Despite hype, Star Wars: Old Republic launches to mixed reviews

December 22nd, 2011

In covering video games for the last seven years, I learned a little trick. If a game publisher has a title in the hopper that's highly anticipated but not without its faults (i.e. incapable of competing with other big games), said publisher will release the game the week of Christmas, hoping its flaws won't be widely known until after the lucrative and often impulsively-shopped holiday.

That appears to be the case with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Although one of the most anticipated games of any platform this year, the MMORPG is being criticized as a six year old MMO game wrapped in a Star Wars motif with voice overs. 

"As an avid fan, I had high hopes for TOR, until I got to play it," said one user review posted on Dec. 20, the day the game released. "The only word worth describing it with is mediocrity. Nothing new gameplay wise... copy pasted gameplay from World of Warcraft... terrible PvP balance...the absolutely most stagnant world ever created for an MMO and horrible repeatable combat. So much money spent on development just to copy what we've already played."

Ouch. Although harsh, that user's review is indicative of a lot of the pre-release coverage of the game, which many of my colleagues found to be ho-hum in nature. Too big for its britches. 

Admittedly, I haven't sat down with the game yet. And other user reviews like the game's atmosphere, presentation, and of course its lovable Star Wars theme. But it's apparent, at least for the time being, that a home run this is not. Certainly no where near the universal acclaim Elder Scrolls: Skyrim enjoyed in fast and furious fashion. 

That said, what do you think readers: For those who have played the game, are mixed reviews appropriate for Star Wars: The Old Republic? Or is this game misunderstood? Or perhaps the latest to be poorly received by a bunch of jaded gamers? Oh, and is it good enough to lure you away from Azeroth?

Read more: PC gaming headlines

Comments

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yay first comment. i personally played it for about 3 hours and didnt like it so i think it got way to much hype
edit: i forced myself to play it for another 5 hours and started to love it. now i have 100 hours logged on it and have been playing it from noon to 5am and then again

"To die for the Emperor is better than to live for yourself" -

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Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
redcat528
Level 2
194 ARP
94/150, 56 ARP to go
94/150, 56 ARP to go
I've played the game and so far I really enjoy it. So much better than WoW and Rift :)

2
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Frosh
Level 4
683 ARP
183/250, 67 ARP to go
183/250, 67 ARP to go
I played during the stress testing weekends, and loved the game, If you focus solely on the combat portion of the game it is basically the same routine that has been reused in nearly every mmo release, albeit with some really nice on the rails space combat to spice it up. where the game truly shines is in the storyline most of the groups i played with would always skip the conversation and movie scenes in order to see as much of the world as possible when the game best shows itself in these areas. This looks to be the kind of game that will be solely set apart by the delivery of the story, so if you expect to play the game as most people play wow, by skimming the quests and turning them in as fast as possible then this will basically be a wow-clone, but if the game is approached as the single-player Knights of the old republic series then the story will carry you through.

3
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
glondale
Level 3
362 ARP
112/250, 138 ARP to go
112/250, 138 ARP to go
I agree with glondale. The game is fantastic if you go into it with the mindset that you are playing for the story elements, and after all what really is an RPG? the story. People play RPGs so they can be emmersed in the story and lives of the characters they play, and ToR does exactly this. It makes you feel the concequences of your actions and you get to see your character react the way you play. It is a true MMO RPG in the literal sense. However if you are power leveling to 50 and just trying to play the game exactly like WoW then your not going to find anything new. It will seem like a rinse and repeat. WoW essentially set the bar for MMOs, but as far as RPGs go it didnt really offer the experience that it should have. Dont get me wrong, I played WoW for a long time and loved it, but I have also been waiting for a fresh game to compete with WoW. I had high hopes for Rift but that felt too much like a literal WoW clone, even down to the similar item stats and whatnot. SWToR has a lot of customization and world elements that are very different from wow, such as the crafting, weapon/armor mods, and companion system. These all offer a new and improved experience in the RPG world, but do it in the MMO fashion. Overall Im very impressed with the game. I can see where people want to complain about it, but they may need to take a closer look at the genre of the game and reevaluate. The game is a thumbs up for me!

4
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
levele
Level 2
193 ARP
93/150, 57 ARP to go
93/150, 57 ARP to go
I put over a day of play time in my first 2 days of owning the game when the early access was released. I absolutely love it. People seem to expect some new spectacular innovative combat system but seriously...how realistic is that expectation? There aren't endless video game concepts like their may be for things like art and music. Atleast there aren't with our current technology. It's a "WoW style" combat system, yes, but how can you really even call it that? How many games before and after WoW have used that combat system? It's user friendly and effective. Personally I'd give the game atleast a 9/10.

5
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Slania312
Level 3
431 ARP
181/250, 69 ARP to go
181/250, 69 ARP to go
I played it for 2 days and to be honest after just few hours of playing I only continued to play it because I was huge fan of old kotor games.
So I think that they have done a great evil upon kotor games by releasing this as the sequel to series.

What I found lacking was the diversity of the game. They made huge universe and characters had only some basic attack moves that they could use and had to use repetedly. And so it was in many other areas as well.

I would dare say that the game is Incomplete.

Edit: Tho I do agree with ppl saying it has great story element in it.

6
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Rnailo
Level 2
153 ARP
53/150, 97 ARP to go
53/150, 97 ARP to go
mmmh... im not sure what to think about this game.. it looks great for a mmorpg but i dont like it more than gw or gw2. but may if gw2 fails ill give it a try

http://eu.alienwarearena.com/groups/guild-wars-2-gold-farmers/

7
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
DreyraJar
Level 7
2387 ARP
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887/2147482148, 2147481261 ARP to go
I got the game for the story elements and so far I am very happy with it. I don't really have any intentions of playing it as an mmo so I just close the chat window and go on my way. While the combat is much more mmo like then the old starwars games, I still find enjoyment in it and I am atleast gonna continue to play it for the story.

8
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
platypussamurai
Level 6
1085 ARP
85/500, 415 ARP to go
85/500, 415 ARP to go
It probably got too much hype, but it is still not a bad game.

9
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
s8man888
Level 7
1644 ARP
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144/2147482148, 2147482004 ARP to go
The game got so much hype! Of course it was a disappointment... anything but "omg this is perfect" would be a disappointment. The combat is not the main show, so it is slightly subpar. I'll be waiting for GW2.

10
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Zerosama0000
Level 7
1661 ARP
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161/2147482148, 2147481987 ARP to go
If im not mistaken, Bioware did mention they wont be straying too far from conventional MMO's and they would just be adding the addition of a nice storyline and voice acting.

Personally, I enjoyed the game a lot the story is way better than most MMO's have given me and the voice acting is great!

11
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
dodolidot
Level 4
506 ARP
6/250, 244 ARP to go
6/250, 244 ARP to go
I got in on the last beta weekend. The actual gameplay isn't that amazing and gets quite boring after a few hours, but the storylines, multiple choices, and community based systems(such as flashpoints) are what makes it awesome. Not awesome enough for me to spend several hundred dollars a year on it, but I love to see an MMO with coherent storylines, something that's quite rare. The whole time I was playing it it felt more like a KOTOR RPG with multiplayer rather than an MMO, and I really liked that. You never kill stuff "because its a monster" or for some ridiculous reason, but because they are enemies explained to you beforehand in a quest or something.

12
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Thrannduil
Level 2
108 ARP
8/150, 142 ARP to go
8/150, 142 ARP to go
My cousin got it the day it came out and he has told me that it is a very good game, HOWEVER my cousin calls just about anything that keeps him interested good. He isn't much of a critic. I, however, after looking at gameplay videos, see WoW all over the place in the gameplay.

"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

13
Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
Eirreann
Level 7
4955 ARP
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3455/2147482148, 2147478693 ARP to go
Looks nice enough if a bit linear so while I think I might play it every now and again it does not live up to it's hype. (yet)

Guild Wars 2 and Tera online appear to be a little more interesting though from what I've seen so far.

Be happy and you'll go Lucky

14
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Matisaha
Level 3
391 ARP
141/250, 109 ARP to go
141/250, 109 ARP to go
I really don't find an interest in this game, but my cousin has been constantly obsessed with it. He plays the beta too much lol. I really dono what's so great about this game.

15
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
lozz21
Level 7
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271/2147482148, 2147481877 ARP to go
Slania312 i really do like your avatar. Super space marine pikachu

xXNoobtubedXx

16
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Noobtubed06
Level 7
7590 ARP
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6090/2147482148, 2147476058 ARP to go
Swtor got great story line for all classes which changes depending on your

choices dark/light .

Pvp is fun and has great replay value and for a new game has good variety in

War zones .

Quest are fairly standard but the great cut-scenes make you want to see whats

going to happen next .

Last but not least even if you not a big star wars fan you will enjoy the game

why because its fun and you feel immersed in the world and gameplay .

17
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
niqpere
Level 2
118 ARP
18/150, 132 ARP to go
18/150, 132 ARP to go
SWTOR is without a doubt an amazing game!....is it as good as warcraft? its early too tell but its has the platform to be. I can tell you this every one on my server seems to be loving the game very few and far between are there people who do not like it. try the game out for yourself before you write a review on it.

18
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
XxCmitchxX
Level 1
14 ARP
13/99, 86 ARP to go
13/99, 86 ARP to go
Love it how everybody simply keeps saying "Nothing new/wow clone/boring/etc"

Nothing New - did they promise innovative gameplay? What they promised is a great story element and voice overs + lots of cutscenes to get you feel the story better than in other MMO RPG games. YOU HAVE THAT!

wow clone - they said they won't go to far from the conventional MMOs game style. So they didn't! Given that WoW is the most popular everybody thinks it's a WoW clone. Isn't WoW also a clone after previous good MMOs??? You bet it is!

Boring??? - try playing it in groups. It's a MMO - Massively Multiplayer Online - not meant to be played solo, ofcourse it gets boring. Try grouping and you'll find out you're been missing 80% of the MMO genre.


All the "negative replies in here sound like my friend's opinion about DotA 2 "dota 1 clone with pretty graphics on a new engine" - Nobody promised something else, what did oyu expect?!?!

19
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
rollandb
Level 3
460 ARP
210/250, 40 ARP to go
210/250, 40 ARP to go
rollandb
You could not be more right!

20
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Andropolis
Level 1
41 ARP
40/99, 59 ARP to go
40/99, 59 ARP to go
Never played WOW, but every MMO I've EVER heard of and read a review about was criticized for being a WOW clone. EVERY MMO IS A WOW CLONE!!! WOW IS THE MMO GENRE...pretty much.
STAGNANT WORLDS?!?!?! Did you PLAY SWTOR?!?! Were your eyes OPEN when you played it?!?! I've been playing for two days and personally it's the best video game I've ever played, surpassed expectations. Storywise, from what I heard, WOW doesn't even HAVE a story so this game is automatically better. The only game I've ever played with a better story is KOTOR 1, but I'm probably not even halfway through Coruscant so I can't really tell you how good ALL of the story is in this game yet. All I know is, the people criticizing the game for the reasons above are not playing it for the reasons they should:
1: This is Star Wars. Pretty much any game with a Star Wars title is gonna be good just beause it's Star Wars. I think people who actually paid the fees to play WOW are gay, but if you replaced WOW with Star Wars, I'd be more than happy to play.
2: STORY STORY STORY!!! Half the people criticizing this game probably never played KOTOR so they don't know that the selling point of this game is the STORY,,,which, like I said, is EXCEPTIONALLY good!

21
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Steelight
Level 1
11 ARP
10/99, 89 ARP to go
10/99, 89 ARP to go
i dont know who you qouted there but, this game is nothing like WoW.... (this game is actually good) the gameplay is completly differant, differant graphics (better even), completly differant ai system, differant fighting system... differant universe/world... besides the fact that they are both MMO'S there is no similarity betweent he two. Kinda like how "steelight" said, WoW has become the definer of MMORPG'S (which isn't right(although jsut ot be clear, i dont fully agree with everything else he said)). Anyway, i personally give this game 9/10 purely so that they have room to improve, otherwize it would be a 10/10. but you cant improve on perfection so, 9/10. I think that people just dont like it because its a Star Wars game and they want to be "differant". You know the kind of person im talking about, they just want to be cool because they aren't following a "trend. (even if said object is not a trend)

22
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
3pichief
Level 1
43 ARP
42/99, 57 ARP to go
42/99, 57 ARP to go
I have to add that my opinion of a good mmorpg is really really high and currently none come close to it

so after thinking it over and comparing them to ones that are out swkotor gets quite the perfect score ..

and now then what I would look for mmo rpg is free world which you can influence anyway possible .. like from peasant to a king and so on ... but thats just a distant dream which will hopefully come true in my lifetime

23
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Rnailo
Level 2
153 ARP
53/150, 97 ARP to go
53/150, 97 ARP to go
Let me say this... For a game that is poor most of the servers are always full... TBH it could be that the early nostalgia has not worn off but this game is solid for any release and that is a FACT. The PVP is not imbalanced however tiers would be preferable over level evening. The story is absolutely top notch compared to any other MMO out there, FACT. Crafting is innovative and gratifying and that does a lot for me (SWG crafting FTW). As far as MMO's go and I have played almost all the popular releases since 2004, I'm pleased so far and we are only out of the gate. I look forward to enjoying more and more of this but only time will tell,

Fair Enough?

Jack Burtan - "You know what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like this?"

24
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
jessejnolan
Level 3
468 ARP
218/250, 32 ARP to go
218/250, 32 ARP to go
is good

25
Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
Ogrewax
Level 6
1026 ARP
26/500, 474 ARP to go
26/500, 474 ARP to go
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