Reviews// Star Wars: The Old Republic

With SWTOR being an MMO, the ‘multiplayer’ aspect of that acronym plays a significant part in the gameplay. The player is encouraged to interact with others by way of social points. These points are awarded once a player takes part in a conversation with an NPC. The dialogue decision is no longer the sole preserve of the player but of the group that is participating in the quest.

Each player chooses their preferred response and the player with the highest roll has their decision made. This, however, does not affect other player’s alignment, as their choice of response determines that aspect, not the final outcome.

All quests can be completed within a group, but some require the player to receive assistance from other people in order for them to be attempted. These are marked as ‘Heroic’ and have a number attributed to them, ranging from two to four depending on the number of people required to complete the mission. Beyond that there are ‘Flashpoint’ missions.

These are SWTOR’s answer to dungeons and can be completed repeatedly to gain unique equipment and enhanced experience points. These are tiered to within a level bracket and are presented to the player as they progress. Flashpoints that are geared towards players of level 18 or higher feature craft skill elements that grant advantages to players if they are used while in the Flashpoint. For example, players can create short-cuts through areas by hacking door locks or repair abandoned battle droids to fight alongside the group.

Not all player interaction is co-operative though. Player vs Player (PvP) combat does feature in SWTOR and there are servers that support adversarial combat. Such servers allow players to engage in combat with those of an opposing faction without the need to declare their intention to participate in PvP attacks. Most servers follow on a consent system that requires all combatants to declare PvP combat status prior to engaging.

This rule only applies to open world PvP combat, as there are isolated arenas called ‘warzones’ that players can enter at any time. Players can join a queue for a warzone while they are going about their adventuring and can participate once a slot becomes free. They are transported to the warzone from wherever they are in the open world and are automatically filed into teams.

SWTOR currently boasts 3 different warzones; Alderaan Civil War, The Voidstar and Huttball. The Alderaan Civil War is an eight vs eight player conquest mode map in a similar vein to those found in the Battlefield series of games or, more appropriately, Star Wars: Battlefront 1 & 2.

The Voidstar is a two round attacker vs defender map that can best be equated to Call of Duty’s HQ mode of play. It has one side trying to destroy set emplacements while the other is trying to stop them from doing so. Huttball is a capture the flag variant that requires players to lug a ball from the centre of the arena to the opposing team’s goal. What’s notable about Huttball is that players from the same faction can play against one another; making it the most frequently played warzone by default.

If you’ve made it this far in the review, you deserve some congratulations as it is clear that there is a lot to SWTOR that mere words cannot truly convey. You’ll be glad to hear that we’re now heading for the finishing line as we finally express our opinions about SWTOR!

Graphically SWTOR is a bit of a mixed bag. The denizens of the world are well represented; with the cartoon like graphics (that are similar to those found in the Clone Wars animated series) used to excellent effect. The environments, however, are somewhat varied in their quality. Some are spectacular, especially the cityscape areas, while others are somewhat less awe-inspiring. This is definitely the case within areas of vegetation and foliage. It’s almost as if the game engine doesn’t lend itself to representing natural environments.

The sound, however, is brilliant and does much to draw the player into the world of SWTOR. From the ambient sound of machinery and alien creatures to the impressively high quality and varied voice acting, SWTOR boasts some of the best sound design of any game. The same goes for the music score, which does pipe up when things are going awry during combat or when a particularly important class-based quest hits a dramatic pause.

SWTOR is an excellent addition to the vast pantheon of MMOs that currently grace many a computer screen. It oozes quality and does much to keep the player engaged by entertaining them and not becoming a chore, as many other MMOs tend to devolve into. They do this by forcing the player to grind away at killing the same creatures over and over again or doing repetitive tasks to gain a small percentage of progression, all to keep the player trapped in playing their game and paying the subscription.

SWTOR players are spared such monotony, all thanks to BioWare and its insistence on putting the fun into RPGs. It is clear that the developer stuck to that remit throughout the creation of SWTOR and it has paid off. It is for this the team should be congratulated and well and truly deserve the mark below.

SPOnG Score: 9/10