Star Wars: The Old Republic Impressions

So confession my dear readers (all…four of you?).  I almost forgot to write this article because I was playing the game it’s about.  In fact it took Tophat to remind me that it was Friday!  We talked a bit about the latest MMO to hit the market, The Old Republic.  And I think I said something quite telling about the game in that conversation, without even thinking about it.  When he asked me how the game was, I responded with “I’m enjoying the single player.”  Wait, WHAT?!  This is an MMO.  Massive Multiplayer is in the genre.  As it stands now though,  the game seems very divided.  It’s this division that makes it both a unique game in the MMO space, but one whose power to retain a player base for a long period of time is in question.

Star Wars:The Old Republic beta impressions

So Bioware was nice enough to grant me beta access to their biggest game ever;  Star Wars MMO The Old Republic.  And by grant me access I mean I could play the game for three days.  I was hoping for more, but I managed to get a few hours in over thanksgiving weekend while working retail.  Last I checked there are already over 2.5 million pre orders for this game, with many calling it the MMO that will finally beat World of Warcraft.  The power of the Star Wars license is strong and will draw many to the game, but the real question is whether or not it has the staying power to keep people playing once the allure of having playing around in the Star Wars universe starts to fade.  Obviously, I can’t answer that question based off my limited play time.  However I can say that the game truly impressed me in some ways…and had me greatly concerned in others.

Back When The Matrix was Cool

Hey an alternate poster! No Joey Pants, but something different right?

It’s kind of joke now, The Matrix.  Keanu Reeves, please. Oh hey guys, an actor that isn’t that good acting like he’s confused for 90 odd minutes, comedy gold!  After the completely bloated and somewhat insane last two movies the whole fictional universe has become the realm of geeks who are only concerned about wearing black and pretending to know martial arts.  There have been animes and books, a table top RPG, and numerous video games, even a short-lived MMO.  But that wasn’t always the case.  In fact, I remember a much younger me going to the movies with my father way back when in March of 1999.  At the time, the impending release of Star Wars Episode 1 was THE focus of my movie going brain.  Little did I know that a sci-fi movie that was getting just a bit of buzz would turn out to be one of the cultural milestones of action movies, while Star Wars would be underwhelming, to say the least.  So let’s go back to before the Matrix became a THING, and when it was just a damn good movie.

The Paradise Snare: Glorified fanfiction

My descent into nerddom began a long time a go in a galaxy far far away when my Dad started watching and old copy of The Empire Strikes Back he had taped off of the TV sometime in the in the mid-80′s. I was fascinated by these weird beasts that ran on two legs and giant robots that looked like gangly elephants. Not to mention the beautiful city in the clouds. I had no idea what science fiction was. All I knew was I wanted an X-wing.

My brother, who is 10 years my junior, began his Star War fanaticism similarly, but by the time he got around to it the old tape was fuzzy and worn. There was so much snow on Hoth it was hard to tell what was going on. He probably doesn’t remember that tape. He was three when the movies were re-released for the 20th anniversary.

What he does remember is the Han Solo trilogy of novels that was also released in 1997.

A trip to Arcade Legacy

YOU HAVE INSULTED MY DOJO. PREPARE TO DIE.

Finding a good arcade is pretty tricky these days.  Lets be honest, the trend went out of style years ago, and those quarters kids kept shoving into those machines aren’t going much farther to help pay for rent and utilities.  Enosh found a promising one a  few weeks back, however, called Arcade Legacy and located in Cincinnati.  Somewhere.  I’ve never been very good with directions, and that text file I had that told me exactly where it was vanished forever during a recent AVG update.  Oh well, you’ll take the information I have and you’ll like it, jerkface!

“But Tophat,” you start moaning, because nothing is good enough for you.  “Why don’t you just review, oh I dunno, Fallout New Vegas or that one web comic about indy music and romantic shenanigans? Wouldn’t that be, I dunno, more relevant?”

Sure, maybe.  But I’m still working on Fallout and need to play a bit longer before I can give you a final opinion on it.  And I’m sure Jeph Jacques is doing just fine without me, thank you very much.  So yeah, we’re going to take a look at Arcade Legacy.

Limbo lives up to its moniker

Microsoft’s first offering in the now annual summer of arcade is different than expected.  It is not the type of game I would think Microsoft would want to put out as the head of a large scale promotion, but here it is.  What does Limbo bring to the table?  A striking art style, solid platforming, some tricky puzzles, and a remarkable amount of violence.

The Old Republic is feeling old already

Oooohhhh Bioware. I love you guys, I really do. Between Knights of the old Republic 1 and 2, the Mass Effect Series, and Dragon Age, I’ve never had a bad time playing your games. As a huge Star Wars fan, I was super excited to see you were working on another game set in that universe. When I realized it was an MMO, I grew a little concerned.

The Force Unleashed OR What you wish Obi-wan did to that jerk in the Cantina

There is a sad sad history of games based on movies being terrible.  The Last Airbender? Yuck (although, apparently, better than the movie!). Iron Man? Yuck. One good movie, two bad games. Luckily for us gamers in recent times the trend has started to get a little better. Star Wars lends itself quite well to video game land and the franchise has spawned enough games to have some hits and misses. With Bioware hard at work on The Old Republic, the potentially awesome Star Wars MMO we’ve been waiting for, I decided to revisit another part of the Star Wars universe via Xbox360 in the Force Unleashed.