Rating: 
Summary: Visually stunning, amazing variety of game play.
Review: Star Wars Galaxies: an Empire Divided (SWG) is probably the most incredible experience I've had playing a game. Having been around for some time and spending time with most consoles from the Atari 2600 and up, and being actively involved in PC gaming since the 386 was the common PC, I think that is really saying something.SWG isn't a game in any traditional sense. This is more like a combination of Everquest, Sims Online, Alpha Centauri, and something wholly new, all given a general Star Wars theme. But that statement alone does not cover the refinement of the execution. This is as close to a representation of cyberspace al la Snow Crash (do a search in books for that title!) that I have ever seen. Specifically, the game gives you a fantasy world (the Star Wars setting, familar to most of us) and turns you loose to do what you will. Do you need direction? Mission terminals are available and easy to find, and give you an objective to complete (delivery or hunting) for credits (SWG money). Do you want to explore? Pick a direction and head off and see the awesome sights of the planets (nine in all) that you can visit. Want to socialize? Head to the local cantina and check out who's playing and watch some dancers. Do you have a mind to become an economic force in the galaxy? You can start from humble beginnings producing equipment, and go on to become a Master Marketer and advertise your wares across the planets with NPC street barkers. Still not your thing? How about becoming a bounty hunter and tracking down the scum of the universe. Still not exciting enough? Enlist with the Rebels or the Empire, and be on the front lines of the galactic civil war, shooting walkers and liberating cities. Too dangerous? Well, with all of the conflict going on, medics are in high demand, and you can turn a nice profit healing the wounded. Or be an architect. Or a tailor, a chef, a smuggler, or many others. Or be a bit of all of them. The fact is that in many online games you're essentially doing what you can do in nearly any video game. You run around killing things for rewards. In SWG, that isn't true. You CAN kill creature to your heart's content, but if you never want to pick up a blaster you can still be quite a success - just ask the entertainers who dance for a living in the cantinas and outside the spaceports for new arrivals. That is quite remarkable in and of itself. So go out and do whatever you want to do. The freedom of it all is a bit intimidating at first really, and learning a trade can take some time (you have to work to become a bounty hunter for example), but it is rewarding to a gamer far beyond the momentary rush you get from defeating some end level boss that has been plauging you for a month. Keep in mind also that the game will be expanding (for no additional cost) to include player constructed cities, mounts (riding animals), and vehicles (like land speeders and speeder bikes)in the coming months. And the first expansion for the game, which is due out next year some time, will include space craft. I recommend this game whole heartedly to those who are looking for something different than yet another first person shooter or real time strategy. The stunning graphics alone are worth the price of admission (if you have a new game PC, this is your showpiece title!), and the variety and depth to the game will keep you coming back. ** A Technical Note ** Those of you with broadband connections through a router (like Linksys or D-Link) should update the firmware of your router. This will allow for uninterrupted game play, and it will make your experience a lot more enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Next Generation MMORPG
Review: There have been some who have said that this game would only be successful because of it's title. They're wrong. I've played EQ long enough to pick it to peices and find it's enormous flaws. SwG is an answer to those flaws. SwG offers a very complex and entertaining way of leveling and classifying your character by not limiting you as much as games like EQ does. In addition it's the players who make the best weapons and armor not bad guys. The spawn system in SwG makes it very difficult to simply gather a group, find a patch of grass and sit there for hours as a "tank" pulls unsuspecting mobs to your location. If you're an EQ player who absolutely lovs camping for hours on end then this game is not for you. The spawn system is truely a work of art, killing mobs too often causes them to simply move on, not killing certain mobs enough causes them to over populate an area. SwG offers a complex character creation system allowing a players character to look truely eunique of enough time is put into it. There have been reports of bugs in the game, and yes there are still bugs. However contrary to the exagerated reports the bugs are all minor inconviniences and I'm sure they'll be patched up in the coming months ahead. So if you've been toying with the idea of buying SwG I reccomend it. Don't let the rants of disgrunteled EQ players who love camping and leveling for bragging rights discourage you.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Game
Review: I have to say this game is AWESOME. There are so many choices on your character looks and types. Then there are too many choices on your characters professions and skills. I have been playing SWG for a week now and I really enjoy it. I play a few hours a day and wish I could play more. If you are thinking about getting this game, DO IT. You will not be disappointed at all. I am completely satisfied and would highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for an adventure and just a great time. I hope to see you in the game.
Rating:
Summary: Great game, great launch
Review: I have played a lot of MMORPG games. I started with Ultima Online which I played for 2 years, I played Dark Age of Camelot for about 3 months, EverQuest for about 6 months, Anarchy Online for about a year, and Ashrons Call 1&2 for about a week (both Ashron games [are bad]). Watching all these other games launch, they were bogged with problems. Crashed servers, login server was down for 3 or 4 days in some cases, amongst other problems. If you know anything about Ultima Online the only people that stuck with the game after its initial launch were people who truly loved the game, for the launch was terrible. The game was unstable and played terribly. Star Wars Galaxies was a very fun game to see launch, it was very stable (only had a login server down for a couple hours), and the game was fun "out of the box", meaning you don't have to wait 3 months after launch for the feature that makes the game worth having. I highly recommend this game to hard core MMORPG junkies - it has a great leveling system and is very fun to play. And to novices, you will find this game to be very intelligently designed and is very easy to figure out whats going on. Get this game, it is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Great game if you have the time.
Review: I just bought this game a week ago. So far i've played for a couple of days. The interaction you have with other players is very good. The only problem I have with this game is how long it takes to advance through the different levels. Just the task of becoming good with a rife is difficult enough. Not to mention that buying the things you need to survive can be hard as well (if your on a tight budget). Although I would recommend this game to anyone. This is a brand new game and I can understand that it takes awhile to work some of the kinks out of it. So if you are going to play this game be shure to be in it for the long run.
Rating: 
Summary: BEWARE and read the fine print!
Review: If you want this game be sure to check the system requirements carefully. Just because you have a new, top of the line computer doesn't mean it will work. To run it needs a very specific piece of video card hardware that isn't common. Read the fine print - who would make a game incompatible with so many average computers?!?!? If you have one of those game specific computers get it, but if you have a typical home computer don't bother - be prepared to spend several days with tech support - this is why PC games are dying out - console games are so much easier, open and play is 5 seconds. Not so with this game.
Rating:
Summary: This game suffers form outrageous LAG and other gameplay iss
Review: Guys and Gals, I dont know about you but I am getting REALLY fedup witht he LAG, even on light servers. I cant do ANYTHING in Mos Esiley (Cant spell too good either) simply because i move about an inch and stick for up to 50 seconds or so. I got inapacitated 4 times and killed twice within a foot or so of the first position I got attacked. Probably some of my fault for going back to enact revenge, and loot the body, but hey its all a game. This game is a very great idea, but the practical application is falling very short of expectations. So far I have experienced 4 separate crashes, only one that caused a log to be transmitted, twice it just dropped to windows, no error message, nothing. Once it hung during a fight, and I found myself in another CITY! after cloning. The really bad one was when I gave my ticket to the droid at the Mos Eisely starport. It crashed my kernel so badly I had to reinstall the game!! No Log on that one either! The economy is completely askew, guns and equipment low, cloning and insurace extravigantly high. My clothes and all my stuff totaled to around 800 bucks but the insurance was over 2000!! Pardon my thingy, but that seems WAY off the base here. I remember when battle.net got started they had some lag problems, but not this bad! And we have vastly faster modems and servers than we did back then. When Starcraft came out it had its slowdowns but that was what they were. SLOWDOWNS, not COMPLETE HANGS for over 30 seconds. Did anyone beta-test this or did you just not see how many people would jump on this bandwagon? Who dropped the ball? Now I know that new games have bugs, but these are downright INFESTATIONS! I dont know how to type it. THe keystrokes are illogically placed, the game sometimes wont see a command from the keyboard, and sometimes the game seems to punch in commands by itself. I deleted one character that had five uncommaded purchaes at the bazzar kiosk. The NPC bad guys just gangd up on me and my friend, 2 v 12! Huh? That is a real "DOH!" Homer style. Are you TRYING TO KILL US!!! Gee I think so. I am sorry this has become what it has, but I just plunked down 50 bucks for the game, and another 15 for one month of play. I am as you might say a little HOT!! This game is a SERIOUS letdown, more so than Metallica's new CD. IF this is the way it will play, then make the servers free of charge. I am NOT paying for jerkey, slow, 486DX servers running this game, but that is the performance I am getting from this game. Did I say 486? I meant 286!! Without a math coprocessor! DONT BUY THIS GAME UNLESS YOU ARE A DIE HARD STAR WARS FAN! Now for the Pros
1. Smooth textures on the graphics (When they work)
2. Highly variable character features (But that wont matter) Cons
1. Definetly NOT Evercrack err EverQuest for Star Wars
2. Got Fast Graphics Card?
3. Got Fast Processor?
4. Got LOTS of RAM?
5. No replayability at present
6. Limited weapons and equipment
7. Huge Hard Drive footprint (2GB!)
8. Like crashes? (Even in XP?)
9. Got Cable/DSL/T1/T3?
10. You have to RUN EVERYWHERE!!...
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great.. yet
Review: Alright, I have been following this game for over a year now, and now that it's released, I finally got my chance to dive in. This game is NOT for the PvP lovers, it has it, but let's face it, the devs are all but stating they don't like it. If you are an heavy FPS, probably not for you either. Graphics: 10/10- Alot of people have been downranking the graphics, I personally don't know why as this is the most beatiful game I have ever played (including AC2.) Easily the best character creation in any game made thus far. Sound: 10/10- If you like Star Wars music, you'll love this. Combat: 7/10- Well, if I were to judge today I would have to give it a 11/10, but sadly I know that it will get very repetitive. You go prone at some place where you get + penalty points (depending on which weapon,) shoot, and then if it gets close get up and run around. Repeat immediately or sit, recover health and do it again. It's very fun at first, but expect it to wear off soon. Gameplay: 8/10- I've been doing mostly missions, and truthfully have only had 1 bug, and for that it only takes 1 minute to cancel the mission anyways. Overall: 9/10- All in all this is a game. One of the main problems with MMOs is that people assume that if it has a bad launch the game is doomed. AC2 for example, it had a less than stellar beta, and it was then labeled as a horrible game. I got the game a few months afterward, and ended up having an extremely fun time. As for the bugs, it's obvious that this game was shipped sooner than the devs would have preferred, yet their squashing most of them by the minute. The general consent is true though, if you buy and subscribe right now you are paying for beta testing, which I truly don't consider over until player run cities and Player owned vehicles are included. So, my advice would be to wait a few months, but you will be missing out.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Wars Galaxies is magnificent! But I had to quit.
Review: After Everquest and Dark Ages Of Camelot comes a new sci-fi MMORPG that is breathtaking, so its time to get a new computer and prepare to blast off to the stars! After several days breaking in a new character I have to say that in my opinion this game takes over and sets a new standard in almost every aspect of 3-D online gaming. Just like most new releases there are some bumpy roads; for $15 a month, players get updates nearly every day. The bugs are small when compared to how fun the game is! Your avatar has more creative flexibility than any other role-playing game I've seen. You can re-distribute your attributes later in the game, even give up your profession and start with a new one without sacrificing your allotted points. There are many varieties of races and environments, giving the player a richly textured gaming experience. Add to that beautiful original Star Wars music by John Williams, character motion that is stunning, and NPC/creature artificial intelligence that is quite interesting and realistic. Star Wars Galaxies solves many of the standard problems faced by today's online gamers. The in-game mapping system is beautiful, and gives you waypoints to find important locations, such as your corpse. The game is loaded with detail, and I recommend this game to any avid gamer that appreciates fantasy role-playing and can afford the monthly fee. I do believe it is possible to play the game a healthy amount, even though I've been at it non-stop since I got it. There are small missions that can be accomplished within an hour, or sometimes way less. This gives the game a very playable feeling, and it allows for a quick game. However, be prepared to be drawn into it--your character can diversify. My personal hardware suggestions for playing this game are as follows: Intel or AMD CPU running at 1.6 Ghz at least. You want DDR ram on the motherboard, 1 gigabyte of it. For your display adaptor, use a nice fast AGP card, such as GeForce4 with 128MB of video ram. Avoid budget video cards such as MX400 or GeForce FX 5200--they are slow! A nice monitor never hurt either. These 3-D graphics are astonishing and unprecedented, yet whatever your level of horsepower the game offers tons of user adjustable graphic features. Everything from shadow detail to how the game draws flowers can be controlled. This game, like EverQuest, has the potential to make people power-hungry, leveling their character until the sun comes up. I've already begun to cool off and take the game a bit more lightly, and still it remains very entertaining. Buyers should remember Earth, a very important planet. But Naboo ain't half bad either. I like this game product more than Star Wars films episodes I or II. If Amazon had a six star rating, I would choose it. "But this one goes to eleven." NEW POST: As of Jan 2004 I cancelled. The rich Star Wars world was magnificent but the product became boring and wore thin like EQ. SOE needs a wake-up call.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars
Review: I have played most of the mmorpg's out there today, and I think by far this is the worst one yet. Unless you like the idea of spending hours killing alien insects and birds. You cannot even be a jedi right away, you have to unlock the force sensitive character slot which has been said will take up to a year for the casual player. The game is very buggy and there is nothing intuitive about the controls. You are only allowed one character per server, and the servers have a limited number of people allowed on at one time. So if you have a character you want to play on one server, and its full you won't be able to play him/her. The only good thing about this game is the skill system, other than that, i would rather not have wasted my money on it.
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