The Old Republic Review Diaries - Days 4-6

Time for part 2 of Made2Game's Star Wars The Old Republic Review Diaries! As we explained in this post about MMO reviewing practices Made 2 Game will be putting EA/Bioware's new MMO under intense scrutiny as we try and ascertain its true potential and hidden nuances. If you missed part 1, in which our saga began, then it's over here.

In this second part we take a closer look at the competitive side of the game as well as what the galaxy looks like post level 10.

Day 4
Drazlar – Bounty Hunter
Activities: Player versus player warzone DOMINATION DAY.

Two more PVP arenas today.

The Civil War
Type: Capture Points

This map, set against lovely blue skies and dull grey industrial construction, sees Republic and Imperial forces fight for control of three anti air cannons in order to disable the opponents vessel before they do the same to theirs. Like Tug of war but with lasers and explosives and screaming and naughty words.

In line with many of The Old Republic's successes so far this is a simple idea heavily marinaded in a great vat of CONTEXT. The additional voice-over and element of gigantic death lasers pummelling your spawn area make it seem like there's more at stake than simple points. Even though, you know, there isn't.

Simply put – it's good.

As for the actual playing, this is an expertly designed map with enough scope for ranged combat but also a nice amount of tiers so that melee experts can quickly break lines of sight and lie in wait of unsuspecting foes.

It's also pretty easy to get from one point to another. Quick and messy, but messily tactical.

Zombie impersonation day in the warzone.

The Voidstar
Type: Assault

This map is a game of attack and defence, with the two sides swapping after a set amount of time or a sucessful assault.

It's a little messy, but entertainingly so. Each section has two points of attack, with the offensive team gaining access to the next objective after destroying one. This leads to a lot of massing tactics and quick communication from the defending team. It gets a bit pantomime as the teams swap and switch the side they're attacking.

Again – messy, but speedy good fun.

Extra props to stage two of the map which involves some light bridges that present perfect diving boards from which to launch people with any sort of force push attacks you have.

Another note – I've not seen a single team complete every objective yet. It's tough!

The only real 'issue' I've found with the PVP combat is that there are a lot of stun abilities going around. Those aside it's nimble and, for an MMO, uncharacteristically spontaneous. Fans of MMO PvP should definately consider The Old Republic.

Day 5
Drazlar – Bounty Hunter
Activities: Singing in the Rain on Dormund Kaas and learning to sprint.

Onto the second leg of my idiot - sorry, 'bounty' hunting quest. With the turf wars of Hutta in my read view mirror and an Imperial assault on a Republic transport vessel dutifully quelled yesterday it's off to the Imperial capital world of Dromund Kaas!

But before that, have I mentioned companions? Or my epic class decision? I haven't? Oh I am rubbish...

Basically, as you play you meet companions - as in any Bioware RPG - and they follow you around making comments on your surroundings, chiming in with story conversations, and acting as suitable squisky distractions when you want to cheese it and run from a fight.

Companions can also be used to sell your junk (not that junk) and level up your crafting and gathering abilities without you lifting a finger. They become integral to your experience, and make The Old Republic feel like a valid single player experience - until someone starts performing a disco dance on the corpse of an important boss character that you mpw need to wait to respawn. How important they will be in the end game, however, we will see.

Plus, y'know, she's a cool half robot chick. Win.

Silly Mako, get down from there. You do not belong on a desk.

As for choosing my class I went with the 'mess you up' bounty hunter class that wields dual pistols and packs five different types of rockets, two flamethrowers, and a hamster in his pack.

Seriously though, when you hit level 10 you must choose a specialisation, this affects the skills your character will learn and their role in a party of playersas well as the three skill trees you will have access to. This transforms the initial four classes of each faction into a much more formidable eight. It's a nice way of letting players investigate a class before commiting to a specific play style and not overloading themat the start of the game.

Ok then, I'll tell you about Dromund Kaas next time.

Day 6
Drazlar – Bounty Hunter
Activities: Queuing for a server? You what!?

Seriously, sitting around for an hour waiting to join a server is not fun, and is guaranteed to leave a sour taste after such a positive introduction.

However this downtime did mean I read this fantastic article by Mick Fraser, enjoyed some David Bowie, got the Christmas tree up, began work on my new composition 'Aria for twenty six and a half strings plus nose flute' and finally got round to starting American Gods... Perhaps games should lock me out more often.

Nah.

Waiting... Forever waiting...

I genuinly forgot how large an MMO could be... Ok so the PVP stuff did distract me for a while but I was earning experience the whole time so it was not time wasted. In the next entry I'll be talking about Dromund Kaas, sprinting and perhaps I'll get my very own spaceship...

Words by James Bowden (Twitter: @Dalagonash)

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