Jade Empire (Xbox, 2005)

10 Presentation
A completely original universe, hard hitting combat, accessible controls, and the story in an RPG on Xbox.
9.5 Graphics
The level of activity during a battle is astounding. Environments are beautiful and the characters are real enough to fall in love with. Slight camera issues prevent it from being a perfect score.
10 Sound
The music is perfectly suited to the subject matter and the voices are expertly acted. A special appearance by John Cleese solidifies the 10.
10 Gameplay
One of the greatest action RPG's of all-time. Combat is easy to learn but immeasurably deep.
10 Lasting Appeal
A single game lasts at least 22 hours, and you will definitely play through more than once. The mini-games will make the hours fly by.
9.9

Incredible OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

The first thing I noticed while playing Jade Empire was the lack of Character customization, and no I don't mean the traits and abilities like Mind, Body and Spirit upgrades or even the fighting/support styles to which their linked. I'm talking about the visuals, stuff like outfits and armor. It just didn't seem right that aside from the color of my alignment (open or closed fist), my character couldn't sport any new looks like was done in KotOR. By the end of the game my character looked just as he did when he was an apprentice at the Two Rivers training school. Eh, but in the scope of things, it's not that big of a deal I guess.

A more major issue was the fact that hardly any of JE's characters had even the slightest Chinese accent. There were two characters that I remember vividly with voices that just made me cringe. One was a overly happy guy in Tiens Landing who sounded like some creepy used car salesman and another guy in the city fighting arena who sounded like(and I kid you not) "The Comic Book Guy" from the Simpsons. It all just seemed so wrong and out of place.

Another thing that was reintroduced was the dialogue trees used to give players the ability (some would say "illusion") to choose what to say towards NPC's responses. Don't get me wrong, it's not a terrible concept, but after awhile you'll find yourself skipping whole conversations because it's all so predictable and long-winded (although the evil responses tend to be somewhat humorous at times).

I was also a bit annoyed that the games ending(s) weren't very spectacular or epic (although the one big twist at the end had me scratching my noggin in wonder and confusion, I was definitely caught off guard. I was kind of hoping that I'd get some 3-5 five minute eye candy for my troubles and not just some lame "where are they now" thing done completely in text. Although if your patient enough to stick around for the credits, you'll get some funny dialogue going on with a familiar character.

Okay, so you've read what seems to be a lot of negativity on my part so far and your wondering why I still gave JE a 4/5? Well simply put, this was a very solid game with a good story to boot. There were very rare moments to where I thought JE was either too easy or difficult, and that's something that can sink a game. Look at Ninja Gaiden for example, now theres a game that's just way too difficult for it's own good. It's the reason why it's only liked by the very few die hard gamers who are gluttons for punishment. Than on the other side of the street you have all too easy games like Devil May Cry 2. But thankfully JE falls square in the middle.

All-in-all Jade Empire is a beautiful looking game for the XBox and definitely worth the purchase (although you could probably rent it over the weekend given that it only takes the average gamer 15-20 hours to finish)

This would easily be in the top 3 best games that ever came out for the original x-box, alongside Halo and Chronicles of Riddick. The environments and upgrades that are available were amazing for their time and still stand out as beautiful even if the graphics are a little dated. Add in a great story and you've got everything an RPG or action fan would want. Bioware took their amazing story telling capabilities that were in KOTOR an added a little chinese twist and they're still doing this with Mass Effect and Dragon Age on current consoles. If you want to see where Bioware started making a name for themselves, pick this game up! You won't be disappointed! This would be the 5th or 6th time I've played this game, and as soon as I'm done I can't wait to pick it up again!

This is an excellent adventure / RPG game that puts a new twist on the genre. If you were a fan of Knights Of The Old Republic or Mass Effect, you will love Jade Empire. For an original Xbox title, the graphics are fantastic, and everything in the game is beautifully rim-lit. The only qualm so far is that you can't buy weapons / armor as you would be able to do traditionally, and therefore a bit of the lure of character customization is lost...but the game is so good that you'll get over it.

The Good- great story, very nice graphics (lighting), mini-games, real-time combat
The Bad- Items are virtually non-existent, can't equip different armor / weapons

Jade Empire is Action RPG at it'd finest, one the best xbox games ever on Microsoft's short lived system, I never owned Xbox original system, but I now own the Xbox 360 and Jade Empire is backward compatible, so if you have a 360 or Xbox Original I would recommend this game, this game is easy to find at a bargain price. Ign.com has video reviews of this game