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. DerpGames
    Dec 23, 2011
    0
    Terrible, terrible game. Basically a less polished, ultra glitchy, 100% instanced, not open world revision of World of Warcraft with a crappy Starwars skin placed over everything. The graphics are hideous, much like every other Bioware game. The dialogue is hilariously bad even for an MMO. Every race of character is just a slight variation of humans, ie humans with red skin, humans withTerrible, terrible game. Basically a less polished, ultra glitchy, 100% instanced, not open world revision of World of Warcraft with a crappy Starwars skin placed over everything. The graphics are hideous, much like every other Bioware game. The dialogue is hilariously bad even for an MMO. Every race of character is just a slight variation of humans, ie humans with red skin, humans with blue skin. The game is lobby based like Guild Wars, yet Bioware is trying to charge people monthly for this game. Don't support it.… Expand
  2. 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
  3. freacrou
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    I waited for this game since KotOR 2, however I don't care if they wanted to make it an MMO, at least they should have done it properly. Just everything in this game sucks, after 5 minutes the voice overs begin to suck. I know it, don't try to deny it. Here you can hear my review as voice over:
    http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?tl=en&q=Star%20Wars%20the%20Old%20Republic%20sucks    I waited for this game since KotOR 2, however I don't care if they wanted to make it an MMO, at least they should have done it properly. Just everything in this game sucks, after 5 minutes the voice overs begin to suck. I know it, don't try to deny it. Here you can hear my review as voice over:
    http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?tl=en&q=Star%20Wars%20the%20Old%20Republic%20sucks

    (------------------------------------------bottom line---------------------------------------------------)
    SWTOR sucks. BioWare sucks. ElectronicArts sucks. LucasArts sucks. YOU sucks.    … Expand
  4. amateurdude
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    What can you say about this game which hasn't been said about every other MMO out there. Everything this game does.. There's other (you know what ones) that do it better.

    It's.. Just the same old regular crap that every other MMO to exist has already spewed out. When you have a terrible developer such as Bioware of Dragon Age 2 infamy and the pants on head retarded EA publishing this was    What can you say about this game which hasn't been said about every other MMO out there. Everything this game does.. There's other (you know what ones) that do it better.

    It's.. Just the same old regular crap that every other MMO to exist has already spewed out. When you have a terrible developer such as Bioware of Dragon Age 2 infamy and the pants on head retarded EA publishing this was doomed from the get go.

    And they didn't disappoint.

    If you're looking to play an MMO either stick with WoW, check out Rift, or give DCUO a go. Other than that avoid this if at all possible.    … Expand
  5. x_ares_x
    Dec 22, 2011
    4
    First off, BioWare doesn't only verify a credit card like most sensible companies, they deny it if you don't have at least $14.95 plus tax on it. They hold the 30 days of "free" time along with any forums access hostage if you don't have a payment ready. Now, onto the game itsself. - No macro system. You just cannot make any macros at all, no way, no how. No mouse-over heals, nothing.
    - No    First off, BioWare doesn't only verify a credit card like most sensible companies, they deny it if you don't have at least $14.95 plus tax on it. They hold the 30 days of "free" time along with any forums access hostage if you don't have a payment ready. Now, onto the game itsself. - No macro system. You just cannot make any macros at all, no way, no how. No mouse-over heals, nothing.
    - No addon system (not that I'm an addon fan, I hate them actually). This method of game playing is not implimented and honestly, I doubt it ever will be.
    What the lack of these two things mean is - there will probably be far too few healers in the future, especially in raids. There are a LOT of people who cannot function adequately without at least mouseover healing. -Uninspired combat. Sure, there is no auto-attack which is a plus, but there's also zero innovation outside of this, if you can call this innovation at all. It's mostly like every other MMORPG fight mechanic which has existed for the past 10 years or more. This isn't 1997.
    -No user interface customization. You can't move the chat box or anything else, which means you either keep it too small to read well, or you have to deal with it encroaching on your left Quickbar.
    -No autogrouping to run instances. Expect to see a LOT of "LFG for !".
    -Lethargic character creation. Do you enjoy looking like everyone else (including NPCs)? No? Too bad.
    Rift, Champions Online, and a massive number of other companies have very in-depth character creators and have come out long before this game. This is 2011, not 2000. There simply is no longer any excuse for slacking here.
    -Very small race selection. This is a game based in a universe where there are supposedly thousands of aliens. Even the movies had more than nine. If you count Human, Cyborg, Miraluka and Rattataki as looking so similar that they're all Human dirvatives, the choice is even smaller. -The entire game is one huge instance. What this means is that say you're on Ord Mantell. There will be three or four copies of this same exact world on the server. Most of the time you can see people chatting, but do not expect to see those same people in the game, necessarily. While there will be a given number of people in a given instance, the game world still feels dead and somewhat empty. You often do see others running about, but it just feels too sparse. If someone needs help and you group with them, it's up to you or them to figure out which instance the other is on.
    -Overall-
    The game is expansive, it has more than one well-known name behind it. However, it also feels rushed and half-assed in some parts. The subscription model seems backwards and bent on driving customers away, not welcoming them in. I think BioWare really screwed the pooch on this game and released it far too early. Why they would do that is beyond anyone's guess. This is not a new company who just popped up last year and decided to create a new Star Wars IP. These people should know better. Because they do no know better obviously, the game is feeling more and more like a World of Warcraft clone only there to make a cash grab.    … Expand
  6. Kordt
    Dec 26, 2011
    1
    Posting just in case someone has yet to buy the game but is thinking about it. Maybe my thoughts will help them save their money. After 21 levels, 3 flashpoint runs, and about 24 hours of game play time: I've cancelled my account, uninstalled the game and will not be playing it in the future unless BioWare makes some sweeping changes to the game. Here's what I found:

    - (throwing the    Posting just in case someone has yet to buy the game but is thinking about it. Maybe my thoughts will help them save their money. After 21 levels, 3 flashpoint runs, and about 24 hours of game play time: I've cancelled my account, uninstalled the game and will not be playing it in the future unless BioWare makes some sweeping changes to the game. Here's what I found:

    - (throwing the game a positive bone) The main draw of this game is the story. The storyline actually plays out like a single player game, which is quite cool. I felt like I cared about my character, and enjoyed the main story.

    - The spoken dialog, which makes the main story so intriguing wore thin FAST for me everywhere else. What I found is that after the first zone, where I was in awe that every quest giver chatted with me, I wished those same quest givers in subsequent zones would just shut up. "Yeah yeah. Blah blah. I need to go blow up some computer. Blah blah - 3 minutes of nonsense to get the quest"

    - The UI is in one word: awful. Bordering on unusable, actually. There is no combat log. The UI apparently scales according to your resolution. Meaning if you have a good video card and you set the game to a high resolution, the UI is almost unreadable with its teeny tiny font. Want to see what dots you have on you? Too bad. Want to see what dots are on your mob? Tough luck. - GIven how bad the UI was, I figured I'd install a UI mod and enjoy the game that way. Except apparently there are no mods for the game. BioWare hasn't opened up an API for mods as of yet. WHA? You mean to tell me that a game with a UI that I found almost unusable, with no combat log, doesn't allow add ons??? Yes. That's apparently correct. Want to know how much damage you're doing? Dont bother trying to install a damage meter. That doesn't exist. The only way to figure out how much damage you're doing is by two things: how fast the mob dies, and the awesome floating combat text that flies by. Wahoo, etc.

    - The first flashpoint I did (basically a 5 man dungeon) was awesome. It was story driven, and everything felt epic. Then I ran it again the next day. Everything felt: long, repetitive, tedious, boring, and easy. It's the curse of having a game with so much dialog. Stuff takes a LONG time to do. What was essentially a beginner dungeon, with almost no challenge, took an hour for my group. With no deaths. Good times. Good fun.

    - The animations for my character, other than when he was swinging his lightsaber, were quite bad. My character who kinda looked like Darth Maul, looked like a gangly awkward teenager when running, walking, jumping, moving.... basically anything but fighting. And considering that you spend a ton of time walking in this game.... you end up staring at some pretty lame animations frequently.

    - Tried using the AH once. Don't make that mistake. It's unusable. Anyway, I'm not posting my thoughts to rain on the parade of those who find the game enjoyable. But I thought it was worth posting my thoughts in hopes that it might help save someone some money if they were on the fence. Unless you are a Star Wars freak..... I can't imagine this game being fun for you. But hey, to each their own. Some people loved Episode I, the Phantom Menace!    … Expand
  7. SMDRH
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    I came on Metacritic today expecting that this game would have insanely positive user reviews, however was left disappointed at the amount of hate being thrown around and a shoddy 5.2 User Score. For convenience, I am going to cut right to the chase. Yes, the gameplay is very similar to World of Warcraft, but that is not a bad thing, especially for people who are new to MMOs. Here is why;I came on Metacritic today expecting that this game would have insanely positive user reviews, however was left disappointed at the amount of hate being thrown around and a shoddy 5.2 User Score. For convenience, I am going to cut right to the chase. Yes, the gameplay is very similar to World of Warcraft, but that is not a bad thing, especially for people who are new to MMOs. Here is why; it is very smooth, easy to adapt to and hits the standard that is expected of MMOs. WoW achieves this, and ToR does as well. Features are expanded on with Companion characters, and new mini-games are included (AKA, Space Battles while piloting your very own starfighter). Where the two games differ substantially is in their methods of conveying story. The Old Republic is completely and superbly voiced over, in true Mass Effect fashion. Do not let people fool you into thinking that this is an insignificant feature, because it isn't. It makes the game tenfold more interesting and engaging. Although the missions are your usual run of the mill "collect three of these" or "kill four of those", it feels like much less of a grind because you are given purpose for doing what you are doing in a way that is engaging (because of the voice acting and decision making features). Bioware have miraculously designed the game to make you feel like you are the focus of it. Your choices carry weight, you grow somewhat connected to your companions and you always feel like you are achieving something. Instead of finding myself completing missions in order to level up (as I have done with every single other MMO to date), I am completing them to see what happens next, as the writing is of a quality you would expect in Mass Effect or Knights Of The Old Republic and always manages to keep you curious. This game is superb in every aspect. Don't let yourself be put off by all of these unjustified negative review scores. This game is definitely not anything less than an 8 out of 10, and in my opinion it hits top scores. Star Wars fans, Bioware fans and MMO fans alike all have plenty of reason to love this game, and very little to hate it.… Expand
  8. Skeletor
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    I know you've been following all the hype train for this game, but don't fall for it!
    All that was promised is nothing like the final product. The quests are just boring fetch quests and extermination quests padded out with meandering dialog and boring stories.
    The combat is frustratingly simple, just mash F1 F2 F1 F3 F2 F1, ad nauseum. It's just the same combat system in every MMO for the    I know you've been following all the hype train for this game, but don't fall for it!
    All that was promised is nothing like the final product. The quests are just boring fetch quests and extermination quests padded out with meandering dialog and boring stories.
    The combat is frustratingly simple, just mash F1 F2 F1 F3 F2 F1, ad nauseum. It's just the same combat system in every MMO for the last 7 years.
    The story is nothing special, the cinematics are awkward and nothing you do affects anything in the game ever. This is unacceptable, concidering the gimmick in this game relied entirely on it's story, which has no replayablity and you can complete it in 6 days.
    This won't be fixed, this game is a mess to the core. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy it, not even if you are a WoW addict, better stay with your other MMOs rather than this messy piece of crap.    … Expand
  9. LedBetter11
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    ToR is a really polished, deep, well made game that I think is not only a fantastic MMO but is a fantastic SP RPG as well. The story is so engaging and is as well written and voiced as Bioware's single player offerings. Give it a try if you enjoy MMO's or just RPG's you will really enjoy this game!
  10. Captiosus
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    Last I looked, this game was made by Bioware. Bioware: The innovator of western RPGs and deep character creation systems. Remember the character creation screens from Mass Effect? What happened? SW:TOR is cookie cutter from the beginning with pathetic character creation and continues being a cookie cutter affair thereafter. Although most people will compare the game to Warcraft, the more ILast I looked, this game was made by Bioware. Bioware: The innovator of western RPGs and deep character creation systems. Remember the character creation screens from Mass Effect? What happened? SW:TOR is cookie cutter from the beginning with pathetic character creation and continues being a cookie cutter affair thereafter. Although most people will compare the game to Warcraft, the more I played SW:TOR, the more I was reminded of the ORIGINAL Guild Wars: Instanced zones, lack of any real end game, rapid leveling, linear zones, 4-player groups. The biggest difference was Guild Wars gave you all of that for the purchase price where SW:TOR wants you to pay the purchase price PLUS a subscription fee for it. | | | The game itself is a buggy mess that chugs along. I don't claim to have a super-computer, but my system is far above minimum recommended specs and can play Skyrim fairly well, yet SW:TOR would often chug, choke, and drop frames. | | | Combat isn't spectacular at all. It's the same repetitive formula of MMOs since the days of Everquest. Cast and wait, cast and wait. The gave the classes fancy names, but it's still the same Tank/Healer/DPS trifecta from the last decade and the talent system looks like they literally transplanted it from WoW into the game and made it flow upwards instead of downwards. | | | The story was the key selling point of the game but even the story is lacking. Marred by bad writing, bad voice acting, and the lack of key Star Wars universe races, the story fails to inspire or even impress. For the company that was one of the first to really use a karma system, Bioware's implementation of a karma system in SW:TOR is laughably bad and has little impact on the story. | | | 300 million budget and the best Bioware could come up with is a poor hybrid clone of Guild Wars and Warcraft? Not only am I disappointed but this, along with Dragon Age 2's shortcomings, gives me pause to concern regarding the future of Mass Effect 3.… Expand
  11. RecoveryRx
    Jan 3, 2012
    4
    Every review on here that is 0-3 or 9-10 is a complete joke in my opinion, every single one of them. Here's the bottom line on TOR, a game I was insanely excited about and now won't sub past my first month: the story and voice acting is amazing, the rest of the game is either mediocre or a huge back step for the mmo genre as a whole. Listen carefully - this is the biggest disappointmentEvery review on here that is 0-3 or 9-10 is a complete joke in my opinion, every single one of them. Here's the bottom line on TOR, a game I was insanely excited about and now won't sub past my first month: the story and voice acting is amazing, the rest of the game is either mediocre or a huge back step for the mmo genre as a whole. Listen carefully - this is the biggest disappointment I've ever experienced in a video game. EVER. I am 33 years old and have been playing video games my entire life, this is the cake. It is shocking people, SHOOOCKINGGG!!!!!! how uninspired the world is, how mediocre and "just good enough" almost all of the game mechanics / systems are. And it's BAFFLING that a game with this much of a budget could be this bad.… Expand
  12. Shakes
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    I really wanted star wars : the old republic to be much more but in the end was a very disappointing experience. The animations are so wooden Pinocchio would be jealous. The stories are so terrible any third rate fan-fic writers could do a massively better job than biowares work. The graphics are no better and in some cases worse than World of warcraft and even then world of warcraftI really wanted star wars : the old republic to be much more but in the end was a very disappointing experience. The animations are so wooden Pinocchio would be jealous. The stories are so terrible any third rate fan-fic writers could do a massively better job than biowares work. The graphics are no better and in some cases worse than World of warcraft and even then world of warcraft didn't make my machine chug trying to display biowares sub par graphics. Overall I wanted this game to be amazing but thanks to bioware and friends, I received a amazingly terrible game and experience.… Expand
  13. 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.
  14. Blackferne
    Dec 21, 2011
    10
    Star Wars the Old Republic brings a polish and refinement we expect from a Star Wars product. I've been playing from day one of early access and the game has been living up to my expectations. I find myself caring about quest objectives unlike in other games. I find the class stories to be interesting and well written. Most of the minor wants I have (like guild banks) are things theyStar Wars the Old Republic brings a polish and refinement we expect from a Star Wars product. I've been playing from day one of early access and the game has been living up to my expectations. I find myself caring about quest objectives unlike in other games. I find the class stories to be interesting and well written. Most of the minor wants I have (like guild banks) are things they promise to address down the road. It is an ambitious game, and for me it has been well worth the money spent. I look forward to seeing it evolve. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun star wars game.… Expand
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. TixyLix
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    What they've done is created WoW seven years later, only this time the quests are linked up by chat wheel cutscenes. I was hoping that Bioware would change things up, nope.....

    The worlds feel sterile, the NPCs all stand in one place, barely animated at all. The sound effects are very poor, they just seem missing as all I hear is footsteps and music. The planets are small questing hubs    What they've done is created WoW seven years later, only this time the quests are linked up by chat wheel cutscenes. I was hoping that Bioware would change things up, nope.....

    The worlds feel sterile, the NPCs all stand in one place, barely animated at all. The sound effects are very poor, they just seem missing as all I hear is footsteps and music. The planets are small questing hubs and then you travel between them via a main lobby and everything is either instanced or phased. You barely see anyone as there never seems to be more than 100 people per zone and world PVP is pointless so everyone is in battlegrounds.

    They had the perfect opportunity to fix what is wrong with todays MMOs and instead they just made a worse version of WoW, like every MMO has done since...

    I'm only giving it 4 because it isn't a total train wreck and is polished, I just wont be playing it any longer.    … Expand
  18. Zompacter
    Dec 20, 2011
    2
    This game is a sub-par clone of WoW (an already tired game) with a Star Wars coat of paint. The world feels dead because everything is instanced, and you have to deal with Bioware's bad dialogue (It used to be so good, what happened?) over it all. It's poorly balanced, unimaginative, and is far below what Bioware used to be capable of. They don't even attempt to try anything new.

    It's a    This game is a sub-par clone of WoW (an already tired game) with a Star Wars coat of paint. The world feels dead because everything is instanced, and you have to deal with Bioware's bad dialogue (It used to be so good, what happened?) over it all. It's poorly balanced, unimaginative, and is far below what Bioware used to be capable of. They don't even attempt to try anything new.

    It's a huge disappointment.    … Expand
  19. gorillionaire
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Don't worry too much about the bad reviews. This game has been out officially for 13 hours. Most of the negative reviews here consist of the typical QQ associated with first impressions of new AAA mmos. You'll never get an MMO that's exactly what you want it to be, so don't cry when Bioware doesn't meet your every specification. I've been playing this game since mid-summer beta and it'sDon't worry too much about the bad reviews. This game has been out officially for 13 hours. Most of the negative reviews here consist of the typical QQ associated with first impressions of new AAA mmos. You'll never get an MMO that's exactly what you want it to be, so don't cry when Bioware doesn't meet your every specification. I've been playing this game since mid-summer beta and it's gotten better with every build. The final product is highly polished and offers more than any other MMO on the market.… Expand
  20. Triplesec84
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Bioware delivered what they promised to deliver: a bioware-style mmo in the star wars universe. The environments are gorgeous, the stories are fantastic. Group content is fun, companions are useful, and crew skills are far and above the best new feature. This game has forever changed the landscape of MMO design.
  21. Lyones
    Dec 26, 2011
    0
    Just another WoW clone, in a very bad shape this time!
    This game is the emblem of a deadly year for the MMORPG market, with his heavily instanced gameplay and lack of massively multiplayer contents, it really disappoints every true mmo gamer.
  22. 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
  23. ClassHero1
    Dec 22, 2011
    1
    Can't believe I wasted money on this game, it was so overhyped.

    I have spent so many hours on it already but I am definitely not coming back.

    The combat system is the most broken thing I've ever seen not to mention the phasing.

    Completely disappointed.
  24. Tkwz
    Jan 5, 2012
    0
    I think I can finally properly rate this game after a while playing, which I did just to make sure it's not wow-hate speaking through me. Well, it isn't and it makes me glad that my initial impression was accurate. This game is simply boring, I could go on for hours about every single little aspect, but the bottom line is exactly that: boring, boring and boring RPG-KOTOR-wannabe and it isI think I can finally properly rate this game after a while playing, which I did just to make sure it's not wow-hate speaking through me. Well, it isn't and it makes me glad that my initial impression was accurate. This game is simply boring, I could go on for hours about every single little aspect, but the bottom line is exactly that: boring, boring and boring RPG-KOTOR-wannabe and it is not MMO at all unless MMO has been recently redefined . Yes there are other players running around but I think it's a bug, since the interaction potential this game offers is equal to null and when you try to compile it, gives you exception and crashes your brain. And finally, there is nothing to do, once you hit endgame = there is no endgame. And if you try to do something out of the box, you get banned (true story, some people got arbitrarily banned for grinding money in higher level zone). Why on earth would I ever want to renew this subscription? Good at least I know how to sell it and recover most of my money, so I don't feel like wasting it.… Expand
  25. Krichevskoy
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    Hardly any end-game content.
    Huge world. 90% empty space/useless uninteresting areas.
    Poor pvp balance.
    Hardly any diversity in the armor models. The different races only differ in slight remakes of the human bone structure. No body changes whatsoever (you couldn't tell the different races apart if you covered up the face).
  26. lastcigarette
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    In SWTOR Bioware brings something back to the Star Wars universe that has been lacking since KOTOR and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Story. And unlike another MMO that promises Legendary Items, SWTOR actually has weapons and armor that can stay with you throughout the game.
  27. d4kk0n
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    I waited years for this game and what comes out of it is a cheap imitation of WoW with lightsabers. Probably the biggest disappointment in video game history, how can a company spend 300M$ on a game that turns out like this? After a series of outstanding games coming out in the last few days ( skyrim, batman, uncharted 3, etc) there is no point in wasting your money on this. And on top ofI waited years for this game and what comes out of it is a cheap imitation of WoW with lightsabers. Probably the biggest disappointment in video game history, how can a company spend 300M$ on a game that turns out like this? After a series of outstanding games coming out in the last few days ( skyrim, batman, uncharted 3, etc) there is no point in wasting your money on this. And on top of that, you still have to pay each month. Absolutely ridiculous.… Expand
  28. RPGplayer
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    Let me start by saying that this game has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Reasons why I gave this game a zero include:
    1. The combat system is absolutely outdated by today's standards. Even Korean artificial wife grinding simulators (I'm looking at you, Blade&Soul) have better combat systems that blow SWTOR right out of the water. There is absolutely no incentive to move during combat,    Let me start by saying that this game has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Reasons why I gave this game a zero include:
    1. The combat system is absolutely outdated by today's standards. Even Korean artificial wife grinding simulators (I'm looking at you, Blade&Soul) have better combat systems that blow SWTOR right out of the water. There is absolutely no incentive to move during combat, except in order to make it harder for your enemy to keep you in his line of sight. The combat system is mostly character skill and equipment based and consists basically of cycling your active skills and buffs, trying to manage their cooldowns. This is MAYBE acceptable for a 7 year old game like WOW, but not for 2011 year product. It also makes PvP a phallus measuring contest between powergamers, that have builds and gear tailored specifically to PvP. This isn't bad by itself, "proper" character levelling is always required at high level PvP play. It's the fact this game does not allow you to compensate for your character's shortcomings with your own personal skill, which makes it bad.

    2. The blurry low quality textures. This game simply does not look like a 2011-2012 game. Compare with cookie cutter Korean grind-based MMOs to see what I'm talking about. They look much better, not to mention actually good looking games like TERA and GW2.

    3. Atrocious art design and race homogeneity. Landscapes and structures look sterile and devoid of life. The game areas have vast empty spaces. Everything looks too clean and inartistic.Also, all character models look pretty much the same and are basically reskinned copies of each other with slight differences.

    4. The dialogue system which is absolutely redundant here. You see, multi solution quests and choices and consequences (called gameworld reactivity by some) are those things that separate the cRPG genre from MMORPGs, hack and slash games, roguelikes and their derivatives. SWTOR tries to look like a true RPG, but fails miserably at this. Most of the quests are as linear as a railroad and even the rare choices that you make are cosmetic 99% of the time. There are literally several choices that have actual, mechanical consequences in the game. The end result is that this game is no different form any other MMORPG, except that you have to sit through several minutes of cheesy, horrible writing to get your "kill 10 boars, bring their livers" style quest, before you can actually go kill something.

    5. No end game content and shallow character customization. There's nothing to comment here, even the most severe Bioware apologists will agree with this.

    I would post more reasons, but I feel that I've wasted enough time writing a review for a game that I would recommend to anyone.    … Expand
  29. chainzor
    Dec 20, 2011
    8
    This game is getting a LOT of heat for being a dull WoW-clone. Fair enough, they copied a lot of what -works- in WoW. In my humble opinion, a lot of the criticism completely misses it's own point - this game IS, in fact, innovating. I don't think they 'wasted a lot of money on voice acting', I think it's money well spend. When i first got into the game, I was very chilled, my expectationsThis game is getting a LOT of heat for being a dull WoW-clone. Fair enough, they copied a lot of what -works- in WoW. In my humble opinion, a lot of the criticism completely misses it's own point - this game IS, in fact, innovating. I don't think they 'wasted a lot of money on voice acting', I think it's money well spend. When i first got into the game, I was very chilled, my expectations were super-high, and met by an according cinematic - that thing rocked. I was taken to the character-creation - no Eve Online creator, still, more customization than World of Warcraft ever offered. The first 10 levels were amazing, when I moved from the tutorial-planet I felt like I did after playing the first part of Age og Conan - difference was the good stories and awesome voice-acting didn't stop here, the whole thing didn't just turn in to 'go out and do whatever, kill some boars if you like or something'.. Nope, I find even the side-quests interesting, and grinding very optional. Then there's the combat system. Well.. They didn't exactly re-redefine.. well anything. BUT, people tend to look back at the games that did, and forget why they're not playing them. The locked-target ability system does offer some things, it's clearly not very confusing (although targeting could have been sneakier), and it makes it more important how you prioritize your skills, then how well you make a headshot, make wierd combos, or whatever innovative fantastic combat system that for some reason isn't popular enough to beat this classic in popularity. The 2 points from 10 comes from a couple of things - the gear, for once. Ouch. I got my sweet jedi-robe at lvl 14-15 and then it just kinda went down from there. PvP-gear was much harder to get, but made me look like a silly homemade halloween-costume aiming for a mix of Superman and Julius Caesar. Very weird, and not very cool. Another thing that disappointed me was spaceships. I'd hoped for an implementation where you could be a group manning a spaceship, and it'd matter, and you could buy new ones and such, but in reality the 'locked on route'-type spaceship missions made me wanna get it over with and get back on land. However, overall I'm having a splendid time, and I really think it's worth the while. Maybe even worth the queue-times.… Expand
  30. AirshipGirl
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    I came into this game hoping we'd finally see a decent new mmo based on a great IP. Instead we got more of the same - but less! Bioware said they were using the model that made World of Warcraft great, yet I don't see anything that resembles WoW in this game other than the boring kill quest and fed-x quest dressed up in fancy dialog. Also where is the great worlds we were promised?I came into this game hoping we'd finally see a decent new mmo based on a great IP. Instead we got more of the same - but less! Bioware said they were using the model that made World of Warcraft great, yet I don't see anything that resembles WoW in this game other than the boring kill quest and fed-x quest dressed up in fancy dialog. Also where is the great worlds we were promised? I log into Tython and what do I see? A gorgeous green world that is devoid of life other than the quest mobs we run around killing in packs of three. It is like that throughout the whole zone it seems. When I go into a game world I expect it to resemble a world...at least you know...pretend to be a world. Where is it in this game. I am so disappointed. Let's not forget the running. OMG the running. This is insane. I do not know what it is about this game but I have never played an mmo that made me run so much. The game is by far the worst mmo I have come across in all my years of mmo gaming. Really - so disappointed. :( I will be getting a refund and sending this game back. Do yourself a favor - save your money! This game is not worth it.… 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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