3.5/5 ★ – jackohdee's review of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

This is one I’ve been hearing about for more than a decade, and I’m glad to have finally crossed it off my list. While I’m not sure it quite holds up to it’s reputation, I can certainly understand why it made such an impact in 2003. The first thing I realized - “wait, this is Mass Effect?” I knew this was an early triumph for BioWare, but I had no idea that Mass Effect was basically just an updated KOTOR stripped of its licensed property. This is where it clicks for me. Zipping around in the Normandy with my growing squad of lovable weirdos is one of my favourite experiences in gaming, and now I understand that many people first experienced this on the Ebon Hawk. I found the DnD combat a little clunky, complicated, and poorly tutorialized. I still have no idea what a Save throw is. I played on easy so I didn’t have to worry too much about learning this system, but if I ever come back for the sequel, I’ll need to invest some more time in figuring it out. In any case, I can see why this was some of the best lightsaber-swinging action around at the time. As for its beloved story, I unfortunately had its famous twist spoiled for me like...10 years ago? That’s too bad, because it really is a great hook. Malak is a memorable villain, and it hits all the familiar Star Wars beats. Being able to spend some time in famous locales like Tatooine and Kashyyyk is wonderful, and new planets like Manaan and Koriban are great additions to the series. Taris is a standout first level, and I wish the others felt like they had quite as much to explore and do. Your squad mates have the appropriate mix of charming and annoying characteristics to ensure they’ll stick with you as well. There are some real problems, for me. The lack of proper fast travel makes for some boring backtracking. There’s so much reading to do, often while you’re being chirped at in Twi’lek grunt noises, and it’s all presented across the screen in a single line - not easy to process at all. It also just feels very long, and I had to take a significant break after Manaan before coming back to finish it. Simple quests just seem to take longer than they should to finish. Ultimately, I’m glad to have experienced this one start to end, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it.