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. Bellicose
    Feb 10, 2012
    3
    Requires Origin. Automatic fail as far as any sensible person is concerned. Beyond that, this really shouldn't count as an MMO. It's a single-player game with multiplayer content.
  2. FattyMooMooMan
    Jan 22, 2012
    3
    All I can say is that EA/Bioware dropped the ball bigtime on this game. It starts out with the promise of being the new big MMO but fails to deliver on its promises. The graphics engine is dire and on the 3 systems I have seen it running on it has issues with random frame-rate drops, hitching and poor resource loading (the PC I am writing this on runs most PC games just fine - Deus Ex HR,All I can say is that EA/Bioware dropped the ball bigtime on this game. It starts out with the promise of being the new big MMO but fails to deliver on its promises. The graphics engine is dire and on the 3 systems I have seen it running on it has issues with random frame-rate drops, hitching and poor resource loading (the PC I am writing this on runs most PC games just fine - Deus Ex HR, Eve Online, Payday: The heist, etc but fails to run SWTOR smoothly all of the time on even the lowest settings). There are also major balance issues - playing a scoundrel (smuggler) alongside a family members Sage (Jedi Consular) there were obvious imbalances between the two, with the smuggler being woefully underpowered, playing a commando (trooper) felt like driving a juggernaught through the mobs in the game - serious easymode. There were also issues with mission bugs, game crashing, areas not loading up properly. This game needed a lot more time in development before it was released. My rating of 3 is generous and thats only because I like some of the ideas the game has - though not in the games current state.… Expand
  3. tazzon22
    Jan 4, 2012
    3
    At lvl. 40, 20 levels past the time i turned off all movies and becan extremley board of this wanna be mmo , rpg. It actually fails at both, the combat is verry lame, just point and smash hot keys, no pesky tatics to worry about. It was suppose to be a great story, really? give me a freaking break..blue sun and justicar? hope you trekkies didnt play the vastly supperior game mass effect.At lvl. 40, 20 levels past the time i turned off all movies and becan extremley board of this wanna be mmo , rpg. It actually fails at both, the combat is verry lame, just point and smash hot keys, no pesky tatics to worry about. It was suppose to be a great story, really? give me a freaking break..blue sun and justicar? hope you trekkies didnt play the vastly supperior game mass effect. Me and me2 were great DAO is also stellar, but DA2 was god-awful and now with swtor is another failure , bioware has ben loosing alot of points latley, thankfully i have Skyrim to play untill a real mmo comes out ..GW2.… Expand
  4. Larux18
    Jan 26, 2012
    3
    I am so pissed right now with Bioware, I generally don't give games this low of a score but they screwed it all up! Everything that is story related is now completely screwed up! Every story element related to KOTOR here is awful, how they decide to show Revan in this game is also extremely disappointing! The gameplay here is good but now that the story has screwed up everything there isI am so pissed right now with Bioware, I generally don't give games this low of a score but they screwed it all up! Everything that is story related is now completely screwed up! Every story element related to KOTOR here is awful, how they decide to show Revan in this game is also extremely disappointing! The gameplay here is good but now that the story has screwed up everything there is not a purpose to play this game, this game is no more for me. Thanks to this game KOTOR 3 will probably never be made! Thanks for nothing Bioware!… Expand
  5. gdrl
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    SWTOR is a Single Player/Co-op RPG with an Internet Chat system that you buy and then have to pay a monthly subscription for to connect with friends or random people. I do not see the Massive in this title.

    Bioware should've released this as a Co-op standalone game like Borderlands and released DLCs and maybe even saved some money. Maybe.
  6. Aosonie
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    I didn't give this game a poor score because I thought that it was a bad game. I gave it a poor score as I it was uninspired, unimaginative and most importantly unfinished. Firstly, they use the exact same user interface as World of Warcraft down to every detail. But sure, everybody does that, I mean WoW wasn't even the first to use it's UI right? Except Bioware have taken it further andI didn't give this game a poor score because I thought that it was a bad game. I gave it a poor score as I it was uninspired, unimaginative and most importantly unfinished. Firstly, they use the exact same user interface as World of Warcraft down to every detail. But sure, everybody does that, I mean WoW wasn't even the first to use it's UI right? Except Bioware have taken it further and also copied over WoWs class system and talent system as well as most of their classes being very close copies of classes in WoW. The one selling point of this game that makes it different is the fact that it has dialogue for every mission instead of a box of text which typically isn't read. Whilst this is potentially a fantastic idea it has not been implemented particularly well as I feel that the writing is poor in most cases and the poor animations of characters in the cut scenes is very off putting but despite it's flaws I still think it is a solid addition. However, a dialogue system is not something that will make an MMO (a game who's success is dependent on long term players) successful. As everything else about the game is so familiar to WoW it is likely that a lot of their players will be attracted to the game. However, although the groundwork for a WoWlike game has been set fairly well there is a huge lack of content for players to partake in once they have reached level 50 (the maximum level). Now, for some players this may not be a problem as the story is enough of a drive to level other classes to go through their story, much like a single player game. However, when there are players on role playing servers reaching level 50 before the game has even been officially released and outside of leveling there is very little content you have to ask yourself: how much longer are people going to be playing this game before they run out of things to do and move on?

    By no means would I say that this is a bad game but it is not a finished game and whether you like it or not first impressions mean everything with MMOs. If players burn out on the game within the first month and are left with nothing else to do it isn't likely that they will be subscribing for a second month and if there are enough players who run out of things to do before enough new content can be added then this game is just going to sit on the bench with it's buddies Warhammer Online, Aion and Age of Conan. For now I've decided against buying this game but maybe in a years time if they still have a reasonable playerbase and have had enough time to add content I will consider buying it.    … Expand
  7. Altairzq
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    This game is half single player and half mmo but doesn't seem the MMO part will be enough to keep it intereseting in the long run. Since i'm mostly interesetd in the MMO part and not the story I give it a 3.
  8. Sethisto
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    SWTOR is very much a WoW clone, but not of the current version. This game seems to emulate somewhere near the end of Vanilla WoW. The quests are pretty much all "kill x creatures/ kill x boss/ click x items", there really isn't much variation. This, I usually don't mind though. It's a system that has worked multiple times. SWTOR throws a wrench into the equation though, by giving youSWTOR is very much a WoW clone, but not of the current version. This game seems to emulate somewhere near the end of Vanilla WoW. The quests are pretty much all "kill x creatures/ kill x boss/ click x items", there really isn't much variation. This, I usually don't mind though. It's a system that has worked multiple times. SWTOR throws a wrench into the equation though, by giving you absolutely ridiculous distances to run between each objective. Be prepared to enter/exit the same MASSIVE jedi temple 10 times for a single quest line, and the NPC you need is always in the farthest room in the back. While the environments are excellent looking, this is not an enjoyable experience, at all. The PVP Is pretty much the same as what you have all done for years. I played a Jedi consular/shadow, and it literally was my rogue in wow, no different at all aside from a few ranged force powers. The queues are quick though at least! They added voice overs and cutscenes to every single quest, but you can only make "go collect 5 elixirs" so interesting. It's a nice touch, but by level 20, I was just spamming space bar and selecting dark side responses to get through them. The main story quest is neat, but be prepared to grind if you want to focus on just that. Space fights are fun, and a neat addition, but it really doesn't make up for everything else. The game is just so ridiculously linear. If something like this is allowed to be successful, we are doomed to another decade of really bad WoW clones.… Expand
  9. Mhyth
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    Having followed the development since 2008 and participating in beta since mid 2011, Bioware's xmas season offering is a lump of coal considering the diamond it could and should have been. The voice acting and good storylines throughout the game do not compensate for the overly simplistic and unchallenging gameplay, repeditive environments, and utter lack of innovation or even depth inHaving followed the development since 2008 and participating in beta since mid 2011, Bioware's xmas season offering is a lump of coal considering the diamond it could and should have been. The voice acting and good storylines throughout the game do not compensate for the overly simplistic and unchallenging gameplay, repeditive environments, and utter lack of innovation or even depth in character development, itemization, crafting, PvP, or any aspect of MMORPG gameplay. If you're a big Star Wars fan you'll recieve far more entertainment value spending the same amount of money on more books and materials than just going through the motions in this unspectacular MMORPG.… Expand
  10. Sgtcrispy
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    Had high hopes for this game, but today they were dashed. One of my biggest issues with the game is the morality system. It has the same issues I thought Mass Effect series had. There's no gray area, you're either a raging sociopath or a heroic god who can do no wrong. It's not even a morality system, it's a point grind. For example. In the game there is a quest where you haveHad high hopes for this game, but today they were dashed. One of my biggest issues with the game is the morality system. It has the same issues I thought Mass Effect series had. There's no gray area, you're either a raging sociopath or a heroic god who can do no wrong. It's not even a morality system, it's a point grind. For example. In the game there is a quest where you have to find medical supplies that were taken from the military. You find the culprit, who actually took the supplies to help refugees at the refugee camp. It turns out however, that somebody took the supplies from her. She will tell you where the person that took the supplies went if you take the supplies back to her. At this point I had two choices if I wanted to get the supplies back to the military. Lie to her. Or put a gun to a nearby kid's head and hold him hostage. I chose to lie. Upon getting the supplies back to the military officer I was rewarded with fifty dark side points. Wait, what? Both sides are gray, and there's no real right or wrong answer I think. People are hurt and injured and both factions need the supplies. So, why do you get awarded with the obvious bad or good points? Especially since you need a certain amount of these points for gear. The entire system turns it from a morality game to a currency game. Why should someone be punished for being neutral or in the gray morality like most actual people are? Instead, you're forced to be a one dimension piece of wood. There are other issues I had with the game that generally just left me bored but that was one of the main ones I had. Overall this game isn't completely awful, but it's just so bland and dull I can't find it enjoyable. Hopefully BioWare will fix the numerous problems this game has. I find that unlikely however, as any legitimate complains are buried under pages of BioWare fans crying that they're just a WoW fanboy or console trash and this game is too difficult or deep for them.… Expand
  11. Mackeh
    Dec 22, 2011
    3
    I have been playing MMO's for 9 years and love world PvP, Exploration and immersion, so if you are interested in these aspects of SWTOR then read on.

    Firstly I am a huge SW fan and so TOR was something I have been looking forward to playing for a long time indeed. I have played it to level 26 and the first two days were amazing, I was loving the combat and the space ships and space    I have been playing MMO's for 9 years and love world PvP, Exploration and immersion, so if you are interested in these aspects of SWTOR then read on.

    Firstly I am a huge SW fan and so TOR was something I have been looking forward to playing for a long time indeed. I have played it to level 26 and the first two days were amazing, I was loving the combat and the space ships and space station. The controls are a little clunky but those things can be ironed out so no problem.

    The zones in SWTOR are actually planets, you have to fly your own ship to the planets when you move from zone to zone and I personally love this immersion. The problems start when you get out your spaceship and realise that each planet is a series of instanced boxes, you literally can not jump on your speeder and ride around the entire zone, it's dreadful. I was on tatooine and pointed my speeder south and tried to explore, I hit an invisible barrier after 500 yds WTF???

    So with the shocking zones comes the shocking world PvP, there is none basically, I have not seen a single Empire player on any of the three contested planets I have been questing. And on that bombshell I will end this review, there is no point discussing the other aspects of the game because without huge populated worlds to explore and world PvP this game imo does not qualify to be called an MMO. It's certainly not massive that's for sure.    … Expand
  12. theJexster
    Dec 22, 2011
    3
    After anticipating for 3 plus years this game was a complete disappointment. In beta, and on into launch this game has continued to underperform. Shallow unimmersive, limited, under underwhelming. I love Star Wars, and I love MMORPGs, and I wanted to love this, but the second I saw the pathetic attempt at character creation I knew this game was a shell of what it should be. From then onAfter anticipating for 3 plus years this game was a complete disappointment. In beta, and on into launch this game has continued to underperform. Shallow unimmersive, limited, under underwhelming. I love Star Wars, and I love MMORPGs, and I wanted to love this, but the second I saw the pathetic attempt at character creation I knew this game was a shell of what it should be. From then on it was one let down after another as the game began to unveil itself. Planets felt dead, small, and tiny. Ships were big, but lifeless and completely stagnant. The classes had all been done better somewhere else (either in other real MMOs or in the Star Wars single player games). The story (which was said to be the most developed feature) was not the 8 unique experiences we were expecting. It is 8 starting stories that merge into the same overall story once you begin to level past 15. The PVP feels like any Xbox FPS, not a massive War. The animations were underwhelming. The space hubs make the planets pointless. It feels more like a game where you log in, pick your instance, load it, clear it and re-peat. It does not feel like a MMORPG.… Expand
  13. penface
    Dec 22, 2011
    3
    I understand that perhaps not all of the quests are fetch quests, but due to the very nature of MMOs, it seems to be the case for the most part. And while Mass Effect introduced the dialog wheel, Dragon Age 2 soured my opinion of it permanently, as it seemed to angle you into inevitable conflicts instead of allowing you to craft your way through them with at least some illusion of choice.I understand that perhaps not all of the quests are fetch quests, but due to the very nature of MMOs, it seems to be the case for the most part. And while Mass Effect introduced the dialog wheel, Dragon Age 2 soured my opinion of it permanently, as it seemed to angle you into inevitable conflicts instead of allowing you to craft your way through them with at least some illusion of choice. You know, like an RPG. And perhaps saying that Revan was "retconned" was over stepping my boundaries a bit. Perhaps I should say that their handling of his character, arguably the most important in their series, is very poor. I mean, they're only writing the book so they can force Revan in to this game. The fact that he was suddenly "being controlled by a Sith lord the whole time" is a bit weak and destroyed all hope of getting any deeper plot threads than "You are Sith or Jedi, there is no in-between." So, Revan was being controlled all along? No more trying to strengthen the Republic through war so it would know how to handle future conflicts, walking the line between Jedi and Sith and defying all masters before ultimately going off to fight the true Sith that may soon plague all the galaxy--not because he is a Jedi or Sith, but because it is the correct thing to do for the salvation of all species? Nope, he was being indoctrinated the whole time by Sith and just mindlessly fought the Republic and just happened to lose, all in the name of some other Sith Lord.

    While we're on the topic of Revan, it really steams me that he's even in the game. This is not to provoke anger, I'm asking honestly because I would like to know: Is there any reason given by the book that he's still alive centuries after his time? The fact that you have the option to kill him at as a MID-RANGE level is mind boggling. Showing his face and giving him a voice and otherwise peeling away all sense of mystery around Revan just feels like such a bummer to me.

    And maybe species all looking the same is nitpicking, but I still feel like Bioware is just being lazy when it comes to this. After setting the bar high game after game, they just decide to recolor humans, throw some spikes or headtails on and call it a different species? I mean, look at this. If their heads were blocked out, it would be impossible to even tell these races apart.
    http://www.wikiswtor...layable_species In short: This is a shoddy attempt to steal WoW's audience and it's so called "Voice acting", it's golden ticket to being more than the average MMO, is poorly written and even more poorly acted.    … Expand
  14. Darthultros
    Dec 22, 2011
    3
    This was supposed to be a great game, but Bioware fall short on this, here is why: Lazy

    This is perhaps the biggest misstep. Bioware and Evil Arts cut corners by licensing the HeroEngine instead of developing their own. Now, as a developer professionally, I would normally say "Good for them," but it is painfully clear not much money went into developing this engine into something for a    This was supposed to be a great game, but Bioware fall short on this, here is why: Lazy

    This is perhaps the biggest misstep. Bioware and Evil Arts cut corners by licensing the HeroEngine instead of developing their own. Now, as a developer professionally, I would normally say "Good for them," but it is painfully clear not much money went into developing this engine into something for a AAA MMO. As of 9/2011, the engine still does not support multiple cores nor a 64-bit client. Even WoW supports multiple cores and a 64-bit client.

    This is sloth, and the fact that BW/EA did not bother to invest in the backbone of this game. Players will burn through your content and dialog. And when they get into the routine of playing the repetitive parts of the game, they will really start to notice how little was put into this engine.

    Ignoring your users

    The community management sucks. The interaction is canned corporate responses. There is no detail, the only admitted problem is Taris and that's only because quite literally hundreds of players have fallen into a figurative black hole on that world. This is a poor way to treat your community. To treat them like children. As if giving them information is something they could not handle. Your customers are not asking you to cater to their every whim (well, most of them), but they do enjoy having information that allows them to make informed decisions... like... do they actually need to upgrade, or do you have a really crappy, inefficient engine that you'll eventually patch and do we just suffer or spend our money to get new hardware. Stuff like that. This smacks of pride.

    Being greedy

    Another major misstep here was the revocation of a grace period and only reinstating a small span of time after the community set you on fire for it. Given the insanity of the postal services during this time of year, the seven day grace period would have shown forethought and consideration. Can't let those players play an extra week! They could be giving us money instead!

    Given the fact that this is EA, if the cost of maintaining a viable player base, due to initial craptacular implementation or lack of project planning, costs more money, they are going to court the players until they at least make ends meet so they can save some face in front of the investors.

    One of the reasons WoW did so well was that Blizzard had all its eggs in that basket. SCII and D3 were not coming out for a long, long time and SC:Ghost was scrapped. They had to stick it out and make it profitable and look at it now. Be sure, if EA can figure out the numbers to make their enterprise more profitable that does not involve SWTOR (in the short term), they'll cut this project quick.

    Fostering anger in their community

    This one is on the community management again. They foster this environment. Poor details, poor handling of users, poor customer service. Closing duplicate threads with the snarky "Go here" as if to hide the sheer number of pissed off people. It all contributes to the community's anger at how this is being mishandled. Eventually, that anger is going to translate into people not staying past the free 30 days.

    WoW Clone, Family Guy Style

    This game is WoW without all the bells in whistles. It starts out sleeker than WoW, but is missing things that are pretty integral to WoW's success during the end of Vanilla and Burning Crusade. A solid end-game, both PvE and PvP. Better community tools like a group finder (I mean a group finder, not a cross-faction hullabaloo) and so forth. Three years and 100 million dollars for a watered down WoW clone with an exhaustible story and thoroughly abused IP.

    Engorging your servers

    I chalk this up to servers. Yes, everyone has launch issues, but given the fact that they put us through that painful EGA, you would think they would have put in the infrastructure to migrate your character to a different one, put in some server caps to prevent qs and everything else. Nope, not happening. So instead they have engorged themselves on players and we are all suffering for it.    … Expand
  15. kirkkh
    Dec 23, 2011
    3
    I'm horribly sad at how much this game sucks. It's so upsetting. I was so excited. I even had the logo on my phone and pc wallpapers. But crap, whatever, I admit it. :(

    Why? I dunno. Boring and lifeless? It's just not fun. Sucks, sad face :(
  16. Omnius
    Dec 23, 2011
    3
    I wanted to like this game. I really, really did. But in the end, instead of a true successor to the excellent Knights of the Old Republic series, I got a Star Wars game with medicore graphics, sluggish, repetitive gameplay, and hours upon hours of voice acting delivered by one of the most lukewarm casts of actors I've ever had the displeasure to be trapped in a digital room with.

    To    I wanted to like this game. I really, really did. But in the end, instead of a true successor to the excellent Knights of the Old Republic series, I got a Star Wars game with medicore graphics, sluggish, repetitive gameplay, and hours upon hours of voice acting delivered by one of the most lukewarm casts of actors I've ever had the displeasure to be trapped in a digital room with.

    To say that it is a WoW clone is a bit too derisive, but not all that far from the mark. For a game and IP with such potential, it is immensely disappointing to see a product that has taken absolutely no risks, has little innovation to speak of, and somehow manages to let down expectations at practically every turn. SWTOR brings absolutely nothing to the table that has not been done before, and better, by previous MMOs or single-player RPGs.

    In regards to story and dialogue which have, in the past, been a golden seal of Bioware craftsmanship, SWTOR is the perfect example of how far this previously illustrious developer has fallen. Excessive instancing, badly coimpressed sound files, and flat-out fanfiction-quality writing mar nearly every conversation from sidequest to "epic" class story.

    The worst part of it all, perhaps, is that it falls to the individual users to make these criticisms, while "official" reviewers are buried in threats of boycott from EA and out-and-out bribery for a high score. Not to mention the multiple, and documented, cases of Bioware employees posting their own reviews as supposedly impartial and unaffiliated users on these forums.

    In short, a perfect microcosm of so many of the problems that plague the modern gaming industry. A disappointment for Star Wars fans and MMO players alike, please do yourself a favor and don't be taken in by the hype. Spend your time playing other, better RPGs, and lament the loss of the KotOR 3 that could have been.    … Expand
  17. Nexmanus
    Dec 24, 2011
    3
    The game itself is ok as mmoâ
  18. Greever
    Dec 24, 2011
    3
    Despite really wanting to enjoy this game, I find it hard to even just log in and play the beginning levels. Graphics are really poor, combat is tiresome, the classes are uninspired and the quests are just the same old thing as every MMO before it. If this were a MMO from 2000 it would be passable, but for one from 2011 it's shockingly bad.
  19. Cavissi
    Dec 25, 2011
    3
    A very bland single player game trying to be an MMO. Bioware should have just made Kotor 3 and focused on story and cutscenes, instead you get a worse version of Kotor mixed with a worse version of WoW. The combat is very uninspired, the voice acting is pretty mediocre, and the conversation aspect of getting quests is interesting but the quest themselves are just fetch and kill 30 of thisA very bland single player game trying to be an MMO. Bioware should have just made Kotor 3 and focused on story and cutscenes, instead you get a worse version of Kotor mixed with a worse version of WoW. The combat is very uninspired, the voice acting is pretty mediocre, and the conversation aspect of getting quests is interesting but the quest themselves are just fetch and kill 30 of this quests. If you enjoy the story you will enjoy playing through the game, but as far as an MMO, it is a watered down WoW in every aspect.… Expand
  20. Wackywoo
    Dec 26, 2011
    3
    Very disappointed. I wanted to like this game, but sadly this is not the MMO I was looking for. In design school I always wondered why there was a "risk taken" component on project evaluation sheets. Can't a design be good without taking risk? Maybe.. but more than likely it will be unimpressive. BioWare took no risks. They played it safe all around. The result is unimpressive. LookVery disappointed. I wanted to like this game, but sadly this is not the MMO I was looking for. In design school I always wondered why there was a "risk taken" component on project evaluation sheets. Can't a design be good without taking risk? Maybe.. but more than likely it will be unimpressive. BioWare took no risks. They played it safe all around. The result is unimpressive. Look no further than the uninspired character creation. It has lazy written all over it, with all races being practically human. Hair options are multiplied by adding option A to option B and calling it option C. In game, mobs simply stand still, waiting for you to come and kill them. This, combined with uninteractive environments, leaves the game feeling lifeless. What is perhaps more concerning are the absurd critic reviews. Mediocrity should not be praised. The reviews themselves list many shortcomings, however they give the game a near perfect score. Makes me wonder if they have shared interest in the game's financial success.… Expand
  21. panther4000
    Jun 7, 2012
    3
    When i saw the trailers for this game, i thought this might be the game of the year. But after playing it, found it to be like any other mmo. The main story seemed pretty good, but the way the xp is set up you can't do just the main quest, you have to do a lot of mondaine side quest that they try to give feeling but the quest being the way it is made any feeling turn into board-um. I gotWhen i saw the trailers for this game, i thought this might be the game of the year. But after playing it, found it to be like any other mmo. The main story seemed pretty good, but the way the xp is set up you can't do just the main quest, you have to do a lot of mondaine side quest that they try to give feeling but the quest being the way it is made any feeling turn into board-um. I got to level 20 and could not stand to play it anymore. Unless you are a huge fan of mmo's and star wars, don't buy this game.… Expand
  22. Fourdee
    Dec 28, 2011
    3
    After reading all the mixed feedback regarding this title, i finally purchased the game to decide for myself. In short, i have now received a refund for the game. Hopefully the following information will save further players like myself £44.99 for probably the worst MMO (Lobby game, this isnt massive) game ever. The gameplay (what really matters!) = Extremely Poor, i've playedAfter reading all the mixed feedback regarding this title, i finally purchased the game to decide for myself. In short, i have now received a refund for the game. Hopefully the following information will save further players like myself £44.99 for probably the worst MMO (Lobby game, this isnt massive) game ever. The gameplay (what really matters!) = Extremely Poor, i've played over 3 years of WoW, 3 years of Planetside, various other MMO's, even the free ones. Swtor's gameplay is extremely linear and basic, its an insult to anyone who has played WoW. There is no "skill" or sense of achievement from the gameplay mechanics what-so-ever and it quickly becomes boring. You have to stand still, wait for the game animations to catch up, then you are able to start attacking/casting. Once in combat, you are simply pressing the same buttons which all seem to do the same thing and stand there and take any damage which is simply thrown at you. There is no reward for experienced players in this game. The voice-overs are great on the other hand, however, you will spend 90% of your playtime in the actual gameplay, and, as above, this really does get boring quick.

    Champions online, was more enjoyable for gameplay mechanics than this game, and that is now free!

    As others have said, "AAA" titles with 150-300million budgets should never be able to release a game like SWTOR and simply rely on the Star Wars franchise and marketing to satisfy its customers.

    Speaking as an experienced gamer, i beg anyone with sense, do not waste your money on this game. Try World of Warcraft, that game is worth you time and dedications to which you will spend hours upon hours of your time enjoying the gameplay, you wont with SWTOR.

    A major letdown, a insult to PC gamers, a good idea of where the gaming market has gone in releasing poor gameplay titles with hugh budgets and storylines.    … Expand
  23. Zankiesko
    Jan 15, 2012
    3
    Welcome to the World of Warc--Err, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Star Wars is clearly pandering to the World of Warcraft crowd. Instead of trying to innovate anything or add interesting features to the game, Bioware simply made a World of Warcraft clone. Unlike Rift, though, that at least brought a little bit of innovation (in terms of the soul swapping), Star Wars brings nothing. StarWelcome to the World of Warc--Err, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Star Wars is clearly pandering to the World of Warcraft crowd. Instead of trying to innovate anything or add interesting features to the game, Bioware simply made a World of Warcraft clone. Unlike Rift, though, that at least brought a little bit of innovation (in terms of the soul swapping), Star Wars brings nothing. Star Wars' combat system feels like Bioware fell into the problem that amateur developers often do. That issue is that you become fond of a bad system because you've been exposed to it internally so frequently. The combat somehow took WOW's formula and simplified it. Star Wars removed auto-attacks; But then they added it as a button you have to press. That's right, the game that talked about how boring auto attacks are has you hit auto attack instead. I do not believe Bioware understands why people didn't like auto attacks.

    The class system lacks any sort of "heart" and just feels like Bioware sat down and copy-pasted the talent trees from World of Warcraft. People will be up in arms about this, but the reality of it is that you can pick many trees from Star Wars and find an exact version over in World of Warcraft. Sith Sorcerer, for example, has the "Lightning" tree, which is almost copied talent-for-talent from the "Elemental" tree in the shaman class in World of Warcraft.

    To make things worse, you will run into things such as vendors, which have drop down menus for options like "Sort By..." Great addition; Except they don't do anything. If you select "Only Show Usable" as a Level 17 Bounty Hunter, Level 50 Lightsabers will still show up on the vendor. You're not able to use level 50 lightsabers at level 17, and you aren't able to use lightsabers as a bounty hunter. The auction house is a nightmare to deal with, and makes EverQuest 1's original instantiation of the Bazaar system seem like the crowning achievement of MMO auction houses. Somehow, Bioware managed to do so little R&D into a comfortable user interface for an MMO that it feels like this may be the first MMO with an auction house.

    You will frequently run into mouse problems that require you to reload the UI every time. You'll find yourself being permanently stuck in cover as a sniper, but you can't use any of the abilities that require cover while doing so. You're now unable to do anything except stand there and die.

    The UI is fine for a single player game. Sadly, this is not a single player game. It is nightmarish healing with such an egregious UI. Aion's UI was bad, but it was 10/10 material compared to Star Wars' UI.

    Now, everything isn't negative. Star Wars made it possible to send your pets to gather resources for you. You're also able to gather resources yourself. So, you'll be able to level your gathering professions while doing something else or even being offline. This is a feature that seems like it was added purely for convenience and, in the current age of MMOs where "difficulty" means "tedious", a change for convenience is a change for the better.

    Sadly, this then draws attention to the crafting system. The crafting system takes the boring nature of WOW's crafting and mixes it with the RNG rage-inducing system from Aion. There are a ton of patterns out there. The problem, though, is that you either need to train them from the NPC or learn them from reverse engineering. Reverse engineering is akin to WOW's disenchanting, but your profession determines what you can do this to. An armstech can only reverse engineer guns of the types that they can create. An armortech can only reverse engineer armor of the types that they can create. You'll have crafting patterns that are green. When you craft it, you have a chance to get a critical (superior) version of it. You can then reverse engineer these items in hopes of getting a new pattern. This is how you'll learn most of your patterns. By the way, it is mind numbing. As bad as other MMO crafting systems were, Star Wars takes it to the next level. Star Wars makes Eve Online's crafting system feel immediate and closer to "instant gratification". With guns sometimes taking over 40 minutes to craft and gathering missions taking your companions well over an hour, the game's crafting system somehow manages to take more time than Eve Online's.

    "This is not the game you're looking for. Move along."    … Expand
  24. manahound
    Dec 29, 2011
    3
    In a nutshell: I'd had high hopes for this game. I got into early access (though apparently not early enough to realize what a vapid waste of time/space the game is:/). I even went so far as to purchase the collector's edition, thinking the game would be fantastic. I was regretfully wrong. Like others have said, this is not an MMO - nearly everything is instanced (making the world feelIn a nutshell: I'd had high hopes for this game. I got into early access (though apparently not early enough to realize what a vapid waste of time/space the game is:/). I even went so far as to purchase the collector's edition, thinking the game would be fantastic. I was regretfully wrong. Like others have said, this is not an MMO - nearly everything is instanced (making the world feel oddly empty, save for the "lobby" areas). This wouldn't bother me, but later on, you'll be unable to progress some story lines unless you can find a group (which seems to be harder than it should be). The character creation is boring and outdated; 4 main body types and more or less a handful's selection of faces, hair styles/colors, etc. The gameplay is the same rehashed skill-less clickfest that every MMO released within the last 10 years have been (just Star Wars flavored). The graphics are greatly disappointing. I started playing RIFT while waiting for this game, and guess I was greatly spoiled with the large, beautiful, lush, open environments. The graphics in SW:TOR are lackluster, even with all the settings maxxed out. The players are the same rude **** you may have gotten used to in WoW; people getting in your face if they're questing in the same area and you kill a mob that aggroed on you becauase they feel they have a right to every mob in that area. The game also has some billing issues; many credit cards will not work due to the way things are setup. That forces you to buy game cards (definitely not the cheapest option). So here I am with a $150.00 statue and $30/60 extra days worth of game time. I'd rather have my $180 back. Please don't think I'm just whining; I made a mistake and will deal with it. I am suffering buyer's/subscriber's remorse and if I can save someone else the same, I would like to. This game is not worth the time and money, even at $50 dollars plus subscription. If you want to play a great MMO with fantastic graphics, play RIFT. If you love WoW, but would like to play a Star Wars-themed game, keep playing WoW and play KOTOR on the side. Thanks for reading; have a nice day everyone.… Expand
  25. Katharsis
    Jan 19, 2012
    3
    Linear, online single-player RPG with no endgame content outside of repetitive "flaspoint" raids and broken, unbalanced PvP. But it's Star Wars!!! ........
  26. scabbycakes
    Dec 30, 2011
    3
    I don't have enough space to write any good things, which there are a few, but:

    The ugly:
    -Biggest one: There is very little in the way of avoiding crap quests you donâ
  27. Ludna
    Jan 2, 2012
    3
    The game is not bad, but only due to the story questline and voice over. The rest is hugely disappointing.
    The largest issue what drives me off is basicially no freedom in character development. The attribute mechanics is a joke, only one attribute determining everything. Force Power depends on Willpower ? Not for a Warrior, then your Strength determines Force Power. Silly. And the    The game is not bad, but only due to the story questline and voice over. The rest is hugely disappointing.
    The largest issue what drives me off is basicially no freedom in character development. The attribute mechanics is a joke, only one attribute determining everything. Force Power depends on Willpower ? Not for a Warrior, then your Strength determines Force Power. Silly. And the attribute is based on the class, no choice. All other attributes are worthless for a given class. I need to stick to a certain weapon type (single, double, or two-wiedled) again based on class. No free selectable weapon and armour feats, boring. The combat mechanics is to clicky, but that is maybe a matter of personal taste. In general the entire gameplay mechanics is to simple for me. I guess, Bioware wanted WoW players tp play SWTOR and I think that is what's going to happen. Straigtforward mechanics, no thinking required, clear roles. I have got some experience in Ultima Online, Lotro, DDO, EVE and 2 weeks trial in WoW. I like system in DDO most. Still tehre are classes and races, but a lot of options to shape a character. Also all quest run in the instances, so there is no kill x of y. Every attribute (Str, Dex etc.) has actually an impact on the Character. So, it's my Charackter after all. The dungeons are well designed. So, I would opt for more instances in SWTOR and more teamplay required. The graphics works for me, nevertheless the design feels steril. One don't need top nothc graphic to transmit the right impression.    … Expand
  28. elcritico
    Jan 2, 2012
    3
    To sum it up with a quote from the game loading screen: "a Bioware employee will never ask you for your password".

    If you're looking for something different than World of Warcraft, note that this game is a bland copy down to the loading screens.
  29. Gummbeh
    Jan 11, 2012
    3
    I'm stunned that this game was released. How can an MMO in 2011 be released without this like a guild bank, no server forums, non-bracketed PvP (e.g. level 10 players can queue in against fully PvP geared level 50 players). Keep in mind there are not bugs. These were left out by design.

    All that being said, the leveling process is quite fun and makes it easy to ignore some of the more    I'm stunned that this game was released. How can an MMO in 2011 be released without this like a guild bank, no server forums, non-bracketed PvP (e.g. level 10 players can queue in against fully PvP geared level 50 players). Keep in mind there are not bugs. These were left out by design.

    All that being said, the leveling process is quite fun and makes it easy to ignore some of the more laughable design decisions. The problem is that eventually you hit 50.    … Expand
  30. Malthques
    Jan 12, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. *Spoilers in text will be marked with *SPOILER*

    Gameplay rates at a completely average 5, due to using a tried and tested method of most of it's predecessor MMOs. This is without taking the massive delay into account, praying for those who still keeps playing that it will be fixed one time.

    But one of the games major selling points was it's focus on story, and damn was I disappointed: The writing feels so uninspired, that I simply stopped caring about any and every conversation in the game after approximately 10-15 minutes. Added on to this, the major arc was horrible too: *Spoiler* No matter what side you'll pick, the Empire loses.*end spoiler* Added to this, the terrible distinction between dark side and the light side of the force is even worse than the three prequel films.And playing an MMO where you and 2,999,999 other players are the chosen one, really isn't that entertaining.

    Another selling point was that it is a fully voiced game, and that it is. But badly voiced. When you're not wondering why three guys in the same scene is voiced by the same guy, you're wondering how they tortured the voice actors to make them sound so uninspired.

    In my final comments I will quickly mention the graphics and make a prayer for the BioWare dev team that graphics will never be the main point of a video game. Because if it ever will be, they will probably all end up in a guillotine.    … 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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