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by Dr Chris on 01.23.12

Star Wars: The Old Republic is the long awaited Star Wars MMORPG from Bioware, EA and Lucas Arts. BioWare was handed the task of making The Old Republic after the success they had with both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, which many arguably consider to be amongst the best Star Wars games made. A lot of the popularity of Knights of the Old Republic was because it was not set in the cannonical movie timeline but roughly 4000 years prior to the events from the film series. The Old Republic is then set 300 years after the events of both Knights of the Old Republic games and roughly 3700 before the films. Coruscant, capital of the Galactic Republic, has come under attack by the Sith Empire who have broken their treaty with the Jedi and the Republic so they can reclaim Koriban, the ancient Sith home world of the original Sith Lords.

The classes players can chose from for The Old Republic are broken up among eight different paths; 4 good, 4 bad.

For the Republic and Jedi

·Smuggler; Gunslinger and Scoundrel

·Trooper; Commando and Vanguard

·Jedi Knight; Guardian and Sentinel

·Jedi Consular; Sage and Shadow

And for the Sith Empire

·Bounty Hunter; Powertech and Mercenary

·Imperial Agent; Operative and Sniper

·Sith Warrior; Juggernaut and Marauder

·Sith Inquisitor; Sorcerer and Assassin

You will also get a companion of a different race or droid - depending on your class. This companion can also be developed into a relationship including, from what we can tell, a same sex romance. This was confirmed by BioWare recently and will be implemented in the coming months.

The trailers we have seen online over the last year or so act as story arcs beginnings. Darth Malgus shows up in three of the trailers in different forms of damage. This guides a lot of the main story arc through the game. If you played Knights of the Old Republic years ago, the layout is pretty much the same but with fully fleshed out voice over acting and better character facial expressions. This way not every fourth or fifth character look like another similar character from a few missions back.

If you picked up the Collectors Edition of the game, then you were in for a treat of goodies including a Darth Magus statue from Gentle Giant Studios, a galaxy map, the official soundtrack and score for the game, a security key flash drive, and a 111-page book of the journal of Jedi Master Gnost-Dural who goes over a lot of the back story of Revan from Knights of the Old Republic and the Emperor from Knights of the Old Republic II and how its linked to the events in The Old Republic. In the game, as part of the Collectors Edition, you also get a mouse droid, flare gun, a holo dancer, a holocam, and VIP wrist band to the Fleet's Lounge.

The graphics and sound are exceptional in The Old Republic. If your computer runs on the lower end, you can turn down the graphics and get rid of things like shadows and the game will still run particularly well. There are constant patches being put into the game for updates. Most recent of these introduced the Founders Medal which lets everyone in the game universe know that you were supporting the game as far back as 2009 or 2010, and they thank you for it.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a great game for any MMO fans - and, of course, any Star Wars fans out there as well. As an added note, if you want to explore more of the back story of what the main story arcs in The Old Republic game are connected to, check out Paul S. Kemp's book Deceived. It goes into some detailed insight pertaining to Darth Malgus. Also, check out Drew Karpyshyn's Revan which acts very much like a Knights of the Old Republic III stand in and fills in some blanks on the events leading up to The Old Republic.

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