Star Wars Galaxies recently reached an extreme low with players fed up of the current system. Yet with the announcement of Rage of the Wookies, the second expansion to the original Star Wars Galaxies series, to coincide with the release of the final Star Wars movie and the much anticipated Combat Upgrade (CU), a few old players stuck around. Have they been rewarded? In a way, they have. On the aesthetic side, I've not been impressed. I loved the way the game looked pre-CU. I loved the look of the old toolbar at the top but instead it has been replaced by quite undistinguishable art. I have problems remembering which icon is which. The old icons looked straight-forward and they should have stayed that way. Now, the game has been given a face lift for one reason. Not to cater for the current subscribers but rather capture the Episode III loving mob who have seen the new TV advertisements for the game. Yes, it's the same old hackneyed play by the publisher we have seen many times before and guess what? It has worked. On my main server (Starsider) in particular, I have noticed a rapid amount of new players and certainly a lot more population in the big cities. Yet to keep the older players happy, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) have allowed older players to respec their skills - this basically means that you can trade some of your skills to another block of skills e.g. brawler skills to marksman skills. Personally, I was aiming to become a bounty hunter post-CU. Yet after this allowance of respec, many a player has pushed their skills to the tilt of Bounty Hunter. Now, because of this the Jedi are under more pressure when being hunted by Bounty Hunters and the Jedi are now referring to these new Bounty Hunters as "respec noobs". Now I don't mind being called names but I'd rather not anger the Jedi players (as it's not in their nature) so I've decided to master Marksman, master medic and master scout before I take a stab at Bounty Hunting. There are far too many Bounty Hunters now so I believe it's best to wait for the storm to calm. May I also add, I have not made a respec with my character as I don't find this little addition very helpful to the game. The combat upgrade has improved and diminished the fortunes of some veterans (unfortunately, my character has suffered a massive combat downgrade) yet on the whole, it will be better for the game in time. One controversial feature though is the wound system. If a player fought so much, they would acquire wounds which could easily be healed by even less experienced medics or themselves in a medical facility or camp. Now unfortunately, they can only be healed by Jedi or Doctors. Finding a Doctor can be very inconvenient. The only other option is waiting 5 minutes for 5 of the characters' wounds to be patched up in a player camp or a medical building. Coming out of context, my character usually contracts a couple of hundred wounds at times and you should be able to imagine how hard it is to find a celestial being, riding down from the heavens on their Swoop Speeder, to heal my wounds. So now that the slightly controversial part and my personal opinions are out of the way, now to review some of the new features! Naturally since the name of the game is Rage of the Wookies, it's only fitting that Wookies appear as a result of the expansion. The game opens up a new world; the Wookie homeworld Kashyyk. Offering 100 new varied quests, a new planet to discover and plenty of Episode III links, the game is worth buying for this lovely little planet. Now what Episode III links may you ask? Without spoiling much, watch the Rage of the Wookies TV spot and you will no doubt see two faces tinted with the light and the dark side. Despite the game being set between the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, continuity has never been a factor in SWG. Yet there is a perfectly good explanation why two popular wielders of the sabre do appear in the game. The in game music is once again a perfect little SW universe tie in and makes you feel part of the world. The sound effects have made quite a lot of improvement, leading to some varied environmental audio. In conclusion, Rage of the Wookies expands the grand universe of SWG. The virtual immersion that it is hyped up to be, it is not. What it is, is a must need for any Star Wars fan whether you are Hardcore with a capital 'H', or nonchalantly swirling through the motions with your inebriated buddies using homemade lightsabres. Enjoy Yourself!
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