Anyone lookin for a Bioware fix with a little more focus on action and simplicity will find a lot to like in Jade Empire
User Rating: 8.4 | Jade Empire: Hisui no Teikoku XBOX
Bioware has long been synonymous with excellent rpg construction. From the Baldur's Gate series, to Neverwinter Nights, they have always had a successful home on the PC, and with the release of Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, they even launched a successful rpg on the Xbox console that was not only successful but won many game and rpg of the year awards. Not to be outdone by their previous works, Bioware now comes along with Jade Empire, a game that carries many of the qualities of the best of Bioware's games, but brings it forward with an entirely new approach to gameplay that is much more action based. Jade Empire, overall, isn't an accomplishment over some of the previous games released by Bioware, but this in no way makes the game bad, and Jade Empire still stands as a wonderful game that is worth owning in their second outing on the Microsoft Xbox. Jade Empire's setting is something that is very unique and different. The game has an overall very Asian feel, taking place in a world that Bioware has created from the ground up with the obviously heavy influence from ancient Chinese and Japanese history books. The Jade Empire is ruled by Sun Hai, one of three brothers who helped establish the empire as a stronghold twenty years prior to the start of the game, when there was a great drought that was overtaking the Empire for a long period of time, and the drought was solved through the determination of three brothers who were able to somehow quench the drought, but how is part of the intrigue of the story, and what really happened to all the brothers will become quite clear as the game progresses, as well as the identity and background of the Lotus Assassins, the military group that protects and acts on behalf of the Emperor. The obvious twists and turns exist in the game as well, to keep you on your feet, as well as what I like to say is the typical "Bioware" plot twist that will change the way you look at many of the characters in the story and the overall game in general. The game starts you out in Two Rivers, a small town where martial arts and mastery is taught to the many students who live there. You have lived here since you can remember, which according to Master Li, the overall head of the martial arts center, has been close to twenty years. In typical Bioware fashion, all of the events that may have taken place twenty years ago are somehow connected to you, but in which way they are directly related to you is exactly part of the fun. Quite simply, the story takes some seriously dramatic turns and not everything is as it seems, nor is everyone. The story that unfolds throughout the game is done very well, and while it certainly has some slow points near the beginning, it definitely keeps your interested and driven to find out the truth about the many characters you meet on your travels through the Empire, and the revelations and ultimate climax of the game is nothing short of spectacular. For those who have played many of Bioware's previous gaming installments, if you are expecting a very heavy duty rpg, you are definitely in for a rude awakening. This game is very much more action oriented, with a heavy emphasis on rpg elements such as attributes and various other statistics, but the core gameplay is definitely martial arts style action. Battles consist of yourself and one or more enemies fighting each other in open combat, and you can complete various attacks based on what particular style you are using. Styles can be completed and changed by hitting any particular key they are mapped to on the D-pad, which helps to change up the combat quite a bit, but unfortunately a lot of enemies you can use the same particular fighting style to take them out without much difficulty. While a lot of battles it may seem like you are using the same particular style over and over, other bosses and some of the later fights will require you to use multiple martial, support, and magic styles to effectively fight your enemies. One of the particular main bosses, for instance, requires you to constantly shift from one given style to another as the boss becomes immune to any given style after a few hits. Styles, as mentioned before, are one of the main aspects of combat. You have your basic martial styles, which are your basic attack sequences that are a general method of dealing hand-to-hand damage. Magic styles, such as Ice Shard, are additional damage or attack styles that allow ranged attacks to take place, and they also can perform other various support abilities to help you inflict more damage, such as freezing a particular opponent so that you can switch to a martial style to deal more damage without fear of retaliation, or to remove a foe temporarily while you concentrate on another enemy. You also have transformation styles, which allow you to actually turn into other enemies you have battled before and use their abilities, such as a horse demon with immolation abilities and fire abilities. Weapon styles are also present, allowing you some range with attacks versus martial styles, and also providing some considerable damage to onscreen enemies while in use, but can only be used in limited amounts since it runs off of your focus bar. The characters statistics directly affect how you can also use some specific abilities and styles. You basically have 3 main statistics which determine abilities, which are Body, Chi, and Mind. Body is appropriately how many particular hit points or life points you have in the game, so this is likely something good for a close quarters fighter to have very high. Chi measure how often you can use abilities such as ranged magic attacks and supporting style magic attacks such as freezing your enemies in a block of ice. Abilities like these are good support for melee fighters, and but can also be very useful for someone who uses ranged attacks to their advantage while letting their followers take on various other enemies. Finally your mind attribute determines how long of a focus bar you have, which determines how frequently you can use weapons, and also allows you to slow down other enemies attacks in a matrix-style fashion that helps take on multiple enemies or give you an advantage against various bosses. Mind abilities can generally support a magic or melee style, since it has the option of using weapons or the slow abilities, but overall it is probably more supportive to melee fighters since both abilities can effectively support a melee character fairly well, where as someone heavier on magic might not benefit as much since the weapon abilities could endanger a character heavier on magic and focus, which obviously gives them less hit points to work with. Leveling up and gaining new abilities and statistics, while not as dynamic as in many of Bioware's previous games based on 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons rules, or a variation that resembles it (such as in KOTOR), is still a worthwhile and interesting experience. You really don't gain additional spells or feats in this game, but the options to raise specific styles and attributes is still fairly exciting. Different styles have three different options in to how well you perform them, such as duration, attack speed, chi usage or damage, so finding the best way to accommodate your fighting style is the key to raising your character properly. Spirit Thief, for example, is support style that allows you to steal chi from enemies, but since support styles do no damage, you might benefit more from raising the attack speed as opposed to something like chi damage, where that might be more appropriate for martial styles. The music in Jade Empire is probably one of its best qualities, emphasizing the overall asian feel with numerous string instrument style melodies combined with various other musical renditions. The Imperial City, home to the Emperor and many other denizens and groups of the Empire, is filled with strong and heavy movements with the sounds of gongs and such, giving it a very large sound that appeals to the size and scope of the city and its surroundings. The small port town of Tien's Landing, however, has a very reserved sound, a place surrounded by mysterious ghosts and protective spirits alike, and the music matches it with various whistles and flutes throughout. Another nice touch that is quite a bit different from most standard console rpg's is the game features some varied combat music, so this is a nice touch that will hopefully find its way into other games of this nature. Many of the characters are also brought to life very well through some of the best voice acting to hit a console since games like Tales of Symphonia and Knights of the Old Republic. The characters, while voiced by some of the best talent in the gaming industry, could have felt a bit more authentic in its interpretation had it been voiced by more Asian actors or those with an accent resembling that. Regardless, the game still has its characters portrayed in a way that certainly befits the game, and conveys the emotion and story of the characters well. Sagacious Zu is a character of particular interest who remains reserved but very mysterious, while Dawn Star, your best friend from the beginning of the game, is very honorable and epitomizes the good that all heroes contain inside. A personal favorites of the game would most definitely be the Black Whirlwind, a brutal fighter who loves blood, wine and brutality more than anyone, and entices and enjoys the thrill of combat and being overwhelmed, but despite his demeanor looks out for the main protagonist and has a good heart within him. It's characters like these that truly make the game highly enjoyable, and makes all the dialogue they speak worthwhile and believable. While Bioware typically has been known to make incredibly long and engrossing titles, Jade Empire falls a bit short, at least in the length department. While most games like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 2 can easily take a good 40+ hours, and even mark the 60-100 hour mark range if you try to complete all side and sub-quests, Jade Empire really falls around the 20-25 hour mark, peaking at possibly 30 hours. While this certainly doesn't affect enjoyment of the game, it seems like the story comes together almost too fast at some points, so it falls short in terms of come together the way many of the other titles do, revealing small points and various twists until the ultimate climax. The story is still very fitting of the game length, however, and those who prefer a more story oriented adventure but decline to try longer endeavors will find a lot to like in the world of Jade Empire. In the end, Jade Empire is a fantastic action rpg title, and although it does have a few minor flaws, the game is spectacular. The combat is incredibly fun, despite repetitiveness at times, and the various styles and abilities you can use help to change things up quite a bit, keeping the action fun but very fast as well. The wonderful music and graphical setting helps to promote the overall feel of the game, and authenticates what is in reality, a fictional tale that incorporates the style and honor of much of Asian history. Anyone looking for a Bioware fix with a little more focus on action and simplicity will find a lot to like in the world of Jade Empire. -Foomanchu311 
