Jade Empire has both great original gameplay and a powerful story.
User Rating: 8.8 | Jade Empire: Hisui no Teikoku XBOX
Jade Empire is the latest Rpg from Bioware they guys who made the KOTOR games, and throughout playing Jade Empire if you’ve played KOTOR you definitely see some similarities . Jade Empire starts you out almost exactly like the Kotor games where you must choose your character , name them , and you can customize your stats how you choose. You start the game in a small martial arts school and which gets attacked by some bandits whom you must defend against . Shortly after your Master is kidnapped and you must journey to save him among other things. One seriously bad thing about the Gameplay in this game is it really feels like Kotor for dummies and so many ways such as Only having one follower instead of two, no items to be used in battle, healing is one button for the whole game , cant upgrade your attack/ defense , etc . I think Microsoft really wanted to have this game be easy to play for Rpg beginners. Anyway even though they stripped a lot of the greatness that Kotor had they also added in a lot of new things , especially to the battle system. Its no more semi real time where the computer will dodge and attack for you . Its all real time , you can block , you must press the attack button to attack , and there is no delay time in which it takes for your actions to activate. Your energy is defined into three groups Life / Body , Focus / Mind and Chi / Spirit . Life is just that , Focus is to got into slow mo which gives you a advantage in battle seeing how all the enemies move slower , and focus is also used for Weapon styles . Chi is the most important seeing how chi is used when healing and chi is used for magic style attacks and chi can be added onto any style to make it do more damage. Fighting is broken down into 4 styles basic styles Martial styles which is your basic martial arts and physical attacks without weapons , Weapon styles which is using a weapon instead of your body to attack which drains Focus . Support styles which are styles that add ailments to enemies like Stunned, poison , or slow , but support styles do no damage unless you use chi. Lastly Magic styles which is you Fire , Ice, Wind and all other classic Rpg elements. The battle system in Jade Empire is truly the peak off the greatness in gameplay . In battle you have a basic combo attack with “A” , a charged power attack that brakes blocking shields with “X” and by pressing “B” you can do all types of evasive maneuvers such as rolls and flips. Which keeps the battle system fresh is the amount of thing you can actually in it things like Area attacks , or Transformation styles which transform you into monsters and demons while giving you special powers , or Harmonic combos which are actually like Fatalities in Mortal Kombat . Everything else you’ll find is pretty much Exactly like the Kotor games where you have you good and evil actions / events and multiple replies in dialogue which can change the events in which you are in . To describe to graphics simply lets just say Jade Empire surpasses every console Rpg this generation graphically. The character models are great and Facial detail and expressions look absolutely amazing . Not to mention the lush looking environments . This is one of the games where you cant really understand how good it really looks until you actually play it and then you’ll see not only the game go far beyond any console Rpg this generation graphically but some of the things you see in the game such as the “ Water Goddess “ are too beautiful to describe. Another good thing about this games graphics is that is no slowdown which mean games suffer from these days. The sound in Jade Empire is also most impressive. They combine a masterfully stunning soundtrack which will have you believing your having tea with the Emperor of China . The game goes for a classic Asian theme and the music fits perfectly . Not only does it fit the game gracefully but it also puts 95% of games soundtracks to shame. Add in some brilliant and quite funny voice acting which is always found in Bioware games and you have a recipe for a superb audio experience. One problem with Jade Empire is the game is quite short for a Rpg . Its not under 10 hours or anything but with every mission in the game except one completed it took me a little under 25 hours . The length really depends on how much of the optional missions and side quest you do all of which earn you extra Experience , new items, “Closed fist” or “Open Palm” points , new styles , or new techniques. This game is a blast the whole way through although sad to say the chapters get shorter and shorter as you go on . One key reason why this game is so much fun and enjoyable till the end is simply because its one of the few games that lets you be as bad and as mean as you want . Saving the world from aliens and demons and Rescuing the princess is fine most of the time but sometimes you just want to put that guy in the face who pisses you off in the village and Jade Empire lets you have free will over your decisions no matter what the consequences may be. Like in the other two Console Bioware games you’ll find a lot of replay value because of three major reasons. Two different endings , being evil and good major changes throughout the game , there are styles and equipment that can only be used by ones who are evil or good . Overall Jade Empire is a fantastic Rpg with a amazing battle system , great boss fights, a deep and engaging story , and lots of replay value which all Rpg lovers or those who are new to the genre should enjoy a lot . -Check out my other reviews 
