Rating: 
Summary: Reason alone to buy an Xbox
Review: Yes, this game is THAT good. Not only is it a reason alone to buy an Xbox... not only is it the best Star Wars game ever... not only is it the best roll playing game on any console... but it is also the best Star Wars experience since The Empire Strikes Back.If you don't know already, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is a RPG based in the Star Wars universe, thousands of years before the events in the movies. This premise gave the developers to design their own original story while having license to draw from that universe at will. KOTOR has many strengths, but its greatest is the story, which starts with you as a young cadet trying to protect a Jedi master on her mysterious mission. Obviously you become a jedi eventually. The coolest aspect of the story is the fact that your decisions throughout the game will lead you more and more to the dark or light sides of the force. By the end of the game, you can be a Jedi master, a Sith (dark Jedi) master, or somewhere in between, drawing on both types of powers. These little decisions are made through your numerous interactions with the myriad of characters and non-player characters you meet throughout the game. I won't get into the story itself because you will want to learn it on your own, but suffice to say its the best I've ever experienced in a game (and I've been gaming for 22 years). The story is made stronger by what is undoubtedly the strongest voice acting I've ever heard in a game. The drama is compelling and the humor is occasionally funny to the point of side-splitting laughter. My one piece of advice: when you find the humanoid droid, keep him in your party as much as possible for his incredible laugh-factor. The story being somewhat open-ended, you will want to play through this game more than once. You will be surprised at the different outcomes of the sub-stories when you do. The fighting in the game is a really original take on turn-based action. It is not slow and tedious, as so many turn-based games are. In fact, you barely have to interact if you don't want to. The way it works is your characters will fight automatically based on the "scripts" you give them. During the action, you can hit a button to pause the action and give your characters new commands. Since you can do that as much or as little as you like, the action flows accordingly. The result is some seriously cool-looking battles. The music is outstanding and the sound design is again some of the best of all videogames. Of course you have some of the original Star Wars themes by John Williams, but the original music is fantastic as well. Sound effects, from wookies to Jawas to laser blasts to light sabers crashing together, are all brilliantly executed. Graphically the game is beautiful. Some of the backgrounds are truly breathtaking and the character design is great as well. The game is not without its flaws. The load times can be a tad tedious, though it won't stop you from wanting to play until the sun rises. The game starts just a tad slow, but once it gets going, look out! You will be hooked and hopeless to resist. The force is strong with this one! I would rate it 9.6 out of 10, with deductions only for load times and very minor bugs. Best game on the Xbox so far, in my little opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Only for certain types of gamers
Review: SWKOTOR is Lucasarts' most self-guided, open-ended Star Wars game ever. It is sophisticated and complex beyond belief. Players choose every power, every weapon, every partner, and every word, because, as in the Star Wars universe, the choices you make will determine whether you embrace the light or the dark side of the Force. But BE WARNED: this is a very certain type of game for a very specific type of player. I'm more than a casual Star Wars fan, but about nine or ten hours in, gameplay became boring and monotonous. First, the pluses: the in-game graphics are good, considering the vast number of worlds and creatures; I'd rank them about a half-notch below Jedi Academy. The cut-scenes are spectacular, though. Gameplay is easy, and there are lots of nice little touches here and there: the characters are deep and emotional, the rapid-transit system is helpful, and the item-sorting and sharing systems are perfect. But you'll find yourself doing much of the same thing over the course of the game: talking. It's like an overlong movie, not enough action, too much reaction. Plus the plot is enormous, and the sidequests are either pointless, annoying or both. While the Jedi Academy games had steady pacing and clear start-to-finish goals, this game has clunky dialogue and repetitive lectures. The fights aren't great either; basically you push a couple of buttons and your character goes on autopilot. I loved controlling the functions of the light saber in the Jedi Knight games, but here the computer does it all for you. If you are devoted to Star Wars and have the patience to read every word and find every clue, this game might work for you. If you really want a game where every action decides your fate, maybe you'll like SWKOTOR. But if you like a more linear style of Star Wars game with controllable fighting and better Force Powers, try Jedi Academy instead.
Rating:
Summary: What a blast!
Review: I have never played an RPG of this caliber!! Even though there are a couple of small things I don't like, the overall gaming experience is just unbelievable! If you take your time and do most of the subquests, this game gives you unseen amount of play time (some reviews I have read put the total game play time at 60 hours! In comparison, Unreal II took me 12 hours to beat and Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy took me 14) If you are a big RPG and Star Wars fan, this game rocks like nothing else! Be prepared to be challenged!!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This game is enormously fun. the only complaint i has was that this game had some problems with ATI graphics cards. i had a horrible time at first with the graphics, being really choppy and such. Bioware recently released an updtae for the game for ATI 9600 users. This mod has completly fixed all the bugs and the game is running beautifully with maximum res. Gameplay is awesome and the cinematography is outstanding. A definate must buy.
Rating:
Summary: Im not really into Star Wars but....
Review: I got this for Xbox as a gift and I was hooked as soon as I started playing! The graphics are a bit choppy at times but the gameplay more than makes up for it. There are so many different outcomes you can choose from and the whole option of being a good guy or a bad guy is wonderful. The style goes as a usual RPG so not much action and the fight scenes are the same after awhile, but just exploring and interacting with everyone is worth it. You definitely get more than 20+ hours out of this game since you want to go back and play it over again once you beat it to see how the light or dark side ending is (they are obviously different).
Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun! So many cool details...
Review: Last night I finished playing this game as a "good Jedi". Everything up until the final fight scene was outstanding. (My only problem with the last fight - if your character didn't have certain skills, it meant big trouble.) There is a computer RPG concept I've heard called "The Rail". A character can only do so much creative stuff before hitting a boundary: (walking into the edge of the world, NPCs who can't be killed or rescued, things that cannot be done). As far as I've seen this game is "state of the art" for giving the player wide choices and showing the consequencies of those choices. (But if you really want total play flexibility, roll dice.) Graphics tuning can be an issue. But there are enough switches you can fiddle with to adjust to what your hardware will support. (This game eats a lot of CPU and needs a fast graphic card to refresh the shadows and other beautiful visual effect when characters are moving and/or the camera angle is spinning.) From a computer graphics and game viewpoint I was really impressed with seeing the armor, weapons, and visors the characters were then wearing being incorporated into the cut sequence animations. It was another really cool detail. I'm starting to think George Lucas should have not made movies out of Episodes 1, 2, & 3. (He should have left those as books - just like 7, 8, & 9) He *should* have made a couple movies out of the materials in *this* storyline.
Rating:
Summary: A wife's must buy
Review: I purchased this for my husband and he hasn't stopped playing it. Every wife who has a husband into video games must buy it for Christmas.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the few rpgs where it feels right to be bad
Review: The combat system is great, the character progression is excellent, and the graphics are superb. The best thing about the game though is the story. The is one of the few games which allows you to play as good or evil and REALLY feel that your actions change events. You can 'fall to the dark side' and change the characters reactions to you, and how you end the game significantly. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: So close to a perfect Star Wars game, but for the interface
Review: KOTOR's mix of options for your character, its storytelling, and the interactions with the non-player characters in your party show developer Bioware at its best--these aspects of the game are as good as anything in the classic Baldur's Gate series. You can develop your character as a noble Jedi or a corrupt and vile servant of the dark side of the Force--and, unlike many games, still win either way. Your party members will comment on your actions and raise their own troubles and start new quests. The story itself, set thousands of years before the Star Wars movies, is not groundbreaking, but touches on classic themes of redemption and betrayal. This is good stuff. Combine it with the fact that you get to play with all the cool Jedi powers and lightsabers, without having to deal with the annoyances of the Star Wars prequel movies--there are no silly attempts to rationalize the Force, there are no bumbling sidekicks. In fact, somehow, Bioware managed to slip in discussions about how the Jedi may have misunderstood the Force all along. Bioware seems to know how to make the Star Wars universe interesting in ways George Lucas forgot long, long ago. But, alas, it's not perfect. Where KOTOR falls down is in its interface. This game was developed for both the PC and the Xbox, and it shows. Unlike most PC RPGs, where you can tell your character what to do, and he does it, in KOTOR, you have to steer him (or her) around as in a 3rd person shooter game (e.g., Tomb Raider). Equipping your character or managing your inventory are arduous tasks, limited by the need to accomodate the Xbox. Moreover, unless you have a pretty powerful PC, your attempts to maneuver the interface will be hampered by frequent slowdowns in the graphics. Fortunately, the fighting is done in a more conventional style, where you issue commands to your character (plus your party members, if you want). The interface problems never quite went away, but I became accustomed to them by the second or third day. Once you reach that point, they do not overshadow a terrific game.
Rating:
Summary: Best Star Wars game in years
Review: When I first heard that Knights of the Old Republic was going to be set 4,000 years before the movies, I thought it would be crap. Boy, was I wrong. This game kicks more a** than the last two Star Wars movies combined. Everything from the graphics to the battle system to the story is very well executed. If it weren't for a couple problems, hey, this might have been perfect. The story goes like this; The New Republic has been at war with the Mandalorians, and drove the last of their enemy deep into space, where a Jedi master named Revan and his apprentice, Malak, chased them into the beyond, and returned as Sith lords with a fleet of war ships. Malak betrays his master, and attacks the New Republic with his armada. And here, as the apprentice of the Jedi Bastila, you begin the game. It is your job to find out the mystery behind the end of the Mandalorian war, the Sith Battleships, and Malak, and to either step into the role of a Jedi and stop him, or become one of the Sith. This game just screams Star Wars. The Ebon Hawk is a dead ringer for the Millenium Falcon, but looks different enough to be seen as a forbear, not a clone. The game will take you from Tatooine to Coruscaunt to Kashyyk, Chewbacca's homeworld, and you will even get your own wookies! Ever wondered what C-3P0 would be like if he was a fighting type and didn't whine? I know I did, and Hk-47, your loyal, and homocidal, droid party member, is one of the best characters in the game. The controls may prove something of a problem. There is always difficulty moving a game that was built for a console to the PC. However, these problems are easily bypassed, considering that the entire game can be played with the mouse, or, for thumb candy addicts like me, you can just plug in a game pad. The battle system is real-time turn-based, and it easy to use, especially because of the pause feature, which is a blessing when nature calls in the middle of a major fight. The graphics more than do the job, and in some places, provided you have a good processor and video card, they can be downright astounding. The moving grass and the glow of the lightsabers are incredible. The sound is equally impressive. John William's signature score runs throughout parts of the game, where others have a slower, deeper tone, but all of it runs in the same vein as the movies. The sound effects are all recognizable, from the hum of a saber to roar of a starship's engines. In addition, this game may have the best voice acting of any on the PC market. It's really that great, and there are hours and hours of it thanks to the fully-interactive dialogue system. It's great to have the options to choose between the life of a noble Jedi, or a power-hungry Sith. Sure, the game isn't all that open-ended, but's it sure is long, spanning four disks on the PC. There are lots of side-quests (solving them all in addition to beating the game will take some people upwards of 60 hours), but in the end, this is a story-based RPG, and it is linear. Is that a bad thing? No. We've all seen what happens when Star Wars games are left too open-ended (cough*Galaxies*cough), and this strikes a balance between choice and duty, as it were. Even after beating the game, most will want to play through it again, as the light and dark side endings are different, and both are worth the effort. In addition, the customization of the characters in impressive. Everything from equipment to clothing to your character's appearance (it will change depending on your light side/dark side alignment) to the ability to design your own lightsaber, or lightsabers, is nifty on a level that Star Wars has never seen. Seen your character weild a dual-bladed saber while beating down some bad dudes will make you feel tingly all over. The biggest real problem of this game is that the inventory can be clumsy at time, as you don't have access to all of your items while on the Ebon Hawk. It seems silly to have to land the ship, switch out items, then take off again. In addition, though the dialogue is very well-done, sometimes the loops are repeated or hard to follow. It doesn't show up that often though but it's one of the only things that faults the gameplay. All in all, this is a must have for any fan of computer RPG's in general and Bioware in particular, and any Star Wars fan owes it to themselves to pick this up. A great experience in both gameplay and Star Wars lore, you just can't go wrong with Knights of the Old Republic. Just make sure you have enough space and muscle to run the thing, 'cause it's a monster of a game.
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