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
  31. Wilko
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    Given the setting Bioware had to work with and in this day and age, the amount of experience they could have drawn from, I'm actually amazed at how awful SW:ToR. It's as if they had to actively work at making it as shoddy as possible. Straight away character creation is a letdown. You can choose from any race possible provided it's human, or a different colour of human. Animations areGiven the setting Bioware had to work with and in this day and age, the amount of experience they could have drawn from, I'm actually amazed at how awful SW:ToR. It's as if they had to actively work at making it as shoddy as possible. Straight away character creation is a letdown. You can choose from any race possible provided it's human, or a different colour of human. Animations are terrible with constant glitches, missing parts or areas where it just plain bugs out. Combat is snorefest, at least the PvE aspect of it, I didn't even bother with PvP given at the time I was desperately trying to come up with a reason to live. Map a damaging ability to hotkey 1, map a different ability to number 2 incase number 1 is on a longer cooldown than your global hotkey cooldown. Proceed to mash 1 and 2 as often as you feel like since the input lags half the time anyway so it's anyones guess when your ability will actually fire off. Congratulations, you have mastered ToRs "combat". This seems to be great practice for those flash games where you have to control a runner by pumping A and D until your fingers bleed.

    Imagine my suprise that ToR was touted as a WoW-Killer, to find that not does it copy WoW its questing content as much as possible but it manages to make it worse. I'm sure by now you can guess what I'm refering to. Of course, Kill X of Y and the genre-breaking Deliver X to Y. Holy damn it's a smorgasbord of questing options. This unfortunately culminates in you wanting to get the tedious things out the way as quickly as possible which results in skipping every voiced exposition available. A nice idea in concept I'm sure and no doubt Bioware put a lot of effort into this aspect (well the money and time must have gone somewhere) but if I'm trying to get through 30 minutes of tedium on a "quest" I'd rather not have to spend 5 minutes extra in the run-up to it. From the first couple I did bother to sit through, the voice actors seemed as bored as I did so I figured it was a fair trade from then on that one of us should be spared the nauseum .

    In the end though it turned out to be all for naught as I simply gave up. I just couldn't face more levels of the same rubbish and certainly couldn't fathom what end-game Bioware had in store that would have possibly made up for this exercise in how to be certifiably braindead while still moving. Maybe the final part of the game was transformed into a wonderous experience in which I could have finally understand where all the funding, time and (supposed) effort went. Somehow though, I sincerely doubt it.    … Expand
  32. Kaiji
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    At last, after many years of waiting we finally discover the answer to the extremely promising question "What happens when you combine EA + Bioware + Star Wars KotOR + the most expensive development budget for a video game EVER, and create an MMORPG", and it's not the answer most of us expected.

    The endlessly touted voiceovers are cheesey and patronizing and sound as though they were    At last, after many years of waiting we finally discover the answer to the extremely promising question "What happens when you combine EA + Bioware + Star Wars KotOR + the most expensive development budget for a video game EVER, and create an MMORPG", and it's not the answer most of us expected.

    The endlessly touted voiceovers are cheesey and patronizing and sound as though they were designed to please 8 year olds and under. There's extremely little variety in quest types - even less than in the original KoTOR games. The space combat could be replaced with a screen saying "YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT FOR BUYING THIS GAME! HAHAHAHAHHAA!!!" and it would still have the exact same entertainment value as it does. The combat is stiff and dull with many abilities that were seemingly thrown in due to a resentful game designer being reluctantly forced to think them up to fill a quota.

    The game world doesn't even try to be a "world". It's just a series of linear instances, which is what you'd expect to find in a single player Bioware game but certainly not in the single most expensive MMORPG ever created. They've amazingly succeeded in making the world about a tenth as immersive as World of Warcraft (released 7 years ago), with no day/night cycles, no swimming and NPCs and mobs that just stand there.

    I don't really need to mention the graphics as they've been thoroughly torn into by everyone except the most blinkered and deluded of fanboys, but I will anyway... They're garbage. I have no problem with MMOs having lower requirements and therefore technically less impressive graphics, but Bioware seem to have taken this as an excuse to put almost zero artistic effort into the way the game looks. The only way to make the graphics any look more like they resented having to create them would have been to render the entire game in ASCII.

    If this game turns out to be a lasting success it will be a good thing for the gaming industry because it will mean that game developers don't have to put any passion or sincere effort into their work. It won't be so much of a good thing for us gamers though, because we already have more than enough unimaginatively designed dreck to wade through as it is.

    In summary: Soulless, flat, bland IP cash-in at best. An insult to any discerning gamer at worst.

    Mainstream MMOs don't come out of often enough for Bioware to blow the biggest budget EVER on this sorry excuse for a game. I hope they enjoyed whatever they spent the budget on, because it certainly wasn't spent on developing this game.

    Avoid.    … Expand
  33. Skrilla
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    you people are he flat silly. I can't believe the critics..and now i can't believe the users so it's really become just buy it or rent it and try it for myself. everytime a new mmo comes out it's omg a wow clone!! And you people really think WOW pioneered this model? Seriously give me a break!!! You think mmos are somehow going to revolutionize and change everything? I highly doubtyou people are he flat silly. I can't believe the critics..and now i can't believe the users so it's really become just buy it or rent it and try it for myself. everytime a new mmo comes out it's omg a wow clone!! And you people really think WOW pioneered this model? Seriously give me a break!!! You think mmos are somehow going to revolutionize and change everything? I highly doubt it considering todays forms of input so until the tech increases and gets cheaper the model of how our input is taken and translated in game is NOT going to change!!! Also, i played wow from the start and I don't remember it having allll this end game content everyone is fussing about until some expansions came out...and i remember it's graphics were sub par too..but it was fun and it put you in a fantasy world you wanted to be in. That is exactly what swtor does if you are a star wars fan.....and i have yet to see the grind because i'm always doing something new in this game. Tell me this since you wow fanboys are soooo smart. What kinda quests would you have people do in your mmo? LOL!! probably about the same b/c the reality of it is there's only so many varied quest types you can come up with and that coupled with the fact that you must serve up thousands of them for millions of players to enjoy so that things are varied enough they are not fully monotonous is a daunting task in itself. At least a lot of these quests in swtor lend to the story line and the atmosphere which is more than i can say for WOW. MMOs are like wine...they get better with age. The fact that you all are ripping it tells me 1 of 3 things. A: your a hardcore fanboy of WOW and no mmo that comes out within the next 10 years is going to satisfy that itch for something different
    OR
    B: you don't understand anything about human/computer interaction and the possiblities ther are with certain limitations on computing power across the board
    OR
    C: you wouldn't know a good, fun, atmospheric, well built, non launch crashing, engaging game if it punched you in the face (and i've played em all and i must say that this has been the best handled release, and most thought out well developed mmo to ever come out to date taking it for what it is now at release date notwithstanding future expansions)

    That's my 2 cents on the topic since all i read nowadays is nitpicky garbage on these user review sites.    … Expand
  34. Sokolov
    Dec 26, 2011
    0
    Colossal disappointment. Was released unfinished, very buggy, hardly playable, poor FPS on medium-low end PCs. The combat style is atrocious, skills, attacks, moment are all FUBAR, in need of complete overhaul. Its actually annoying and frustrating when your in combat. To top it off, this is like a single player game, its KOTOR 3 Online! It lacks essential MMO qualities to be called anColossal disappointment. Was released unfinished, very buggy, hardly playable, poor FPS on medium-low end PCs. The combat style is atrocious, skills, attacks, moment are all FUBAR, in need of complete overhaul. Its actually annoying and frustrating when your in combat. To top it off, this is like a single player game, its KOTOR 3 Online! It lacks essential MMO qualities to be called an MMO, definitely not worth a monthly fee.… Expand
  35. Moikko
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    This one is really nice game. I've had break from MMO's for over 6 months and this one really hits the spot! Thank you for making such a nice atmosphere BioWare! Haven't tried PvP yet, but i aint much of a PvP'er so that is not a problem.
  36. jayishere
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Awesome game, everyone giving it low scores is absolutely trolling. It has everything I look for in an MMO, and more. It is actually original and has an amazing story behind it.
  37. Hobnobb
    Dec 21, 2011
    10
    An excellent MMO with so many different aspects included. The story and voice-over are just two fantastic things about this game - crafting, space combat, PvP, morale system, and flash points; everything is a blast.
  38. RustyShackle
    Dec 20, 2011
    3
    Singleplayer game with multiplayer thrown on so they can charge $15 a month. Virtually no endgame. If you enjoy starwars, might want to check it out for 1-50, but after that drop it instantly.
  39. alceste007
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    A solid themepark MMO with that special Bioware storytelling added in. ToR is a ton of fun. ToR also offers some of the most rewarding MMO questing to date. Each class receives complex class-specific story lines. Most quests reward moral choices with light-side/dark-side points. This is very nice additional element to an MMO.
  40. Dianoia
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    MMO's are a tough thing to review. Many appear solid and polished, engrossing and exciting, only to fall apart later on. Some start off overly complex and counterintuitive, and then become engrossing, with a level of depth and replayability you can't find in any other genre. That being said, be wary of ANY review you read of ANY MMO out the gate: oftentimes, you're really only reading aMMO's are a tough thing to review. Many appear solid and polished, engrossing and exciting, only to fall apart later on. Some start off overly complex and counterintuitive, and then become engrossing, with a level of depth and replayability you can't find in any other genre. That being said, be wary of ANY review you read of ANY MMO out the gate: oftentimes, you're really only reading a brief initial impression of what the whole game has to offer.

    That being said, my initial impression of star Wars: The Old Republic is extremely positive. This is not an entirely new formulq, and it shows. BioWare studied their competition extremely carefully, mimicing many of the best things titles have offered in the genre. The game play, abilities, and user interface are all very reminiscent of any other major MMO release in the past seven years. The formula is the same, too: start off as a lowly no one and, through questing, group play, and pvp, become a hero in great gear and maybe even someone famous on your server.

    Where this game separates itself is in the story and the execution. For better or worse, BioWare chose to make the game less of a grand exploration of an overarching world, and more of a "theme park". At first, it's a little hard to appreciate the decision, as the feeling of traversing an epic world is lost in favor of zipping around every sight in the galaxy. However, the decision's strengths begin to shine when you realize that BioWare took a universe too big to fully explore, and fully realized the best moments, locales, and tales you could expect from Star Wars. Flying from one point in the zone Nar Shaadaa to the other, you get the feeling of a very tiny person in a very big galaxy. No other game I've played has created such a sense of scale from so little, and it's 100% faithful to the feel of the films.

    If you love story telling, especially the BioWare flavor, it's definitely here. The feat BioWare pulled off in turning text-driven "go kill x of this" into a living, breathing tale of moral decisions is breathtaking. Sure, not every quest is as engrossing, and some story lines get going (and stay going) faster than others, but there are cringe-worthy, jaw-dropping, and tear jerking moments to be had. No other MMO has pulled it off this well, and it goes a long way to getting you hooked fast. It alne is reason enough to jump into BioWare's world.

    There are definite missteps here. The UI is clunky and lacking customization. Class balance is a bit bonkers early on. The looking for group feature is circa 2007. Character customization, though better than competitor's games, doesn't live up to BioWare's other staples. Que times are out the wazoo. But none of these are game breaking, and in an age where MMO's just get better over time, these are surely on BioWare's radar for future patch improvements.

    So, should you buy this game? If you love MMO's, Star Wars, or BioWare's storytellng, you'll probably fall in love with this game. If you're a FPS fan, expect 7 years of polish and features out the door, are looking for cutting-edge DX11 graphics, or don't get into a game's story, I'd pass.    … Expand
  41. JiDW
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    They made a KOTOR (best game ever), but multiplayers. It's all I ever dreamed. I've played a lot of MMOs and it's the first time that I'm interested in the story of quests. I truly don't care if the gameplay is like in WoW, I've played MMOs before WoW and it was already the same. Did players complained about WoW gameplay ? At first I was afraid about graphics when I saw screenshots, butThey made a KOTOR (best game ever), but multiplayers. It's all I ever dreamed. I've played a lot of MMOs and it's the first time that I'm interested in the story of quests. I truly don't care if the gameplay is like in WoW, I've played MMOs before WoW and it was already the same. Did players complained about WoW gameplay ? At first I was afraid about graphics when I saw screenshots, but in fact the game is beautiful, I really love its style. Excellent work Bioware, thanks for all !… Expand
  42. Lolipop
    Dec 25, 2011
    0
    Instancing , **** graphics , biggest waste of money ever. Did I mention companions ? OMG , they have the AI of a retarded duck . EVERYTHING FAILS in this game . THIS IS NOT A MMO , it's a SINGLE PLAYER GAME masked as a MMO .
  43. ReDDoTNeckbeard
    Dec 24, 2011
    10
    The people that are giving this game negative reviews are most likely not playing the game or expected TOR to be SWG2.0 or extremely brand new. TOR, since day 1, was announced to be building on the already proven MMO formula that seems to be rooted in the direction of EQ/WoW. Its not WoW "in-space", but its a well-made MMO with a GREAT story. If you enjoyed KOTOR, ME/ME2/DA/DA2 - you willThe people that are giving this game negative reviews are most likely not playing the game or expected TOR to be SWG2.0 or extremely brand new. TOR, since day 1, was announced to be building on the already proven MMO formula that seems to be rooted in the direction of EQ/WoW. Its not WoW "in-space", but its a well-made MMO with a GREAT story. If you enjoyed KOTOR, ME/ME2/DA/DA2 - you will love TOR as it allows you to have all what those single player games offered and adds multiplayer aspect to it. I personally love the PvP, love the flashpoints, love the classes. By no means this game is ideal, but out of the MMO launches that I've been in - this is the best MMO at launch and the BEST launch experience I've ever had (and i've played most MMOs in the past 7 years). I recommend this game if you like BioWare games and if you like MMO games. Otherwise wait for trial version!… Expand
  44. taz08078
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    Perhaps this game is not the most revolutionary, but it is fun. I am not a hardcore player, but I have played a number of MMO's before. This game is different in that the voiceovers for quests do immerse you in the game, but it may not be for everyone. The core mechanics are designed to simple and easy for non-mmo players to pick-up. If you've never played an MMO before or have neverPerhaps this game is not the most revolutionary, but it is fun. I am not a hardcore player, but I have played a number of MMO's before. This game is different in that the voiceovers for quests do immerse you in the game, but it may not be for everyone. The core mechanics are designed to simple and easy for non-mmo players to pick-up. If you've never played an MMO before or have never felt a "part" of the game...check out The Old Republic...casual players that appreciate a story will have fun.… Expand
  45. valentre
    Dec 21, 2011
    10
    I think this game is brilliant. It has some bugs and some fixes are needed, but overall, it is polished and will get even better with time. The problem with a free critic site is that ActBlizz can pay people to come post here. A lot of the reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. Go try the game yourself - it's worth the story and journey it conveys!

    People clamor for innovation,    I think this game is brilliant. It has some bugs and some fixes are needed, but overall, it is polished and will get even better with time. The problem with a free critic site is that ActBlizz can pay people to come post here. A lot of the reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. Go try the game yourself - it's worth the story and journey it conveys!

    People clamor for innovation, as they expected Bioware to re-invent the wheel. They never once said that is what they were trying for. A lot of people had unrealistic expectations. If you want to have a fun game where Star Wars thrives, this is the game for you.    … Expand
  46. 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 :(
  47. mQCmD
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    Expecting something different like everything that I was promised all i got a was blatant wow copy with different skin. It's so exactly the same its not even funny, the only difference is that you get those silly mass effect cutscenes that go like this "Welcome overlord of moons oh great Sith Lord, I want you to kill 10 Drones. Bye." 0/10
  48. OneTimeReview
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    Great game. There are some very innovative features, such as crafting and multiplayer dialogues, built on top of the proven success of a themepark design. BioWare is masterful in their storytelling and cinematic delivery of content. There's room for improvement, but in their first MMO attempt I think BioWare has done very well. I'm having a lot of fun!
  49. Ishiwadede
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Incredibly surprised by all of the negative reviews. I find the game has recaptured my interest and personal involvement in a way that no MMO has been able to do since WoW - if that indicates something negative to you about my taste, so be it. The popularity of World of Warcraft shows myself to be in the majority, and just as I'm getting tired of that game this one comes out. AnyoneIncredibly surprised by all of the negative reviews. I find the game has recaptured my interest and personal involvement in a way that no MMO has been able to do since WoW - if that indicates something negative to you about my taste, so be it. The popularity of World of Warcraft shows myself to be in the majority, and just as I'm getting tired of that game this one comes out. Anyone expecting game-changing innovation was misleading themselves from the very beginning - no company that has invested as much as Bioware and EA have on Star Wars are going to cater to the fringe. They made a mainstream, easily accessible MMO with enough fresh aspects to make it still somewhat new and different, and I'm having one hell of a fun time.… Expand
  50. thebigboat
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    Disgraceful example of a game from what used to be the greatest developer in the industry. Dull, tedious and barren example of an MMO and pathetically bad in comparison to KOTOR 1 and 2. Never buying another Bioware product, lost all faith in the company.â
  51. Destati
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    The most glaring flaw of this game is that it plays it so goddamn safe. Here they have a huge, expansive, IP to take advantage of and they decide to go the baby route with it. They didn't take any chances. I don't see how they can expect to get the numbers they need to recoup the investment without trying something a little new. Bioware promised so much, and delivered on so little.The most glaring flaw of this game is that it plays it so goddamn safe. Here they have a huge, expansive, IP to take advantage of and they decide to go the baby route with it. They didn't take any chances. I don't see how they can expect to get the numbers they need to recoup the investment without trying something a little new. Bioware promised so much, and delivered on so little. Offensive in that with the deep pockets that EA has they could have made something fresh, but instead chose to walk in the path of their popular predecessors. In a lot of ways, as flawed as it was on launch, Star Wars Galaxies offered a lot more to people who like MMOs. There was player housing, a player economy, player set goals, a leveling system that encouraged experimentation and offered ways to change classes if dissatisfied, and social interaction through gameplay. Example. I played a Smuggler. I made my fortune selling Muon Gold and Neutron Pixie in Cantinas. I would go from world to world peddling my illicit substances to regular customers, and try to edge out other smugglers through competitive pricing. I sliced (upgraded) weapons for one of the best craftsman on the server. All my armor and clothing was created by a Fashion Designer who owned a huge **** mansion and would custom-make your stuff to your specifications. When I got tired of Smuggler, I became a commando to help combat the abuse of AT-STs. My friends and I set out on quests across planets to find notable Star Wars NPC's like Han Solo and Chewbacca. If you didn't want to be a hero, you could play an Entertainer, a Cook, or an Image Designer or Fashion Designer. You could be that guy who sat in a cantina all day talking, and still progress in your class and feel satisfaction and build a reputation for yourself. As a smuggler in Old Republic, the quest was sort of interesting, but ultimately I just shot **** to death and made a few dialogue options. Not once did I really feel like I was a smuggler.… Expand
  52. Xae77
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    Unfortunately, SW:TOR is pretty much the epitome of what is wrong with the world of mmo's today. The Old Republic is a WoW clone minus a lot of features, content and just plain common sense but has Lightsabers. Character creation is easily the worst half assed attempt Ive seen in quite some time, even including Asian FTP titles. Models including faces are recycled between races, leadingUnfortunately, SW:TOR is pretty much the epitome of what is wrong with the world of mmo's today. The Old Republic is a WoW clone minus a lot of features, content and just plain common sense but has Lightsabers. Character creation is easily the worst half assed attempt Ive seen in quite some time, even including Asian FTP titles. Models including faces are recycled between races, leading to everyone regardless of race looking almost identical. The art style itself is pretty much a joke, it looks like the Star Wars kids cartoon. I don't mind the 'graphics' being dumbed down a little for the sake of performance or even "cartoony" but to do it in such a kiddie way makes me hate even looking at my character. All in all its A Star Wars Mod for vanilla WoW.… Expand
  53. ptikom
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    When one thinks of Star Wars, what do you picture? For me it's Lightsaber duels, blaster battles, strange aliens, lovable characters and stories you find yourself drawn too. From the start BioWare disappoints, you are presented with five races to choose from, all of them slightly modified humans. The standard human, the red human with spikes, the human with tentacle hair, the green humanWhen one thinks of Star Wars, what do you picture? For me it's Lightsaber duels, blaster battles, strange aliens, lovable characters and stories you find yourself drawn too. From the start BioWare disappoints, you are presented with five races to choose from, all of them slightly modified humans. The standard human, the red human with spikes, the human with tentacle hair, the green human or the human with cybernetics. This leaves even the layman Star Wars viewer asking "Where are the Wookies?" or other races.

    The dialogue options are a waste of time. For example, lets say you want to go Dark Side on this character. The NPC gives you options A B and C to answer him. You chose A. A gives you Light Side points. You just cancel the dialogue and talk to the NPC again either to avoid the Light shift or to find the option that will grant you Dark Side or Companion points. In essence, the only true choice in this game is your decision to go Dark or Light.

    The combat is what you expect out of MMOs today. Find a rotation and use it each fight. Nothing innovative. The same is said for most group content, you get the holy trinity and find yourself spamming whatever rotation the role requires until the boss is dead. Amazing boss mechanics include "Don't stand in the fire" and "get out of LOS".

    Finally the UI. What was acceptable in 2004 is not acceptable now. Rift launched with a fully customizable UI. World of Warcraft has a plethora of websites devoted just to mods for it's UI. Old Republic has neither. You cannot macro this game. You cannot mod this game. The UI you see is what you get.

    In closing, Old Republic at best is a way to kill time and enjoy a story told by BioWare in the Star Wars Universe. However, it is not a story worth $60 initially and another $180 over a year.    … Expand
  54. RyanW1019
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    I love it. Cinematic experience, innovative crafting system, awesome visuals, and heroic-feeling combat. There's a lot of room for expansions, but that's why we pay the subscriptions. Would recommend to anyone who liked KOTOR, WoW, and/or Star Wars.
  55. Mookfr
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    The game is complete trash , wow in space it also looks like a Nintendo 64 game it burns my eyes. Seriously who will pay 15 $ per month for this ? This is a scam guild war 2 proves that they don't need monthly fee to manage a MMO. At least if you pay the game should be good , this one is far from that it is a poor one player game and a worst mmo. Just play Kotor 1 and 2 they look the sameThe game is complete trash , wow in space it also looks like a Nintendo 64 game it burns my eyes. Seriously who will pay 15 $ per month for this ? This is a scam guild war 2 proves that they don't need monthly fee to manage a MMO. At least if you pay the game should be good , this one is far from that it is a poor one player game and a worst mmo. Just play Kotor 1 and 2 they look the same anyway and are great games. Biowar now only cares about the money that is why they jumped on the MMO train. Do yourself and your bank account a favor and wait for guild war 2… Expand
  56. Olliepop
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Bioware do not disappoint. WoW fanboys are just taking a break from bashing Blizzard and are bashing the greatest current threat to their beloved universe. I am a former WoW fanboy, converted by SWTOR. This game is amazing. First, to combat previous critics: Zones are in 2 instances, you can jump between them freely. The purpose of these is to prevent 400 people in one zone stealing yourBioware do not disappoint. WoW fanboys are just taking a break from bashing Blizzard and are bashing the greatest current threat to their beloved universe. I am a former WoW fanboy, converted by SWTOR. This game is amazing. First, to combat previous critics: Zones are in 2 instances, you can jump between them freely. The purpose of these is to prevent 400 people in one zone stealing your mobs: instead there are 200. Cities etc are not instanced. Server queues are only present because it's launch like ANY OTHER mmo. Infact, unlike WoW launch or other games these servers are not lagging or crashing. Top job Bioware.

    Combat is insanely fun in this game. In WoW combat was the same every time, in SWTOR it's dynamic and varies. Mobs have different levels of difficulty, identifiable by the colour graphic around their portrait and 'Strong', 'Elite', 'Champion' texts. The vast majority of items can be traded before bound, and items can be modified to update stats to retain the look of your gear if you so choose.

    Great game, check it out yourself.    … Expand
  57. Multiverselol
    Dec 20, 2011
    2
    The gameplay feels and looks surprisingly cheap considering Bioware spent over 100 million to make TOR. To get an idea of how it plays, just imagine World of Warcraft with less polish, 75% less content and way more instancing. Big swing and a miss by Bioware.
  58. SpartanBlackman
    Dec 22, 2011
    1
    This game tries so hard, but falls short in every area.
    The game is instanced, the servers are horrible and here to stay. The game is empty due to instancing.
    There is no endgame content. The Companions are terrible and are lifeless. PvP is terrible, you just mash all of the buttons and win. The abilities are bland and it looks like something from 2003. Warcraft 3 looks better than this    This game tries so hard, but falls short in every area.
    The game is instanced, the servers are horrible and here to stay. The game is empty due to instancing.
    There is no endgame content. The Companions are terrible and are lifeless. PvP is terrible, you just mash all of the buttons and win.
    The abilities are bland and it looks like something from 2003. Warcraft 3 looks better than this abomination.
    The lore is terrible. The lore from KotOR 2 was butchered and this has an abomination of a plot that would make any true KotOR fan cringe. It honestly sounds like poorly written fanfiction done by a lonely anime fangirl
    The game is the worst MMO I have ever played, and the worst RPG too. Bioware needs to step up their game. After Dragon age 2 and SWTOR, and with Mass Effect 3 looking more like Gears of War every time we see it, it looks like Bioware have lost their touch, something that is painfully obvious every second of gameplay.
    A 1/10 is generous.
    If you want to play an MMO or a RPG, pick something else, because this game will not be for you.    … Expand
  59. Erebus890
    Dec 21, 2011
    10
    This game is pretty much exactly what I wanted from an MMO. Most MMO's try to either be too similar, or very different from WoW, this one on the other hand is a very nice balance.
  60. RexxRacerX
    Dec 22, 2011
    2
    For anyone interested in an honest opinion and some analysis on the game Star Wars the Old Republic. There are good and not so good elements to SWTOR at launch, and I'll try to list out the pros and cons below this general statement. Overall, SWTOR is a fun experience to start, and is familiar to anyone playing the run of the mill MMO these days in the interface. Some (OK, honestly MOST)For anyone interested in an honest opinion and some analysis on the game Star Wars the Old Republic. There are good and not so good elements to SWTOR at launch, and I'll try to list out the pros and cons below this general statement. Overall, SWTOR is a fun experience to start, and is familiar to anyone playing the run of the mill MMO these days in the interface. Some (OK, honestly MOST) design choices are extremely clunky and poorly implemented, however offer a glimmer of hope in the spirit of what they were trying to achieve. Other things, like the layout of quest objectives, planet design, and items that I consider to be pure time sinks are not well received by me, and ultimately will turn me off from this game in short time. The voice over gimmick gets tired after about level 20-25, and while it was a great idea, again it was not pulled off in execution in my opinion because it becomes a tedious chore for all but the main story quests after some time into the game. Also, it feels like the voice over addition severely gimped the development of the actual gameplay itself, and SWTOR does not feel like a complete game, let alone polished and ready for release by any stretch. In my opinion, the last 5 years have seen many MMO's come and go, and the bar has been set higher than was achieved here, and I agree that it feels like a regression in a certain respect from other offerings in the genres.

    Here are some things that I really like about the game:
    The companion idea - Having a useful companion like a pet from other MMO's for each class is a great idea, and overall is implemented well.
    Companion questing/skills - Again, great idea and overall implemented well.
    Companion able to be sent on errands to sell your junk, again great idea, but not novel considering there are at least 2 other active MMO's that have this functionality.
    Having a ship that has customization options - great implementation and necessary to build upon KOTOR legacy.

    Things that ultimately will push me away if not addressed and fixed:
    -Design of the instances make it feel like you are isolated and either alone, or with very few people. This is not worthy of a subscription in it's current state with the limited social interaction and sharded state of the servers. Oddly enough, even though the game is sharded and feels empty often times you will get to a quest node, or assassination target and have to wait for a respawn or reset.
    -Conversely, there are queues on many servers at launch, and it is very disappointing to wait in an extended queue to get into what feels like an empty game.
    -Poor UI Design. No options to move, customize, or resize. Pop up windows are exclusive in some cases and feels very clunky as a interface. Positioning of some windows is just utterly silly.
    -No options for macros or addons.
    -Poor design of the game in general. I'm talking about the quests and nature of running back and forth 800 gazillion times for rewards, which I thought the industry standard was set better years ago.Also, stairs leading to nowhere, completely empty buildings, and a almost useless navigation system with the current map and location finders.
    -Lack of quest options and dynamics. All quests are basically go kill x of these, loot x of those, or click x of these. Where are the usable objects like turrets? Dynamic environment changes? Mount quests? Again, the bar is set higher then this game has achieved.
    -Loading screens for new zones is another thing that is odd to see in this day and age.
    -Getting stuck. If your game has a need for a /stuck command that I've personally had to use a dozen times in a week after 5 years of development, something is clearly wrong.
    -Lack of Avatar customization options. Character creation is very disappointing, and again I thought the bar was set higher.
    -Poor PVP options.
    -More time sink items than a bantha has fleas. No sprint until lvl 10, no mount until lvl 25, again I thought we were past this type behavior.
    -No voice over IP options. Again, it feels like a regression.
    -Questing on a rail, lack of replayability. Each class has a separate story line, but eventually that's used up, and the side quests are very tedious and not unique.

    I'm sure I could nitpick and find more, but these are the glaring items that will ultimately cause me to quit playing this game. For now, I'm engrossed by each character class story and I sincerely hope that many of these items get addressed and fixed or redesigned.

    I score the release of the game a 2 because I feel like the companions are done so well that it warrants a couple points on it's own, all other aspects need some serious rework for this game to not end up in the F2P trash heap.    … Expand
  61. topshelf
    Dec 20, 2011
    8
    SWTOR is an engaging, story-driven adventure unlike anything we've seen in the MMO genre to-date.

    This is a game that truly grips you from the earliest beginnings. If you've read anything about SWTOR it's that this is a game about story - and it is. This is quality writing and while perhaps not a **** tale, it brings enough surprises to keep even the most avid gamer engrossed. DON'T SKIP    SWTOR is an engaging, story-driven adventure unlike anything we've seen in the MMO genre to-date.

    This is a game that truly grips you from the earliest beginnings. If you've read anything about SWTOR it's that this is a game about story - and it is. This is quality writing and while perhaps not a **** tale, it brings enough surprises to keep even the most avid gamer engrossed. DON'T SKIP THE CUT-SCENES
    So many games in this genre are about "getting through the game to get to the game". Meaning 70-80 levels of utter boredom in order to reach the penultimate level where one can finally participate in raid-content. In SWTOR you get to enjoy, even savor the ride.

    Playing earlier this week - I honestly experienced a tinge of regret when I hit my 23d level. The regret was because, like a good movie almost at an end, the ride seemed to be going too fast. I've never experienced that feeling in an MMO before, but I did with SWTOR.

    NOT ALL BUBBLE-GUM AND ROSE-PETALS
    If you play Empire, be prepared to feel more than a little dirty for following your character's destiny in true RP fashion. There's a grit to this story line on the empire-side that just rings true. Be prepared to to see the consequences of your actions, even when wearing a white-hat and acting the hero, some choices leave you with regrets.

    GIVE THIS GAME A GO
    Don't trust a review rating this game a 1-2-3. It's easy to see what's going on here in terms of game-rivalry. This game can and should be improved - but this game isn't built on almost a decade of development. Given the success this game has already seen (an estimated 1.5 million players in EGA) - and the commitment of EA to develop this game for the longterm, expect SWTOR to continue to improve. They have a great basis to build on here - as much as any game we've ever seen in the MMO market.

    Pick this one up - you'll love it.    … Expand
  62. Andrewlol
    Dec 23, 2011
    4
    the game starts it bad with soo much little choices to create a unique character , cause everything looks the freakin same , get into the game and the soo praised story gets boring on the third quest , combat fells so outdate and its exactly like wow , the whole game feels like wow but the good tools in wow like dual spec , lfg tool , raid finder tool, are missing althogether , finding athe game starts it bad with soo much little choices to create a unique character , cause everything looks the freakin same , get into the game and the soo praised story gets boring on the third quest , combat fells so outdate and its exactly like wow , the whole game feels like wow but the good tools in wow like dual spec , lfg tool , raid finder tool, are missing althogether , finding a group to do a flashpoints is so hard cause the lfg channel is useless , pvp is no way near balanced cause when you join a warzone at lv 10 and face a bunch of 50s you see the whole increasing stats system and no brackets falls apart, i dont know whats in the end game but if its close to early and mid game , you gonna see a hugeeee drops in the subs after the first free month.At least for me i wont be coming back after the first month if i play the whole mwhahaha ;p.I put the wrong score on ma other rewiew mwhaha… Expand
  63. Zoan626
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    I don't know what Bioware was thinking when they made this game. It tries to be a singleplayer game with dialogue and story yet at the same time it also tires to be a competitive MMO. The fault here is trying to combine the single player and multiplayer elements together which leaves something that just doesn't feel right at all. I would dare not also note the fact that the multiplayerI don't know what Bioware was thinking when they made this game. It tries to be a singleplayer game with dialogue and story yet at the same time it also tires to be a competitive MMO. The fault here is trying to combine the single player and multiplayer elements together which leaves something that just doesn't feel right at all. I would dare not also note the fact that the multiplayer elements of the game are severely lacking what NEEDS to be in an MMO such as macros and endgame content. In it's current form the singleplayer elements fees just that singleplayer. When you quest in the game you feel very disconnected from other players and it just feels like a singleplayer game due to all the zone restrictions (most of the content is quests and some dungeons), yet at the same time the singleplayer feel is just watered down fetch quests with the actual meat given few and far between. Another major drawback is the size this game takes up on a HDD when you install it which can be 30gb with everything installed. The size is frankly ridiculous and due to the inane amount of voice acting that doesn't need to be in such a game. The result is something that is bloated beyond reason and would be equally difficult to create content with due to the promise of voiced content. The gameplay is probably the worst part of the game right now, as it STILL uses concepts from WOW which many people already know are outdated such as mobs that pull and aggro and hitboxes that make the character hit things that are farther away thus hit air and make models move through one another. The combat itself really tries to emulate WOW in every way possible, and I cannot praise a game that so blatantly copies another so much. The horrible part is that even though it tires to emulate WOW's combat so much it fails at it in many respects due to many encounters in dungeons being simple things that the WOW devs actually have already improved vastly on and the SWTOR devs seem to be stuck in the stone age with their encounter designs. The result is an absolutely game breaking error on their part to make the core of the game itself so very weak and in dire need of complete revamping. I'd also note that even the WOW devs themselves are planning on creating a new MMO, because even they realize the gameplay in WOW is very old. The decision to use such a system in SWTOR by Bioware baffles me and the only sense behind it was "let's just go with what makes the most money right now". The community forums is sadly also VERY moderated to a degree that many many negative complaints that are voiced are simply deleted by mods, I find this treatment of the community to be very insincere and terrible as Bioware seems to be just ignoring any kind of changes to be made to the game that make sense in favor of keeping a facade that he game is a great one which is far from the cause to to the many many incomplete or broken things in the game that I could never fit into this review. I know many people will take this review with a grain of salt with all the viral reviews that may give the game an unjust 10/10 and many paid journalists in the current joke of the videogame journalism industry, which I hope someday will reach the levels movies are right now, however currently too much dirty cash exchanges pockets of journalists and it frankly disgusts me that so much dishonest trickery about the quality of games is being fed to people right now. I am thus forced in order to create some accurate representation of the products actual quality to give a lower review score than what I would give normally ( 6/10) in order to cope with all the viral reviews made.… Expand
  64. BucketsAtUltra
    Dec 20, 2011
    2
    I am not enjoying this game at all as a fan of KotOR 1 and 2. The animations are stiff, the voice acting is mediocre at best, and the combat is nothing original. Having the zones instanced makes it feel empty and devoid of life. And when you do actually see groups of people the game is so horribly optimized the game will completely crap itself. Not to mention that they bent my favoriteI am not enjoying this game at all as a fan of KotOR 1 and 2. The animations are stiff, the voice acting is mediocre at best, and the combat is nothing original. Having the zones instanced makes it feel empty and devoid of life. And when you do actually see groups of people the game is so horribly optimized the game will completely crap itself. Not to mention that they bent my favorite story aspects from KotoR's 1 and 2 and bent them over the table for an un-lubed anal pounding. This game could get better with time but as of right now it is below average at the very best. I really wish KotOR 3 was made instead of...this.… Expand
  65. Belly
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    This really is a singleplayer game with a chat window, they focused so much on questing that they forgot to add real content that a MMO needs, graphics are 7 years old, the combat is slow and clunky and with old raid mechanics and stale pvp, it really does not bring much to the already bloated MMO world.
  66. lobstilops
    Dec 20, 2011
    2
    The year is 2011 and yet we are getting a game that could have been released alongside World of Warcraft. SWTOR in essence is not a next gen MMORPG. It is a slight overall improvement on the old and dying traditional MMO experience. I played the beta and was pretty disappointed. I expected more from Bioware and in all honesty was wishing they would stray from the traditional style ofThe year is 2011 and yet we are getting a game that could have been released alongside World of Warcraft. SWTOR in essence is not a next gen MMORPG. It is a slight overall improvement on the old and dying traditional MMO experience. I played the beta and was pretty disappointed. I expected more from Bioware and in all honesty was wishing they would stray from the traditional style of MMORPG's. Alas this isn't the problem. But hey, if you like World of Warcraft with star wars textures, characters, quests etc. This is the game for you! Have fun blowing 15$ a month. I'll be gladly waiting for Guild Wars 2, a game actually trying something new.… Expand
  67. 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.
  68. slambogx
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    You might have fun for the first few minute if you enjoy mediocre story-immersed single-player games, because that's what this game should be. Forced questing, non-fluid movement/combat, garbage pvp and unbalanced classes. The grind is extremely long, repetitive, and boring. And end-game content scarcely exists. This game seems like the same bad MMOs that have been coming out for yearsYou might have fun for the first few minute if you enjoy mediocre story-immersed single-player games, because that's what this game should be. Forced questing, non-fluid movement/combat, garbage pvp and unbalanced classes. The grind is extremely long, repetitive, and boring. And end-game content scarcely exists. This game seems like the same bad MMOs that have been coming out for years with star wars skin and voice acting slapped onto it. If you've played any MMO released in the past 5 years, you've already played this game, save yourself some money and buy something else.… Expand
  69. Rivan
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Excellent game all around. This is the first MMO I've actually been engrossed by! Each class (of which there is eight) has 200 hours of story quests attached to it, and the quests themselves are engaging and objective-based. You won't spend hours killing random NPCs to level, you level through character-developing quests where you make the decisions on how to proceed. The combat is slickExcellent game all around. This is the first MMO I've actually been engrossed by! Each class (of which there is eight) has 200 hours of story quests attached to it, and the quests themselves are engaging and objective-based. You won't spend hours killing random NPCs to level, you level through character-developing quests where you make the decisions on how to proceed. The combat is slick and well-paced; you need to use strategy to succeed. Combat is not too slow, but not too fast that you get destroyed in a minute. The environments are lush, well-built and HUGE. One planet (Coruscant) is so big that I could spend all day there and still not have everything explored. Other planets are similarly large.

    In terms of bugs, I haven't run into any. This is surprising for such a new MMO.

    I'm also a big PvP fan, and the PvP matches are objective-based which is amazing. Instead of just mindlessly killing everyone, you have to work together as a team to complete objectives. So as far as I'm concerned, this game succeeds on all counts.    … Expand
  70. iminay
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    Trolling aside, this is the NEXT BIG MMO, and is a good game. Ignore all the negative reviews who are scared their MMO of choice is going to be a wasteland in the next few months due to people jumping on the SWTOR bandwagon
  71. Witto
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    I am really disappointed with this game. I was looking forward to it, and yet it fails me so badly. I am a former WoW player, where I know WoW is nowhere near good these days, I hoped SWTOR would save the genre. It doesn't, with ton of bugs and bad voice acting, SWTOR is really a letdown.
  72. Insert_Username
    Dec 23, 2011
    0
    Game is horrible, its nothing but a World of Warcraft clone only worse, the combat is not as deep as World of Warcraft and the story isn't even near as good as KOTOR or Mass Effect. Game is a big disappointment and the crappy voice acting the teeth cringing dialogue are the only things that set it apart from other games.
  73. ktannen
    Dec 22, 2011
    0
    Been playing for about 15 hours, and so far I've found nothing in this game to really be compelling enough for me to continue to pay for it. I really wanted to give it a chance as I happen to have loved star wars since I was a kid during the 90s. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I've put in about 200 days of game time into WoW since 2004 and my interest has been held. Generally, IBeen playing for about 15 hours, and so far I've found nothing in this game to really be compelling enough for me to continue to pay for it. I really wanted to give it a chance as I happen to have loved star wars since I was a kid during the 90s. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I've put in about 200 days of game time into WoW since 2004 and my interest has been held. Generally, I find more life in the game through humor, story and art design. And I know that this is no fault of the game itself, but I would like to note that my experience so far with the game's early community has been atrocious, though I am hopeful this will improve. Overall, I am very disappointed. My high hopes were diminished, but the 15 hours I have spent in game is still a relatively small amount of time and I will not give up on it yet. Please, despite my bad review, it would be nice if some decent, intelligent people would strengthen the community to give this game a fighting chance.
    -An MMO enthusiast    … Expand
  74. PretentiousCat
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    When I first heard about this game, many moons ago, I was instantly hyped. I loved KotOR and the atmosphere. I was de-based on Bioware after the DA2 fiasco but I said I'd give them a second chance.

    After playing the early release, getting into the mid 40's in the first day of playing, I realized something. The rumors of a copy-pasted WoW were true. The skills were the same, the combat was    When I first heard about this game, many moons ago, I was instantly hyped. I loved KotOR and the atmosphere. I was de-based on Bioware after the DA2 fiasco but I said I'd give them a second chance.

    After playing the early release, getting into the mid 40's in the first day of playing, I realized something.
    The rumors of a copy-pasted WoW were true. The skills were the same, the combat was the same. Heck, even the quests were the same.

    What they didn't copy was the sense of accomplishment you get from attaining a high level and good gear.

    And don't get me started on the gear in ToR. Terrible textures, nothing that sets you apart from other classes and the clown syndrome is everywhere with mismatching gear.

    This game is nothing more than a mix of social networking and a glorified Facebook game.
    Avoid it at all costs.    … Expand
  75. UpsetGamer
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    It's a WoW clone in 2011 and that speaks for it's self.The 300 mil must have gone all on advertising because I can't see them in the game.I'll try to get a refund.
  76. obro
    Dec 21, 2011
    6
    The only good things in this game are voice acting and music. Both of those things do not make a video game. Gameplay pretty much WoW so why even bother playing it if it's the same thing I have been playing for years now? Huge lags and ques and instanced zones. No sense of exploration since it's instanced. Animations are terrible for a 2011 game but then again BioWare never had goodThe only good things in this game are voice acting and music. Both of those things do not make a video game. Gameplay pretty much WoW so why even bother playing it if it's the same thing I have been playing for years now? Huge lags and ques and instanced zones. No sense of exploration since it's instanced. Animations are terrible for a 2011 game but then again BioWare never had good animations in any of their games. All in all completely average MMO interesting only in the beginning because of the voice acting but you soon start to skip it all because no choice you make matters.… Expand
  77. re2leons
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    Really enjoyable game.
    I wasn't really interested into swtor till last minute, and after days of playing it, I loved it. The music is fantastic, I love the voice acting. The only thing I don't like that much is huttball.I see alot of buttmad **** trying to make this game look bad.
  78. minsu2
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    This is a poor excuse for a MMORPG in 2012, $60 + $5 "Pre Order fee", $15 monthly subscription for a subpar World of Warcraft set in the Star Wars universe. If you enjoy the fact that people have completed all of the content, including getting to the maximum character level during "pre-access" (before the servers even opened) you will enjoy paying to play a single player game with aThis is a poor excuse for a MMORPG in 2012, $60 + $5 "Pre Order fee", $15 monthly subscription for a subpar World of Warcraft set in the Star Wars universe. If you enjoy the fact that people have completed all of the content, including getting to the maximum character level during "pre-access" (before the servers even opened) you will enjoy paying to play a single player game with a monthly subscription fee. This is a blight on the MMO industry and I don't think fellow players will stick around after the first month or two unless they are sadly mistaken into paying to stick around and hoping the game transforms itself, which it won't.

    Avoid    … Expand
  79. DeathTouch
    Dec 20, 2011
    7
    Can use some more polishing, but have been enjoying myself quite a bit. All I can say is get a friend(s) to group with and have fun, better yet get into a guild with like minded people.
  80. MasterPJ
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    The year is 2007 and Blizzard release a star wars MMO skin. They decided to concentrate on awesome audio...skipping all the other key elements: Graphics (Cartoon which makes the game lack any serious appeal), Gameplay (Wait...I watched the movies...is this really Startrek?...no wait it's meant to be starwars right?), Storyline (This game should be a racing game...why? Same loops differentThe year is 2007 and Blizzard release a star wars MMO skin. They decided to concentrate on awesome audio...skipping all the other key elements: Graphics (Cartoon which makes the game lack any serious appeal), Gameplay (Wait...I watched the movies...is this really Startrek?...no wait it's meant to be starwars right?), Storyline (This game should be a racing game...why? Same loops different scenery), Uniqueness (Did I mention the year is 2007 and Blizzard make a startrek skin for WoW?...dammit I meant Starwars!). So all in all - If you are 12 and fresh to the MMO's world, you'll be highly impressed if you had a lack of any education. If you have had at least half an eye open over the last 5 years and watching even just gaming adverts you'll see this game is just a 'cash cow' with little new or even an appealing environment. This is what is wrong with today's MMO gaming (SSDD). I think even some of the hardcore Starwars lovers will fail to see the appeal of this game. But it's new, it's shiny and it isn't Azeroth and this is the only reason why this game gets any ratings.… Expand
  81. nick_of_time
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    This game has been divisive since way before release. Anyone following the community knows that there's a lot of hate out there for this game. Whether it's people who still can't get over DA2, players who expected a sandbox, or people with overconfidence in their budgetary analysis skills, plenty have come out against this game.

    Bot more importantly, a lot of players really love this game    This game has been divisive since way before release. Anyone following the community knows that there's a lot of hate out there for this game. Whether it's people who still can't get over DA2, players who expected a sandbox, or people with overconfidence in their budgetary analysis skills, plenty have come out against this game.

    Bot more importantly, a lot of players really love this game and rightfully so. As themepark MMOs go, it's really one of the best, better in quality and content than recent contender Rift. I once played WoW pretty heavily, but lost interest in the world and was no longer invested in my characters. I'm happy to say that TOR has rekindled that desire in its own way with its liberal dose of voice acting and a real care given to the world. It's hard to sum up the game as a whole. It's really one of those things that you have to try out to see if you like it. First off, I love sci-fi. That right there is a leg up on the competition. I also love how they handled companions in an MMO setting and I LOVE that I actually have a reason to group again. Haters will try to convince you that this is a "single-player game," but nothing could be further from the truth. The best times are the heroic group quests and there are PLENTY of these scattered about. In comparison, modern WoW (and Rift) feel like solitary confinement. It goes to show you that all you need to encourage grouping is a challenge that asks for it. Yes, you can solo, but you'll miss out on great experience, loot and more importantly, fun times with other players.

    Yes there are faults.Even though conversations are way more engaging than boring boxes of text, they aren't as artfully crafted as in Dragon Age or Mass Effect (and even those weren't the best in the biz). Conversation options can feel somewhat limiting at times. The UI, while perfectly serviceable, has few customization options. There are still bugs to work out (but thankfully none that are game-breaking for me yet). You may find faults with the game design that I don't. I know some things I like, others hate. To each their own.

    But if you're looking for a solid themepark MMO that's actually worth paying monthly for (not just a cash grab with free-2-play written all over it), then you can't go wrong here. The community seems pretty good so far, there's plenty to do in game and it offers a setting and genre that themeparks have been ignoring for the most part. I'm having a blast and you might too. You just have to decide for yourself.    … Expand
  82. Veritaas
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    Standard run of the mill themepark MMO. If you've played WoW, Rift, Warhammer, AoC, etc, you've played it before. This time it's got voice acting. It's a shame a company like Bioware did so little new with the IP.
  83. Ama
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    I can't believe the vitriol out there. Reviews of 0? I just can't believe that people can rate this 0, but I guess haters will always be haters.

    My experience has been stellar. The entry to the game is stable, I've never been disconnected nor has the game ever crashed for me. The gameplay itself is fun (shooting lightning from fingertips is just fantastic) and the Story is    I can't believe the vitriol out there. Reviews of 0? I just can't believe that people can rate this 0, but I guess haters will always be haters.

    My experience has been stellar. The entry to the game is stable, I've never been disconnected nor has the game ever crashed for me. The gameplay itself is fun (shooting lightning from fingertips is just fantastic) and the Story is unbelievable. An avid MMO'er myself, I have found myself slowing down to listen to all the story. It is an incredibly immersive and moving experience which I found to be really, really fun. I recommend everybody to try it out, if you have ever enjoyed a star wars movie, this is one to get.    … Expand
  84. QuakerOfDoom
    Dec 20, 2011
    4
    I'll be honest here, I only got to Level 33 before quitting out of boredom, so if there is something to make up for the poor post-endgame, consider this a 6 instead of a 4. It's just that I just can't support Bioware anymore for what they've done to the SW:TOR games, with the retcons to Revan and the boring quests. I've always been a huge fan of Bioware ever since the SW:TOR 1, but everI'll be honest here, I only got to Level 33 before quitting out of boredom, so if there is something to make up for the poor post-endgame, consider this a 6 instead of a 4. It's just that I just can't support Bioware anymore for what they've done to the SW:TOR games, with the retcons to Revan and the boring quests. I've always been a huge fan of Bioware ever since the SW:TOR 1, but ever since they were bought out by EA, the quality of their games has noticeably dropped. TOR, being, in a nutshell, WoW with lightsabers, has done little to change my opinion of this. I really hope Bioware manages to buck the trend with the upcoming ME3, but I can't help but feel doubt about Bioware's ability to continue making quality games after this.
    Anyway, if you're into WoW, you might like this game. If you're not, then TOR won't do anything to change your opinion.
    P.S. I know that I will be called a troll for expressing my honest opinion, but I don't give a ****    … Expand
  85. TooOldtoGame
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    A good single player game, a terrible MMO. After all the hype and promises of epic this and epic that, it turned out to be rather above average. Now after seeing Bioware acquired a F2P company, it looks pretty obvious they know their product didn't live up to the hype either. I wouldn't say don't bother, but I sure wouldn't purchase a year sub if I were you.
  86. Nexusepona
    Dec 20, 2011
    9
    Now what do we have here? In my oppinion, which is subjective of course, this is a good game with a few minor flaws. Gameplay is not a great suprise, I would describe it like what WoW should have been. It is similar in many ways, yet made it better, less frustrating, less boring, less grinding. Also has nice voice acting quests, you can have your own ship (and that is free, you just haveNow what do we have here? In my oppinion, which is subjective of course, this is a good game with a few minor flaws. Gameplay is not a great suprise, I would describe it like what WoW should have been. It is similar in many ways, yet made it better, less frustrating, less boring, less grinding. Also has nice voice acting quests, you can have your own ship (and that is free, you just have to reach that point in the story), the game has limited (but still fun) space combat, things like that. I would recommend it to any of my friends.… Expand
  87. Valsung
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    This game is unexpectedly fantastic. Coming in as someone who is not a very large fan of the Star Wars universe (not that there's anything wrong with it) I am impressed. The graphics are quite fluid, a far cry from trailers in the alphas and betas that had me worried. The voice acting is superb, and the storyline while linear, is engrossing. I know I'll be playing more than one characterThis game is unexpectedly fantastic. Coming in as someone who is not a very large fan of the Star Wars universe (not that there's anything wrong with it) I am impressed. The graphics are quite fluid, a far cry from trailers in the alphas and betas that had me worried. The voice acting is superb, and the storyline while linear, is engrossing. I know I'll be playing more than one character just for this reason, which is more than I can say for any other mmo.

    There are some flaws however, the lack of a Target of Target, UI customization features, and support for mouse-over macros are unfortunate, but I expect them to be added in the future.

    SWTOR is easily the smoothest and most polished "WoW clone" (using that ironically to describe what all new MMO's are labelled as) of the last 5 years. For once, it feels like there is promise and I have renewed hope in Bioware. Here's to the next few months of polish and patches for an overall great game.    … Expand
  88. Talus
    Dec 20, 2011
    10
    The game is not revolutionary, but never claimed to be. The previous posters do not seem to understand the nature of themepark MMOs. Version 1.0 is not going to be the perfect game, but Bioware has done an amazing job of polishing the game second only to Blizzard. If you enjoyed WoW, you will enjoy SWTOR. The look and feel is fresh, and if you allow yourself, you will become engrossed inThe game is not revolutionary, but never claimed to be. The previous posters do not seem to understand the nature of themepark MMOs. Version 1.0 is not going to be the perfect game, but Bioware has done an amazing job of polishing the game second only to Blizzard. If you enjoyed WoW, you will enjoy SWTOR. The look and feel is fresh, and if you allow yourself, you will become engrossed in the story like you have never been able to experience in an MMO before. During the beta, I actually found myself becoming attached to my characters, even to the point of recreating my beta character EXACTLY for the release of the game. There will be major changes to come based on community feedback and the direction Bioware feels is appropriate for the game, this is how MMOs work by their very nature. I hope anyone seeing this review that is even remotely interested will give it a try.… Expand
  89. HET35
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    this should have been a SP game,i loved kotor 2 and this should have been 3

    and loll they expect me to pay every month to play?! NO THANKS to quoye somene I am not enjoying this game at all as a fan of KotOR 1 and 2. The animations are stiff, the voice acting is mediocre at best, and the combat is nothing original. Having the zones instanced makes it feel empty and devoid of life. And    this should have been a SP game,i loved kotor 2 and this should have been 3


    and loll they expect me to pay every month to play?! NO THANKS

    to quoye somene I am not enjoying this game at all as a fan of KotOR 1 and 2. The animations are stiff, the voice acting is mediocre at best, and the combat is nothing original. Having the zones instanced makes it feel empty and devoid of life. And when you do actually see groups of people the game is so horribly optimized the game will completely crap itself.    … Expand
  90. Remiwololo
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    truly a disgrace and terrible compared to wow. It tried to be identical to WoW but ends up worse. I wouldn't even THINK about THINKING of getting this game unless I was a huge star wars fan, which im not.
    Total garbage.
  91. dspair
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    This game is just a copy-paste of the World of Warcraft with the good voice acting. Nothing new, nothing special, even the interface is the same - another one soulless wow clone.
  92. bigbossluna
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    Does't work right. A cheap clone of WOW but with no fun in it. So many promises and just a big let down. As of now Dec. 14th there is no Professional review here in metacritic. You wanna know why because the game sucks and EA is doing there best to keep the low scores away.
  93. Telpy
    Dec 21, 2011
    0
    Honestly, this game should have a 6/10 score, so why i'm giving it 0/10? Simple this is absolutely the most overhyped mmo of all time with the WORST ratio of money spent on the project / quality overall. Graphics is on 2004 levels, if you want the game to be playable on most rigs ok, but at least do a decent work on the textures. The questing system is not rivolutionary at all, the gameHonestly, this game should have a 6/10 score, so why i'm giving it 0/10? Simple this is absolutely the most overhyped mmo of all time with the WORST ratio of money spent on the project / quality overall. Graphics is on 2004 levels, if you want the game to be playable on most rigs ok, but at least do a decent work on the textures. The questing system is not rivolutionary at all, the game follow the classic "kill 10 mobs pattern", even World of Warcraft is exploring new directions but not this new title. Voice acting is fine for few hours, after that you end up skipping most of the dialogues because they are of the same, even the story is not engaging at all.
    Animations are even worse, the combat feels choppy and the chars movements are innatural.
    PvP is a joke, not fluid at all.
    When exploring the world it feels like you are on a monorail, you must follow a certain path.
    Bloated skill list, awful ui, no support for addons, poor interaction with the world, companions are "pets" and nothing more, poor char customization, all playable race are humanoids alike, no support for AA, auction house mechanics are terribles, no lfg tool.... and so on

    This game could survive only because it's "Star Wars", but honestly, the quality of this product overall is garbage if confronted with all the announcements done pre launch.    … Expand
  94. elgringo
    Dec 22, 2011
    0
    Another half-done game release this year. Controls are unresponsive and the overall experience is pretty generic. I've expected more from this company, at least for this price here they charge from us. Priceperformance-ratio is pretty horrible. Never again, you failed me too much.
  95. Nerux
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    This is embarrassing. Bioware clearly spend too much money on stuff that didn't matter such as voice-acting. Instead they shipped a WoW-clone (Let's face it, it is) with a dull atmosphere and boring gameplay. The visuals and graphics are dull and inconsistent which makes it look like a mediocre F2P game. Also, the animations are clearly rehashed from other Bioware titles. They had theThis is embarrassing. Bioware clearly spend too much money on stuff that didn't matter such as voice-acting. Instead they shipped a WoW-clone (Let's face it, it is) with a dull atmosphere and boring gameplay. The visuals and graphics are dull and inconsistent which makes it look like a mediocre F2P game. Also, the animations are clearly rehashed from other Bioware titles. They had the budget and opportunity to create something original, but instead they chose to go for the cash-grab. Sadly, this is probably rather fitting for a Star Wars game. Oh well.

    Anyway, it is not worth it.    … Expand
  96. Golem25
    Dec 20, 2011
    1
    The most glaring flaw of the game is that it plays it so goddamn safe. Here they have a huge, expansive, IP to take advantage of and they decided to go the baby route with it. They didn't take any chances. I don't see how they can expect to get the numbers they need to recoup the investment without trying something a little new.

    Bioware promised so much, and delivered on so little.    The most glaring flaw of the game is that it plays it so goddamn safe. Here they have a huge, expansive, IP to take advantage of and they decided to go the baby route with it. They didn't take any chances. I don't see how they can expect to get the numbers they need to recoup the investment without trying something a little new.

    Bioware promised so much, and delivered on so little. Offensive in that with the deep pockets that EA has they could have made something fresh, but instead chose to walk in the path of their popular predecessors.

    In a lot of ways, as flawed as it was on launch, SWG offered a lot more to people who like MMO's. There was player housing, a player economy, player set goals, a leveling system that encouraged experimentation and offered ways to change classes if dissatisfied, and social interaction through gameplay. Example. I played a Smuggler. I made my fortune selling Muon Gold and Neutron Pixie in Cantina's. I would go from world to world peddling my illicit substances to regular customers, and try to edge out other smugglers through competitive pricing. I sliced (upgraded) weapons for one of the best crafstman on the server. All my armor and clothing was created by a Fashion Designer who owned a huge **** mansion and would custom-make your stuff to your specifications. When I got tired of Smuggler, I became a commando to help combat the abuse of AT-ST's. My friends and I sat out on quests across planets to find notable Star Wars NPC's like Han Solo and Chewbacca. If you didn't want to be a hero, you could play an Entertainer, a Cook, or an Image Designer or Fashion Designer. You could be that guy who sat in a cantina all day talking, and still progress in your class and feel satisfaction and build a reputation for yourself.

    As a smuggler in Old Republic, the quest was sort of interesting, but ultimately I just shot **** to death and made a few dialogue options. Not once did I really feel like I was a smuggler.    … Expand
  97. Schnapps
    Dec 20, 2011
    0
    Novelty wears off with this very quickly and the boredom sets in -- not very immersive, character creation very lacking and the entire game is riddled with glitches and lags excessively. Doesn't have a lot working for it at all.
  98. Bralz
    Dec 20, 2011
    2
    I don't think I can write a lot about this MMO because its honestly depressing how badly this one was screwed up. Bioware decided to go the WoW route on this one and tack on their own RPG expertise (bad writing and terrible combat). What could've been a great use of the star wars franchise is just another MMO, give this stinker a wide berth.
  99. grammarye
    Dec 20, 2011
    7
    TOR has managed to revitalise the tired MMO market with an actual story; nay eight actual stories, that have the same level & quality of Bioware storytelling we've all become used to in Mass Effect, KOTOR and the like. Sure, it's now in an MMO which means some aspects of flow have been sacrificed, and there are some key MMO typical features that seem absent, but nevertheless it fitsTOR has managed to revitalise the tired MMO market with an actual story; nay eight actual stories, that have the same level & quality of Bioware storytelling we've all become used to in Mass Effect, KOTOR and the like. Sure, it's now in an MMO which means some aspects of flow have been sacrificed, and there are some key MMO typical features that seem absent, but nevertheless it fits together pretty well. Extremely stable, sounds great & looks gorgeous.

    The game presents you with a series of worlds to play on, tailored to a set of levels, although the story will have you returning to earlier worlds and tougher areas at points. Pacing is fair, perhaps a little fast, when compared to, say, World of Warcraft, and indeed it's hard not to compare the two; the mechanics are quite similar. Where they diverge is the involving story & fully voiced content, along with better crafting mechanisms & more diverse & useful skills. If I compare my experiences between levelling up a character in WoW and one in TOR, I would say I have experienced less burnout, less frustration, and more fun in TOR.    … Expand
  100. DeathRow
    Dec 20, 2011
    8
    It's alright, would have been better as a single player game. The story is good and interesting, the characters age good and interesting, but the difficulty seems to either be stupidly hard or ridiculously easy.
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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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
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