The good, the bad, and the ugly on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the PC.
1) Role play: Finally, a role playing game where you in fact role play! KoTOR brought to the genre something that has been seriously lacking and that's choice. in KoTOR you are presented with many different dialog responses to the situations you are faced with. They are presented in a way that it's usually quite obvious which ones will bring you closer to the dark side of the force and which will bring you closer to the light side. Playing the game as an evil jedi is a different experience than as a good one. There are moments in this game that are so good you will be talking about them for decades, especially when you play the evil jedi.
2) Combat: The combat in KoTOR is in no way all that difficult and presents a minor to decent challenge to the experienced action rpg gamer. The system is fairly easy to pick up and master. Combat in KoTOR is very much in line with traditional Star Wars games with lots of laser blasts, explosions, and of course light sabers.
3) Story: The story in KoTOR is excellent. You experience many aspects of the Star Wars universe from dealing with thugs, merchants, citizens who want your help, to the more serious main plot encounters with the Jedi Masters and the Sith Lords. You will love the story and want to play the game at least twice to see it from both the light and dark sides.
4) Replay value: The replay value for this RPG/Action RPG is unmatched. No other game up to the release of KoTOR offers such a desire for gamers to play it again. The game significantly changes when you make different choices. It has set a new standard for RPG's to live up to.
5) Visuals: The graphics are not he strongest sell point to KoTOR but where the game lacks in detailed graphics it more than makes up in overall look and feel. You will believe you are in the Star Wars universe while playing this game. Characters have the style of Star Wars and everything feels right. The art direction was also well done.
6) Character selections: You get a wide variety of characters to play with in this game from the traditional favorites like Wookies and R2 units to the other races and character classes that will help you on more specialized assignments.
7) Fun factor: The game is straight up addicting and fun. You will get a good 15+ hours out of this game the first time through and you will wonder where the time went.
The bad:
1) Lack of exploration: KoTOR pretty much has tight environments where you really have your path laid out for you. The backgrounds make the game seem big but you are confined to a relatively small gaming world. I'd like to have seen a much larger world to explore instead of the seemingly small one they give you.
2) No real side quests: What can I say? As a fan of RPGs I've been spoiled by Elder Scrolls III and its vast gaming world. I want to be able to explore and find side quests all over the place that bring me closer to the everyday life and adventures in the Star Wars world. KoTOR does not offer that.
The ugly:
1) BUGS: KoTOR was released with many bugs ranging from game lock ups, crashes, black screens, you name it. Like most RPG's I suggest waiting two weeks after the release date to see if there's a patch or if there's already one in the works. If so then you wait. Otherwise the you will be allowing for the developer's mistakes to ruin your gaming experience.
Overall: KoTOR is one of those games that doesn't deliver the greatest visuals or sound and it's the story and role play that makes it great so the overall score can never reflect how truly great this game is. For RPG / Action RPG fans KoTOR is quite possibly the best game of all time. What more can be said?