of the Force, but rather as someone who stumbled upon a couple of lightsabers in a dark alley. Without being able to do Flashpoints due to a shoddy grouping system there's little in the way of decent gear to put you on par with the enemies you'll encounter while questing. After around level 25 the fun really started to drop off as it became more and more difficult to even kill a simple mob. The graphics aren't bad, considering it is an MMO designed to be run on multiple system configurations, but the facial expressions seem a little wooden. The lack of any really non human looking races is a big disappointment, especially taking into consideration that Star Wars has a very diverse alien gallery to choose from. Only the Twi'leks aren't different colored humans, Wookiees need not apply. Overall the game would be ten times better if it had came out about five to six years ago when WoW hadn't done everything an MMO could do, and better too. It's a 5/10 not because it's a bad game but because it's not a great game.… Expand
  73. Wastelander11
    May 18, 2012
    5
    Fun is fuel for SWTOR, when you hit level 50, the tank runs empty. End game content is limited. Leveling up once was rewarding, and exciting. Finding new ways to take down the enemies of varying difficulties became a fun expierance. Once you do all there is to do, there is not much besides souless diagloue and limited character progression. Companions offer little. Creating new charactersFun is fuel for SWTOR, when you hit level 50, the tank runs empty. End game content is limited. Leveling up once was rewarding, and exciting. Finding new ways to take down the enemies of varying difficulties became a fun expierance. Once you do all there is to do, there is not much besides souless diagloue and limited character progression. Companions offer little. Creating new characters is fun for 10 levels, then things start to play repeat. Feels linear. Each class having a different story could hardly hold my interest when dealing with all the rest of the same old diagloue and quests. I wouldn't recommand it for someone looking for a hardcore, and challanging experiance. Big let down.… Expand
  74. JakeSTALIN_RUS
    Jun 10, 2012
    5
    This game is the 3rd MMORPG ive played.The first was World of Warcraft (I am playing it since 2006 till now), the second was Everquest 2 (1 mounth was enough for me) and now SWTOR.I can say that at first I liked this game - it was very interesting and unusual for me.But then it became more boring and boring along with laggs and server crashes. Repeating quests , dull Battlegrounds andThis game is the 3rd MMORPG ive played.The first was World of Warcraft (I am playing it since 2006 till now), the second was Everquest 2 (1 mounth was enough for me) and now SWTOR.I can say that at first I liked this game - it was very interesting and unusual for me.But then it became more boring and boring along with laggs and server crashes. Repeating quests , dull Battlegrounds and disballance in classes , laggs almost always (even at night!) soonly made me leave this game.This game was supposed to kill WoW.And now it has a low number of subscribers and just does the SAME things as the WoW done before.Shame on you BioWare!… Expand
  75. Vladaimmortal
    Jun 25, 2012
    5
    This game even tho it has really interesting story (one of rare Mmorpgs that really made me WANT to read all quests) and pretty graphics...still cant hold you stuck to if for long time. I got bored and quit after just 2 months of playing somehow this whole genre got bit boring as all games are totaly same ..they also failed with puting ton of servers at start of game insted of much lessThis game even tho it has really interesting story (one of rare Mmorpgs that really made me WANT to read all quests) and pretty graphics...still cant hold you stuck to if for long time. I got bored and quit after just 2 months of playing somehow this whole genre got bit boring as all games are totaly same ..they also failed with puting ton of servers at start of game insted of much less amount..thus making many players end up on servers that have like 3 players per area..or something...its ridicilous… Expand
  76. chevy80c10
    Jun 29, 2012
    5
    I was amused with this game until i hit level 50 and there was nothing to do because no one was ever on, they took forever with a server merge or character transfer, not even sure if they did that at all yet. Either way, its free to play now and that says enough. Great at first but this game bombed out.
  77. robbocroft
    Jul 5, 2012
    5
    I levelled a jedi sage (healer lvl 34) and a Vanguard (tank lvl 30ish) and honestly felt disappointed.
    The novelty of full voice acted quest givers wears off fast. There are no choices in quests and you're soon left with the usual kill x of y.
    Story quests are shallows too. No twists and unlikely characters. As far the game goes it's the usual holy trinity system. Been there, done that.    I levelled a jedi sage (healer lvl 34) and a Vanguard (tank lvl 30ish) and honestly felt disappointed.
    The novelty of full voice acted quest givers wears off fast. There are no choices in quests and you're soon left with the usual kill x of y.
    Story quests are shallows too. No twists and unlikely characters. As far the game goes it's the usual holy trinity system. Been there, done that. My playing experience was hindered by the lack of a LFG tool, now implemented, that basically meant having to suffer ungodly pain to form a group. My advice is pass on the one unless you're a die hard star wars fan. In that case the settings might be enough to keep you entertained    … Expand
  78. heerobya
    Aug 3, 2012
    5
    The experience is polished. However, that experience is the same type of grind-heavy content we've seen in every MMO since 2004. PvP is tacked on, companion-focused PvE is a chore, crafting is tacked-on and useless as well. The stories range from OK to awful with no feeling of impact on the game or your character. Choices in the story feel more like selecting a quest reward in WoW thanThe experience is polished. However, that experience is the same type of grind-heavy content we've seen in every MMO since 2004. PvP is tacked on, companion-focused PvE is a chore, crafting is tacked-on and useless as well. The stories range from OK to awful with no feeling of impact on the game or your character. Choices in the story feel more like selecting a quest reward in WoW than they do like a compelling story choice from Bioware's other games. All that being said, now that it's going F2P it's worth a free download if you are a Star Wars and Bioware fan - but don't expect to stick around long after you finish your story - if you can stomach it that long.… Expand
  79. Nataraja
    May 31, 2013
    5
    What was an intriguing concept proved too vast to be carried out. What was unique, fun and challenging in the beta got whined away. What this game could have been was destroyed to appeal to a "broader audience" like the millions who love Star Wars regardless were not enough.

    Some of the story telling is top notch such as the Imperial Agent and the Republic Sage but some stories are    What was an intriguing concept proved too vast to be carried out. What was unique, fun and challenging in the beta got whined away. What this game could have been was destroyed to appeal to a "broader audience" like the millions who love Star Wars regardless were not enough.

    Some of the story telling is top notch such as the Imperial Agent and the Republic Sage but some stories are truly atrocious such as the Republic Smuggler and Knight. It was too much to write essentially 8 separate stories and then wonder why no one felt like it was a MMO at the end. The PVP was AWFUL and the PVE ran out of gas at level cap.

    Bioware is a competent single player game developer, but needs a LOT of help with its MMO aspirations.    … Expand
  80. Tacoss23
    Oct 11, 2012
    5
    This is a great RPG with amazing storyline/Role playing elements, but falls short as MMO. Just like I was expecting from Bioware, an amazing compelling story line(s), great art/graphic fidelity without destroying your graphics card budget, and an overall enjoyable "journey". I wanted to love this game, and I did when it came out, I have to admit partly because of my fanboism of Star WarsThis is a great RPG with amazing storyline/Role playing elements, but falls short as MMO. Just like I was expecting from Bioware, an amazing compelling story line(s), great art/graphic fidelity without destroying your graphics card budget, and an overall enjoyable "journey". I wanted to love this game, and I did when it came out, I have to admit partly because of my fanboism of Star Wars and Bioware. As I had a blast with this game for several weeks, eventually I started to get bored, when finally I found myself login in for couple hours a week, if that. See, the storyline is great, the journey through leveling is as good as it gets and the world itself is incredibly fun and full of features to explore/enjoy. However, Bioware, didn't quite get the point of a MMO-RPG, and that's that you have to have enough "compelling" content at end game, and subsequent patches of content, not only fixes. Conclusion: SWTOR would've done great as a standalone singe/multiplayer RPG game, but as a MMO it's just doesn't cut it. There was very little to do, and most importantly very little "FUN" things to do once the main storyline was over. Because of this reason I can't consciously give SWTOR a good score, because it is a MMO-RPG and as such falls very short. Is it worth the base price tag? In my opinion yes, but not the subscription. Now that it's going free to play, we will see, but at the end of the day it's not the subscription fee that drove away its players, it was the lack of content. So with or without subscription, if there is no appealing FUN content added to the game, it would still be in the situation it's right now. You do get the fun value out of the original price by playing through the story lines and leveling, that's for sure.… Expand
  81. TheGamer31
    Sep 3, 2013
    5
    This is one of the most disappointing games I have ever played. After playing KOTOR 1 and 2 several times, I heard about this and was so excited. Even finding out it was going to be an MMO I was still excited. Then the game was finally released, I found out that it was a subscription game, so I held off until it was free, and I did. So I played it. It starts out good, but after the firstThis is one of the most disappointing games I have ever played. After playing KOTOR 1 and 2 several times, I heard about this and was so excited. Even finding out it was going to be an MMO I was still excited. Then the game was finally released, I found out that it was a subscription game, so I held off until it was free, and I did. So I played it. It starts out good, but after the first few times of leveling up, you get very bored with the game. I mean, somehow this 2011 game looks worse than KOTOR 1 which came out in 2003 if I'm not mistaken. The gameplay lacks and is way too easy. And the plot, while interesting and amazing, is predictable, only once or twice was I surprised by the story out of my nearly thousand hours of playing. While there is still that choice of what you want to say, it all turns out the same on the ending of the quests. But I do have one good thing which saves this game from being a negative review, and that is the loot. The loot, while sometimes being wasted time, is usually very rewarding. I could only recommend this game to one type of person. The die-hard Star Wars fans.… Expand
  82. eempc
    Jan 26, 2013
    5
    An average game in my opinion. Of course there are some nice touches such as the voice overs but the game was just too inconvenient and frustrating for me. I define games by how much they don't irritate me as well as how much fun they are. This is an MMO, and repetition is part of daily life - therfore cutting down on the daily grind is important. So here are some criticisms. TRANSIT - IAn average game in my opinion. Of course there are some nice touches such as the voice overs but the game was just too inconvenient and frustrating for me. I define games by how much they don't irritate me as well as how much fun they are. This is an MMO, and repetition is part of daily life - therfore cutting down on the daily grind is important. So here are some criticisms. TRANSIT - I think my biggest gripe was with getting from A to B. The only automation was in the form of auto-forward (NUMLOCK) but you still needed to steer manually, and the distances were huge. Furthermore your path can be blocked by enemies who don't seem to have any purpose other than to annoy you. I discovered that sometimes the quickest way to get to your destination was to deliberately get killed and respawn. As for the taxis, I would go to the toilet only to come back and see that I was still in the taxi and had not reached my destination. Of course I get to see the beautiful environments but it gets boring after the first time, I just want to reach my destination! LOOT ROLLING - This has got to be one of the worst systems ever for distributing loot. The number of abusers of the system is ridiculous. I gave up on flashpoints and world bosses because of this stupid system. AUTO PVP FLAG - I wanted to play on the PVE server at first, but for some reason, every time I healed someone or shielded them, my PVP flag would turn on, simply because the person I healed had theirs on. I just kept thinking to myself, "What is this nonsense?" I understand the loophole in PVP where a non-flagged healer could heal a PVPer, but I'm automatically guilty for assisting my team mate in a quest? PRICE-PER-UNIT - The auction house did not have a price-per-unit column. I got tired of getting my calculator out to find out the price per unit. OTHER ISSUES - No barber. No interplanetary chat so it can be hard to recruit for the heroic missions. Lack of multiple windows (for shops, character stats, etc) - only 2 maximum at a time - and they close inconveniently when you try to get two particular windows open......... Some say the F2P game is just a trial - well I went through the trial and decided it was just not for me. Think this is the first BioWare game I failed to complete.… Expand
  83. MrZ
    Dec 1, 2013
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. MMO wise, this game is solid. If you enjoy Star Wars, even better! However, if you were a fan of the original KOTORs, then this game is a let down. Although it has many interesting features, it truly is as some would say a "WoW clone." Bioware had promised something that they couldn't deliver. They preached it would alter the MMO scene. This never really caught on. The worst is what they did to Revan. He goes mad and dies an unsatisfactory death in one of the flashpoints. It truly was saddening. But, if you enjoy MMOs, I guess that you could manage to like this game. I still play it simply because I am a Star Wars fan and because I enjoy MMOs.… Expand
  84. Spango
    Dec 5, 2013
    5
    I never got too far in this game. I really wanted to like it, but the pacing is very slow, combat seems to be boring, and I didn't find many interesting items to write home about until I paid for the subscription, in which case, they were simply handed to me. I ended up buying Guild Wars 2 a week into the bored-to-death grindfest, and had a much better overall experience.

    The Story is    I never got too far in this game. I really wanted to like it, but the pacing is very slow, combat seems to be boring, and I didn't find many interesting items to write home about until I paid for the subscription, in which case, they were simply handed to me. I ended up buying Guild Wars 2 a week into the bored-to-death grindfest, and had a much better overall experience.

    The Story is actually interesting, I wish i could powerhouse through the grind to see some of the interesting story elements play out, but I simply hated the slow drudgery of the game's pacing.    … Expand
  85. aatassi
    Jul 31, 2014
    5
    What ruins this game is fight and action. The interface or background during fight is awful. Doesn't matter if you play pve or pvp. Besides that, the cinematic was very nice. Graphics is better when we zoom in. I liked the innovation and different style. A lot of idea. Different from others MMO and WoW. Some people will like this game.

    Good things : story lines, cinematic, graphics    What ruins this game is fight and action. The interface or background during fight is awful. Doesn't matter if you play pve or pvp. Besides that, the cinematic was very nice. Graphics is better when we zoom in. I liked the innovation and different style. A lot of idea. Different from others MMO and WoW. Some people will like this game.

    Good things : story lines, cinematic, graphics (zoom in), sound, no need for classic quests

    less : game play, fight, action, movement, background, skills interface, too mush dialog

    it is free to play now.

    Game play : 4/10 , Graphics 6/10, Background 6/10, Lifetime 6/10, Sound 7/10    … Expand
  86. rlilewis
    Dec 28, 2015
    5
    The "story" and dialogue are what the game is advertised on but it's the worst part. NPCs are trying to make up BS reasons to convince you that you need to complete the usual generic MMO fetch quests or kill X or this quests, no one gives a crap yet you're forced to sit through lines and lines of dialogue.

    The dialogue wheel has absolutely no connection to what the character actually    The "story" and dialogue are what the game is advertised on but it's the worst part. NPCs are trying to make up BS reasons to convince you that you need to complete the usual generic MMO fetch quests or kill X or this quests, no one gives a crap yet you're forced to sit through lines and lines of dialogue.

    The dialogue wheel has absolutely no connection to what the character actually says, nor does it even matter 90% of the time you can just mash random buttons during dialogue and it'll all come to the same conclusion. Role playing my arse!

    There are portals that prevent you from going places unless you have the right quest so forget exploring, not that you'd really want to anyway since there's nothing to find except more mobs to grind.

    Game runs like ****

    Combat is terrible, usual MMO tab targeting where the tab will select the least useful target and stupid global cooldowns.

    Absolute waste of time, just avoid. Shows the true nature of Bioware now, terrible "story", utterly meaningless dialogue that for the most part has no consequence and these dumb good/evil meters.    … Expand
  87. zombieman00
    Mar 1, 2015
    5
    While undoubtedly fun and well put together, the ill mannered community and lack of moderators drove me away in the end. This game is a roach motel of Star Wars excitement for every potty mouthed gamer who can afford it. It also chases after the casual gamer market too heavily by fully exploiting capitalist agendas with the Cartel Market and pay to play options (mo' money mo' money moWhile undoubtedly fun and well put together, the ill mannered community and lack of moderators drove me away in the end. This game is a roach motel of Star Wars excitement for every potty mouthed gamer who can afford it. It also chases after the casual gamer market too heavily by fully exploiting capitalist agendas with the Cartel Market and pay to play options (mo' money mo' money mo money!!!) Character progression as a result seemed cheap and too fast, sacrificing memorable game play moments for a quick release of endorphins. Even though a lot has changed since release I felt that the character customization system was too restrictive for an mmo. I don't hate the game and I won't say it sucks, but I stopped playing due to poor chat moderation, players that seemed immature or anti-social, a gameplay experience that felt fast and cheap, and corporate greed? maybe? I want to play and like this game but each time I come back to it one of the aforementioned reasons causes me to quit in a flash of fiery rage.… Expand
  88. akamrboone
    Nov 15, 2015
    5
    Much improved since its release in 12/2011. Still don't think it's worst the monthly sub costs, but the f2p model is disgustingly limiting. If you want to get at least a decent experience out of the game, expect to shell out some money at some point.
  89. ItsJustPj
    Sep 28, 2016
    5
    A Mediocre Star Wars Game? sadly yes it's true, but it shouldn't be a surprise since it's an MMO. It's basically another watered down MMO with uninteresting characters plus it's single player is boring. The best part of this game was the CG trailers and that's saying something....
  90. sharky0456
    Jan 8, 2023
    5
    the combat personally ruined this game for me though i like all the choice the game gives you

    honestly try this game out if you have a whoping 40GBs to spare and if you like it good for you but its not my cup of tea
  91. Imaizumi
    Aug 21, 2023
    5
    Title: Star Wars: The Old Republic - A Mixed Galactic Adventure

    Rating: 5/10 Star Wars: The Old Republic offers players a mixed journey through the expansive Star Wars universe. The game starts off on a promising note, with its first planet drawing players into its immersive world. However, as the story progresses, the game struggles to maintain its initial allure, leaving players to    Title: Star Wars: The Old Republic - A Mixed Galactic Adventure

    Rating: 5/10

    Star Wars: The Old Republic offers players a mixed journey through the expansive Star Wars universe. The game starts off on a promising note, with its first planet drawing players into its immersive world. However, as the story progresses, the game struggles to maintain its initial allure, leaving players to grapple with a sense of monotony and repetition.

    The initial planet experience is undeniably captivating, presenting a well-crafted environment that resonates with the Star Wars lore. Unfortunately, as players venture beyond this captivating introduction, the game's momentum begins to wane. The storytelling loses its grip, and the subsequent planets fail to capture the same level of engagement, ultimately leading to a sense of weariness.

    The core issue arises when players complete the storylines for the classes wielding lightsabers, a pinnacle of Star Wars mythology. At this point, the game's shortcomings become apparent. A feeling of redundancy sets in, as players find themselves traversing vast landscapes without much fresh content to explore. This repetitiveness can be attributed to limitations in game development that prevent the inclusion of more diverse and engaging content.

    In a universe as rich and dynamic as Star Wars, the expectation for a game to provide consistently captivating content is high. Regrettably, Star Wars: The Old Republic struggles to meet these expectations, resulting in an experience that feels unnecessarily elongated due to the repetitive nature of the quests and activities.

    Despite its potential, Star Wars: The Old Republic ultimately falls short of delivering a consistently engaging experience. While the initial planet showcases the game's potential, the lackluster progression and repetitiveness that follow hinder its overall appeal. For fans seeking a comprehensive and immersive Star Wars gaming experience, this title may leave them feeling unfulfilled due to its shortcomings in sustaining excitement beyond the introductory stages.    … Expand
  92. Fatteh
    Mar 8, 2012
    4
    After the initial wow factor has worn off I would probably say this would be a great game to play co-op but just shy off the mark as a greatly immersive MMO. Its handles great, the story telling is good but towards the mid levels it looses it attention. Fantastic having the story lines voiced so no great walls of text to read through and skip. The missus managed an extra month beforeAfter the initial wow factor has worn off I would probably say this would be a great game to play co-op but just shy off the mark as a greatly immersive MMO. Its handles great, the story telling is good but towards the mid levels it looses it attention. Fantastic having the story lines voiced so no great walls of text to read through and skip. The missus managed an extra month before calling it quiets on this one too. Its no Galaxies but pretty entertaining for a while.… Expand
  93. TwistedComplex
    Dec 31, 2011
    4
    I wish to retract my former review. After reaching max level, my guild cleared all the end game content in one night. Absolutely unacceptable, and coupled with the fact that Ilum is completely broken, this does not bode well for SWTORs future
  94. The-Crow
    Oct 3, 2012
    4
    I forgot to cancell my pre-order in the end but I put a lot of time into the early accessn the better part of 7 days or something.

    In Brief. 1) It really is an unabashed WoW clone and it shows, the gameplay feels dated. 2) Theres nothing specifically bad about the game but there is nothing outstanding either, leaving me indifferent to it. 3) Storylines I tried thus far were    I forgot to cancell my pre-order in the end but I put a lot of time into the early accessn the better part of 7 days or something.

    In Brief.

    1) It really is an unabashed WoW clone and it shows, the gameplay feels dated.

    2) Theres nothing specifically bad about the game but there is nothing outstanding either, leaving me indifferent to it.

    3) Storylines I tried thus far were poorly paced, dull and predictable. Infact the Bounty hunter one is full of cliches which would be tolerable if they were not such poor representations of the cliches in question. The great soundtrack is not even used to good effect building to dramatic or "tragic" events.

    4) Worlds feel dull and lifeless.

    5) Everything is on rails, areas have specific paths to your next goal and there is very little "getting off the beaten track" or exploring.

    6) Game engine is dated & fairly average, graphics only slightly better than KOTOR & KOTOR2 which are quite old games. This would not be such an issue if the gameplay was not so slow and boring.

    7) By level 10 in both Jedi knight & Bounty Hunter I was bored.

    8) pacing of the game is quite slow even for an MMO, they really want you to hang around and subscribe as long as possible.

    9) You could be forgiven for not realising Bioware made this game, it lacks polish particularly in the storytelling which is what Bioware games are famous for. Quite a dissapointing effort from one of my favourite studios. That said ME2 and DA2 were both had a similar lack of polish & care and i guess early signs that the quality control Bioware was once famous for was fading fast.

    10) there are several Free 2 Play MMO's using unknown IP's that I have enjoyed more than this.

    I ended up selling my unopened box copy because the game is just plain boring.

    Star Wars: The old Republic is Star Wars but mediocre, im not sure even going F2P can save it.    … Expand
  95. mikey42782
    May 28, 2012
    4
    Knights of the old republic, was groundbreaking for me..i had never even heard of it, and i will never forget the day i saw it in walmart, looked at the box and said to myself? this looks awesome i must have it..
    ..and the gods smiled on me for it was awesome. Then Kotor 2 came out..which wasn't nearly as good..
    But then years ago i heard a rumor about KOTOR becoming an MMO. I was    Knights of the old republic, was groundbreaking for me..i had never even heard of it, and i will never forget the day i saw it in walmart, looked at the box and said to myself? this looks awesome i must have it..
    ..and the gods smiled on me for it was awesome. Then Kotor 2 came out..which wasn't nearly as good..
    But then years ago i heard a rumor about KOTOR becoming an MMO. I was upset. I didn't want them turning one of my favorite games into a game that all of a sudden now tons of people were going to play who really didnt give a **** nor appreciate the Star Wars universe the way that true fans do. Most of my life people made fun of me for loving Star Wars and being a nerd..and now people play it..anyway so the MMO came out..i was skeptical at first and i purchased it..which brings the first bad point-
    You have to pay for the subscription when you purchase the game..so a 60 dollar game automatically becomes a 75 dollar game..you can't install it unless you agree to those terms and set up a subscription. that was my first beef..but i fought through it.
    I install the game, cut scenes were pretty bad ass i must say, got me into it..i used to play star wars galaxies and loved it, and they got rid of galaxies FOR THIS...i love being a smuggler..so natrually that was my first guy..i wanted to be a half ass han solo, exploring the galaxy, trying to beat the infamous Kessell Run. I'll tell you this much tho..if you want to be a smuggler?? don't expect to do any smuggling what so ever. The second bad point? the graphics..its pretty much DA2. Same sound effects, same animations save for the blasters. Same faces. And Dragon Age 2 compared to the first was just a botched abortion. Game play is the same as any other MMO..While my subsciption is still active, i have not played the game in almost 2 weeks. I am tired of it. i am tired of the repetitive grinding, i am tired of being on a planet with a lotta players because if they are doing the same quest as me, sometimes i will fight through all the **** to get to the objective, then some asshat will come out of stealth, and do it before me, then i have to wait..but that is a common issue with MMOS i guess..what some people have said on here is correct..its a single player game with mmo elements...a star wars wow if you will
    I hate to say this, but i think that EA ruins everything it touches. When Bioware sold out to ea, i ranted and raved and said watch **** bioware is going to go the way of the buffalo. and i seriously think it is going to be. when dragon age 3 comes out i will probly not buy it..i refuse to buy mass effect 3 because of origin. i am going off on a tear...If you have played star wars galaxies, you know that you got your own ship when you started out..which is awesome..you could get into space combat, deliver cargo, you could spend hours flying anywhere in the galaxy..you could also have someone make a new ship for you with a brand new chasis design, upgrade your ship, paint your ship..it was awesome..
    space combat here? sure you can upgrade your ship half ass..but the space combat is on rails and linear, the missions are just variations of the ones you did at earlier levels. it was a very big dissapointment for me because i was expecting something more along the lines of tie fighter..for 60 bucks? i thought it would..
    anyway, the goods to it? the envirornments are pretty cool. Some of the ablities. the voice actings decent, the combat is pretty fluid..
    cons? i have a decent rig and sometimes the lag is atrocious. sometimes when i go to get quest it will take me about 5 minutes for the npc to give it to me due to buffering..another con being a smuggler, killing a high level boss and recieving a light saber with dark side affilation which i cannot use at all..
    i hate to say this but i do believe i will be cancelling my subscription..    … Expand
  96. Esoteric
    Dec 31, 2011
    4
    This is bugged just like Warhammer Online was [same devs] at launch. Apart from completely broken animations and combat responsivity this is just another generic online game with awful graphics. Character customization is even more primitive than in WOW [which is quite an achievement]. Also, this game have very high pc requirements, so if you don't have top RIG then stay away.

    5/10
  97. aadms
    Jul 6, 2014
    4
    I was so excited to be able to play this game with my upgraded computer only to be highly disappointed in its presentation. It plays exactly like WoW, which, to me, is a boring and outdated game experience. The characters and their animations are laughable, as well as the graphics which look pre-2005. And it runs at horrible framerates with lagging and disappearing. If they are runningI was so excited to be able to play this game with my upgraded computer only to be highly disappointed in its presentation. It plays exactly like WoW, which, to me, is a boring and outdated game experience. The characters and their animations are laughable, as well as the graphics which look pre-2005. And it runs at horrible framerates with lagging and disappearing. If they are running this game at such low resolution, I don't understand why they're having this problem. Of all the MMOs out there, this one is the ugliest and plays the worse. This game looks and plays worse than the beloved KOTOR from 2004, so why is it being touted as a game today? Because EA wants to cash in on the MMO market, but like everything they touch, turns to dry dust. No excuse to make this bad of a Star Wars game. Why anyone would pay a subscription to play this is beyond me.… Expand
  98. cmoyano
    Jan 14, 2012
    4
    my god what is this **** Boring Queuing simulator that should never have been made, where is KOTOR 3 bioware? Huh where the **** is it? gamecube graphics; FF14 UI; and about as much fun as have a spear up the ass. I know these results are going to be skewed by people suffering from denial that bioware could ever make a bad game but this is just as bad as DA2. Buy anything else for a bettermy god what is this **** Boring Queuing simulator that should never have been made, where is KOTOR 3 bioware? Huh where the **** is it? gamecube graphics; FF14 UI; and about as much fun as have a spear up the ass. I know these results are going to be skewed by people suffering from denial that bioware could ever make a bad game but this is just as bad as DA2. Buy anything else for a better gaming experience… Expand
  99. Jounar
    Jan 13, 2012
    4
    Sadly after all the hype SWTOR is nothing more than a badly copied WoW clone but missing far to many features to be called a real MMO. Character creation is not only rather basic but seems to share the same graphics with NPC's so expect to see very similar looking throughout the game. The graphics are very dated for a modern MMO and are easily put to shame by the likes of AoC, LOTRO, RiftSadly after all the hype SWTOR is nothing more than a badly copied WoW clone but missing far to many features to be called a real MMO. Character creation is not only rather basic but seems to share the same graphics with NPC's so expect to see very similar looking throughout the game. The graphics are very dated for a modern MMO and are easily put to shame by the likes of AoC, LOTRO, Rift and even WoW. Whats even worse is the promo screenshots and videos Bioware use to advertise the game use a high res texture setting than player can't use no matter how powerful there PC's are. Combat which makes up the majority of a players time in the game is dull, uninspired and fells very unresponsive overall. PvP combat in the PvP arena's is even worse as the game engine just doesn't seem able to handle having lots of players fighting close together.

    The current high graphics setting is just a renamed medium setting due to how awful the Hero engine is and even using low/medium settings the game still performs poorly on high spec PC's. It took Bioware almost a month to admit this on there forums after first claiming it was a UI bug and that the real high res graphics settings are only used in cutscenes with NPCs. For a 2011/2012 AAA MMO with such a huge budget the graphics are a complete disgrace and feel like something that was released in 2006 except game back then had much better visuals.

    The much hyped class story is ok for the most part but nothing that will have single player game developers shaking in their boots and while it makes the normal kill 10 rats type quests all MMOs have less obvious it only makes up about 5-8% of the missions a player needs to do to hit max level. This makes running alts no different than any other MMO and worse than some as you need to do the exact same missions in the exact same order for every character.

    The various planets are very nice and also very instanced so the game world feels very empty for the most part. The planets are not however very open compared to other MMO's and the game through mission hub placement always pushes you in the direction of the next set of missions. There is also no public quest style missions which for a big budget MMO is a huge oversight imho. The dungeons or flashpoints as SWTOR calls them are the exact same deal we have seen in every other MMO since EQ1 with trash mobs to be cleared before reaching a boss. The starter flashpoint for both factions is much more like the standard single player missions due to alot of interaction with NPC's but these are the exception. Crafting is handled well in SWTOR with the players companions doing most of the more boring leg work in gathering crafting materials but to get the best items you still need to raid for recipes and materials and in all cases better items can be gotten from the level 50 daily missions players can run.

    SWTOR is a single player Bioware game with some basic MMO option bolted and I do mean basic. A very poor LFG system, horrid UI, guilds being nothing more than a friends tab, the most basic looting system any MMO has ever had and a class system with less options than those found in EQ1.

    When compared to games like LOTRO, Rift and of course WoW the lack of polish for such a costly to produce game is just shocking with bug that were known about in the July beta of 2011 still being in the released product. What a shame EA didn't allow an extra 6 months worth of development and a more adventurous design team weren't behind the wheel.    … Expand
  100. Tent27
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    I can't stop shaking my head in disbelief. Am I supposed to be impressed with a 300 million dollar game that looks, plays and feels like a game from 2004? So glad I played it on my friends computer and didn't get it myself. Textures in Knights of the Old Republic look better. Don't believe me, put them side by side and compare. The new bioware destroys everything it touches, and Star WarsI can't stop shaking my head in disbelief. Am I supposed to be impressed with a 300 million dollar game that looks, plays and feels like a game from 2004? So glad I played it on my friends computer and didn't get it myself. Textures in Knights of the Old Republic look better. Don't believe me, put them side by side and compare. The new bioware destroys everything it touches, and Star Wars is it's next victim.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best PC Game of 2011
8
#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
9
#9 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 73 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 73
  3. Negative: 0 out of 73
  1. RPGamer
    Apr 23, 2012
    80
    LucasArts generally exercised greater quality control of Star Wars games than most licensed properties receive, though that didn't necessarily translate into titles that were actually good. I've played a few other Star Wars games in the past, and while the SNES platformers were pretty good, this one is even better. Knights of the Old Republic may just be the best game in the franchise, and succeeds at being a top-tier RPG even if one has no interest in Star Wars. BioWare did the license proud.
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  2. GameCritics
    Mar 31, 2012
    70
    I wound up bailing out on Star Wars: The Old Republic well before hitting the level cap, but not before digging into it more so than any other MMO I've played. Even if it is an unhappy marriage between two wildly different game types, the fact that it kept me hooked for so long at least counts for something.
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  3. NZGamer
    Mar 5, 2012
    83
    A good game. It pays excellent homage to the film series (even though it's set before the movies), and is a really solid MMO.
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