Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC, 2011)

So far, I am enjoying this game immensely.

I have played only a couple MMO's in the past (Final Fantasy XI, a little WOW), and this game has ALOT of stuff to keep you busy. FFXI still holds a special place in my heart, but there were many points in the game that took soooo much time, and often there was not a clear path to find out what to do or where to go...This game provides you with plenty of opportunities to stay busy, whether it be the story, crafting, random questing, etc.

But one thing that I particularly like is your companion. They can serve many functions in battle (fighting, healing, etc), but the one thing I enjoy the most is the ability to send them out to find stuff for you. Basically they have made it so you can multitask easier - questing and crafting at the same time.

I'm only a level 15 out of 50, but so far I really am pleased with what I've seen.

Also, the story of the game (all voice acting!)really does keep you interested. You can also share some portions of the story with your friends. Doing so benefits you by earning Social Points - which can be used for items later (I hear...again I'm still pretty new).

I have heard that people refer to this game as the first Single Player MMO game - many players are simply playing through the story with little interaction with others. This is entirely up to you - my experience is to do what I can on my own, and when your friend signs on, group up and achieve more, faster!

Overall, I'd give this something along the lines of 90%-95% satisfaction rating. Graphics are great (if your pc allows), sound fx are spot on, relatively easy for smaller "game time" windows vs hours and hours of gaming, and finally, you can be a Sith and murder many, many people.

Only cons are the obvious ones (to me), only on PC and monthly charges of 15$ a month (ouch).

Everybody says this is a re-skinned version of wow. That pretty much is true. However, something are different from wow. Each class has its own story line and you will and I mean YOU will enjoy the main story line. This really makes you want to make a new character just for the story line. Now if you don't care about any story and just want to grind battle grounds then this game is not for you. However, if you do like stories with voice acting then this game is pretty awesome. The graphics are not bad at all if you have it on high. For the sound I really never pay attention to most things as long as some sort of noise is coming out that matches the picture so go read up on somebody else for that. Also, the leveling is not that slow if you have a friend that levels with you. It will takes about 1.5x longer to level up if you level alone. (bonus quest exp for grouping up)

Now for the bad part... I really have to say they put in too many servers into the game. After the first month or so most of the OMG THIS IS NOT WOW people left so a lot of the servers are not populated. Bioware did say they will offer paid server transfers and free ones soon so that is a good sign. It seems to be implemented early summer 2012 if i remember correctly. Also, 15 bucks a month but it's the same with most other pay worthy mmo. You could also pay bi-yearly for 10bucks a month. And it's only been out for 5months so there really isn't that much end game content.

Overall, it is a great game with potential. People who rage about dual talents and dungeon finders from wow have to remember it took blizzard 3 years to implement that. BioWare will do that too but just not in half a year. Besides, it really isn't that hard to go on the fleet and type "LFG Dungeon" in general chat. Yeah it takes time but for god's sake you're playing an MMO go watch TV or something if you don't want to do that. Oh wait, you already unsubscribed so never mind. So please ignore the people who say they don't have anything. It hasn't been even a year and people bash on this game expecting to have everything WOW has. (once again, it took WOW 3 years for dungeon finder and dual talent)
LSS: Great game. Give it some time and bioware will add more features and content.

"The Old Republic" is not a game for the faint of heart. Massive worlds, tons of different creatures, a whole slew of powers for each class and race... and there's a fairly in-depth character creation system in which you can detail the scarring, skin tone, piercing collections, and the like.

Bioware has outdone themselves yet again and has presented what may be a potential redefining of the genre; this is a skill that they have been particularly adept at over the years (for reference, check out what their first major effort - Baldur's Gate for PC - did for the electronic RPG industry). Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massive game in which the player may or may not choose to partake in the "massive" option; by including an incredibly in-depth storyline for every character class and a load of flavor specific to every distinct race and world, they have solidly bridged the gap for single-player and multi-player fans alike.

The core storylines are designed for the single-player experience, while there are a ton of locations and missions that can only be accomplished by groups of 2-4 players. In order to assist the single-player experience, they have creative an intelligent "Companion" system in which the player has a computer-controlled companion that will fight with them, as well as go on gathering and crafting missions.

I have invested about 40 hours into the game so far, and I have been consistently impressed by all aspects of the game. The only downside I've experienced so far is a few random disconnects and some intermittent issues with their login servers.

I enjoyed the first 20 levels because of the storyline, however the gameplay becomes stagnant as soon as you hit Tatooine. I only managed to hit level 35 before my 30 days were up, so I didn't get to experience end-game content, however I felt I experienced enough to know this game wasn't for me. I'm an original classic WoW player and this just didn't measure up to it.

What I liked:
*Gear customization is fun
*Crafting/Gathering isn't tedious
*Sith storyline was immersive
*Having your own ship
*Having a companion (which is a lifesaver for planets that don't have people who want to group up)
*The world design is consistent with Star Wars


Issues:
*On a "normal" population server, it still felt like low pop (hard to find groups while leveling).
*Combat isn't always smooth, and the repeated slashing animations get boring after a while
*No auto-attack, which might be a good thing for some, but gets tedious when you have to press keys constantly to kill something.
*No "dungeon finder" to get you into a Flash Point without difficulty finding a group.
*Can't change your specialization once you pick it (If you pick sorcerer, you can never be an assassin)

Ideally, they should cut the number of servers down to keep the total game population centralized. Leveling and group-finding would be much better if players weren't so spread out over dozens of servers.

SWTOR is a very good game. i have played other MMO like diablo 2 for instance and diablo 2 is good but i rather play SWTOR because its newer better graphics better sound more stuff to do.

For example SWTOR allows you to customize your features, from armor to weapons to creating your character. their are many species you are able to select and as well class. On both sides you got many options to choose, either a sentinel and even a bounty hunter. each class has different things to choose, you want to become a jedi night or a sentinel then choose the type of jedi you want to be either a jedi sage, guardian or even a shadow. dont want to be a jedi you can always be a trooper or a smuggler. just as the same as a jedi you have more options to choose with your trooper or a smuggler dps tanker or a healer.

What i liked allot about this game they gave you hover crafts to travel long distance maps. using the hover crafts is a great addition to this game.

another awesome feature to this game is you get your own space ship :D

in the upcoming patch 1.2 and 1.3 allot of options will change meaning more customization features to new gear to new drops. Bioware has stated that they will be continuing to add new features to the star wars world to keep their customers happy.

so over all you want lots of stuff to do with a bunch of friendly player with awesome battle ground with great graphics with clear voices then this is the game for you.

With you may the force always be hmmmmmm