With the release of Bioware’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic” looming on the horizon  (Christmas this year, in case you didn’t know) we’ve decided to revisit the “Knights of the Old Republic” Saga.  we’ll start today’s Retro Fix with a small history lesson. Just what were the Knights of the Old Republic? Pay attention class, because this is a little complicated…

The original “Knights of the Old Republic” was released in 2003 by Bioware taking the RPG gaming and Star Wars communities by storm. The game was a western-style RPG set in the Star Wars universe, the first of its kind to take this approach (even if there had been a quite successful pen & paper RPG since the late 80s). This in itself would have been noteworthy enough, but Bioware further twisted everybody’s expectations by setting the backdrop of the game in the times of the Old Republic in the Star Wars universe, basing itself on the story of the “Tales of the Jedi” comics by Dark Horse Comics.

In my social circles few people had heard of the aforementioned comics, but the prospect of having an Star Wars adventure somewhere else than the already bloated time of the Rebellion was a very compelling prospect. On top of all this Kotor was a damn fine game.

Eschewing the medieval-esque aesthetics of the comics in favor of something closer to the original movies and the prequels, the game had top notch graphics for an RPG of its time, an excellent Star Wars soundtrack with some extra tunes made specifically for the game, and an excellent story with one of the most interesting mid-game plot twists in the history of video games.

Satisfied with their work, Bioware called in Obsidian Entertainment to take care of the sequel, and went off to make Jade Empire. However Obsidian’s work in the sequel was a nightmare.

Right off the bat, while they were hired to develop a sequel just before the game was launched, they were not allowed to play Kotor 1 till the game had been released, forcing them to make all the pre-production with just a script. Then, because of the first game’s massive success, Lucasarts gave Obsidian a deadline of 13 months, forcing Obsidian to rush the game’s development to the point where they literally had to drop several story arcs from the game, a complete location and haphazardly meld together what was done of the game so they could have a product for launch.

To add insult to injury, after the game’s launch Obsidian offered to create a patch that would restore the game to its original intent, but Lucasarts blocked the idea and later abandoned Kotor 2 entirely.

And thus fans were left with a broken, buggy and incomplete game. Yet, despite being so mangled, it had spirit and you could feel its potential buried underneath the mess.

Both Kotor 1 & 2, as it has already been mentioned, are western style RPGs that use a very loosely adaptation of the D20 Star Wars pen & paper rules that were around on the year it was published. It’s setting is the Old Republic, a huge swath of time in the Star Wars Universe, between 25,000 – 18 years before Episode IV and telling the story of the millennia long republic that the Jedi swore to protect until it’s corruption into Palpatine’s Sith-like Empire. The first game happens 3,956 years before Episode IV and Kotor 2 follows 5 years after Kotor 1. Not that you could tell through the aesthetics…

As mentioned before the comics had a weird, if somewhat fitting, Medival aesthetic. All the usual Star Wars trappings were there, blasters, space ships, lightsabers, and so on, but instead of the “used future” look of the original movies (or the more sleek and shining look of the prequels) everything used jagged, more gothic-like architecture, baroque decorations for the different miscellaneous items and, in general, everything looked more untamed and wild.

While the comics look terribly dated nowadays, I personally would have loved it if Kotor had respected the comics’ aesthetic, showing that Star Wars can still be Star Wars even if you don’t spot stuff straight away from the movies. Bioware decided to play safe on the looks, seeing as it was already a gamble because of the time period.

One part of the game that was a bit jarring was the fact that some concepts from the prequels got carried into a time where they don’t really fit. For instance the Jedi in the comics are more “Knight Errand” than “Warrior Monk” and many of them had families, leading to dynasties of Jedi, showing how much the Order had changed in 3000+ years. However in the game Jedi act more like in Episodes 1 to 3, leaving many fans like me scratching our heads… but hey, it wouldn’t be Star Wars without continuity problems like this one.

In terms of gameplay Kotor was a massive departure from Bioware’s previous titles like the Baldur’s Gate games, as the Kotor series were created as multiplatform titles. However, the PC version was, in my view, way more popular and that’s the one we’ll focus on.

Instead of controlling your character with only the mouse, you move him around with the WASD keys, though if you see something interactive in the screen you can just click it and your character will move towards it. At the time these controls were quite peculiar, although in all other respects the game plays completely like a standard western RPG. You walk around town, do side quests, follow the main quest when you feel like it, kill stuff, and level up.

The big plus point of the series is their story and interesting characters. Unfortunately I can’t really do an extended explanation on them without being spoilerific, so I’ll just say this: they are awesome and not to be missed.

Graphics were quite good for the time, with beautiful locales going from futuristic cities to lush jungles. Combat animations were varied and well designed, but combat feels a bit wooden as it’s painfully obvious that underneath the action packed exterior there’s a classic turn based game. Also, while beautiful back in the day, time has not been kind to it, and many of its characters and locales look like weird plastic dolls by today’s standards.

As you would expect, the music is epic, (this is the Star Wars soundtrack we’re talking about!) so the game gets it’s A+ in sound and music because of the themes specifically designed for the game which are John Williams level. Just google “The Old Republic” and “The Last Confrontation” if you need any proof.

So do the games hold up today? Certainly, Kotor 1 more so than Kotor 2, because the second is unfortunately mangled beyond recognition, but even with that they are a must on the library of any RPG fan or Star Wars fan.

In my next article I’ll dive into Kotor 2 again but with a twist: I’ll be playing the game with its unofficial restoration patch, and trying to find out if the fans were able to complete Obsidian’s masterpiece. May be the Force be with us!

- Jose Luis Pérez Zapata

From today, each week, we will bust out byte sized reviews that will give you the 90210 on the latest mobile games, mainly the ones that you, the consumer, can afford.  £5.99 on a mobile game that doesn’t overstretch your brain, but overstretches your thumb to give you strain, no thank you. We will be focusing on the 59p wonders and the games they are literally giving away (ya’know, the FREE ones) and also letting you know which ones are hot via our Twitter stream. So without further ado, let’s get on with the mini reviews…

Game: Fingerzilla

Price: FREE

Fingerzilla is a digital re-imagining of your childhood game of squashing ants with your finger moved to the more humane era (kinda). Basic premise is to cause destruction by rapidly hitting buildings, vehicles and people with your finger to score destruction points. Graphics are solid and cartoony but the premise does wear thin rather fast. So for a quick fix this game is ideal, but so not expect a genre bending experience. So, do you want this game in your life? It depends on your answer to this question. Did you wish you were the monster in Cloverfield?

Fingerzilla... great for wannabe monsters

Game: Monkey Island 2

Price: 59p

What’s this Adam, you said you would not review expensive games. Well Mr Stephen Hawking, riddle me this; what do you call a game that is cheaper than its usual price. That’s right, a fucking bargain. For 59p, you can currently get Monkey Island 2 in your life. Adventuring with Guybrush (not a channel 5 show I assure you) has come to the iPhone in all its dazzling glory with fantastic dialogue and brutally lateral puzzles. If you enjoyed playing this game back in its hey day like Tim Schaffer did (read his latest tweets) then you will be overjoyed to hear it’s just as good. The only down side is that the cursor is now your finger and it can be off sometimes, which can be frustrating. Overall, a fantastic port to iPhone and if still at 59p, then well worth the purchase.

Now you can be a pirate on the go

Game: Cube Maze

Price: FREE

Rolling a ball around a maze, heard it before right. Well yeah, you are right, but not in this instance. Cube maze uses the accelerometer in two ways. It detects where you are rolling the ball but more importantly it detects gravity. These 3d puzzles allow you to spin the cube in which you are battling to escape from. A quick pinch of the screen and you can twist the maze to your advantage, so that ceiling becomes floor. As a freebie, there is plenty to keep you occupied, however if you want more then you do have to download external level packs, but then that is only if you choose to. A great spin on the ‘escape ball from maze’ genre/sub-genre/invented genre.

Hello! And welcome to the long over due second episode of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play, a series of articles from The Newb Review where we recommend some bloody good games that have been far over-shadowed, often by games with lower quality, but higher marketing budgets. Episode 1 (an article on the fabulous game Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure, found here: http://rt.nu/9jissu) came out some time ago. However, as something of a new year’s resolution, our very own Crofterz has made it his mission in life to unearth these valuable gems for you, our beloved newbs.

So, it’s 2010… Another few years and it’ll be Back To The Future, but first of all since this is the first T.U.G.Y.P.S.P of the year (even I get tired of typing the full name out sometimes), lets take a quick look back at a few games from last year that might have slipped under your radar. Not only did we have a trillion (scientifically accurate number) great, big budget titles to keep us occupied, but the indie and arcade circuits had a tremendous year too. We were treated to Shadow Complex, Splosion Man, Flower, Flock!, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 and Johnny Platformer’s Biscuit Romp as well as some fabulous remakes, ports and reboots (Trials HD, and Battlefield 1943 anyone?). That’s without even mentioning Alien Breed Evolution, Wolfenstein 3D and The Secret of Monkey Island too.

So it was a great year for arcade titles. And with so many high quality games, there were bound to be some hidden gems that very much went under the radar. LucasArts’ latest arcade offering, Lucidity, is a prime example of this.

So, why should you all go out in your masses and buy Lucidity?

Well to put it quite simply, Lucidity is as good as all the other must buy arcade juggernauts such as Braid (which you’ll hear me mention a lot in this article), Splosion Man, Flower and Castle Crashers. But it has never reached the dizzying heights of acclaim that these four titles have.

For starters, Lucidity is absolutely mesmerising. As soon as its fired up, the game greets you with an awe inspiring, hand crafted, cut-out paper graphical style which not only helps add more mystery to the game but is just beautiful and unique. This game has an art style reminiscent of the Paper Mario games, but this looks better by a country mile. Lucidity is highly polished and full of personality: everything from the cut scenes to the in-game graphics are lush, vibrant and absolutely gorgeous. Each new level is distinct and different from the last, yet just as magical and beautiful. It’s difficult to stop banging on about how brilliant this game looks… but for the sake of this article we should move on to something else that’s great about the game… the music.

The art style is nothing short of amazing

Rarely do I pay attention to the music within a game unless it’s bad (am I the only person who found the music in Braid absolutely infuriating after a while?). But the music in Lucidity, much like its graphical style, is beautiful and full of personality. The game manages this without neglecting subtlety, thus playing the game is a lot more of an enjoyable experience. It makes a nice change to not have loud noises and music constantly tearing at your face like a pack of wolverines. Not only does the music help to keep an aura of mystery around the game, but it never descends into tedium and annoyance, which is something of a godsend nowadays. It’s all so hypnotising, like when you sit down to play a brand new game and end up losing an entire day playing, you despicable little hermit!

This is all well and good, but music and graphics are usually just the icing on a lovely gaming cake. The meat (a meat cake? Now there’s a lovely thought) of a game is the story and gameplay. Thankfully, Lucidity doesn’t disappoint in these departments either. The story is simple and charming, meaning it is not only a game for adults, but your little offspring wouldn’t find it hard to pick up the game and have fun.

The games revolves around the main character, a little girl named Sofi, whose grandmother reads her stories every bed time. The game starts with Sofi just dropping asleep after another bed time fairytale, when she reawakens within a dream world (the whole game is essentially set within her dream). Sofi stumbles across a red firefly, who is then eaten by a frog; who promptly runs off.

The premise of the game is basically the girl chasing the frog from one end of the level to the other to try and get the red firefly back. It sounds absolutely bonkers and it may sound a little bit rubbish, but apparently it’s all a metaphor for Sofi having to deal with the death of her grandmother. Except I don’t actually remember her grandmother dying.

The story, backed with the great graphical style and sound makes for a game that is both hypnotic and addictive. The mix of simplicity and ambiguity roots in a mysterious tone: who is this girl? Where are we? What’s going on? So many questions, yet there isn’t even a whiff of pretentiousness; something I unfortunately cannot say for Braid. In fact, Braid is in many ways quite a close comparison to Lucidity.

The only thing about Lucidity that isn’t utterly unique is the gameplay itself. It  isn’t as original, refreshing or as clever as the gameplay in something like Braid. But this still isn’t the type of gameplay you have the chance to experience very often in the current gaming climate.

As the girl moves from one end of the level to the other she will encounter obstacles and enemies. The basic aim is to use objects to avoid enemies, overcome the obstacles and collecting fireflies, scattered around everywhere, to unlock the next level. It’s all so reminiscent of the good old Lemmings days. Whilst Lucidity is slightly less engaging than Lemmings, it makes for a far more relaxed and casual play experience. Again, this is something of a godsend in a climate where games are desperate to hold your attention at all times.

Gameplay isn't as refreshing or different as the graphics or sound, but this is a hark back to older days; a type of gameplay forgotten in the modern gaming climate.

Lucidity is the perfect example of a game you can pick up and play for as long as you so please. You can play as much or as little as you want. You really feel in control and can play at your leisure. This all makes for an incredibly enjoyable gaming experience.

So there you have it, the first Thoroughly Underrated Game You Probably Should Play of the year. Some people are bound to disagree, but then again some people are bound to be idiots so… I guess that’s life. Yes it may seem a bit a childish game and it is, but isn’t there still a place for a bit of innocent fun nowadays?

Lucidity is available both on PC, through Steam, and Xbox 360, through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Hello, newblings. You may remember that last month Crofterz wrote a nice, little review on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed.  Actually, said article was the first in a few (and by a few, we mean two) articles in a series that will now be tentatively known as “Games released ages ago that Crofterz has finally played for free”. Here’s the second (and final) instalment, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This was kindly lent to him by another friend (the rest of us at The Newb Review office are just as amazed as you; that cynical, miserable b*stard has more than one friend!).

As a bit of a Star Wars nut I’ve grown up with some great Star Wars games (Knights of The Old Republic series etc) and some absolute stinkers (any of the film-game tie ins). So I was a bit dubious as to what The Force Unleashed would offer: a great game, or utterly forgettable? I’m happy to say, The Force Unleashed is actually one of the best.

First of all, what makes the game brilliant is the story. Set between the events of the Revenge of The Sith and the A New Hope films, you assume the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller. Discovered as a child after killing his father, Vader trains Starkiller as a Sith. Soon enough Starkiller finds himself travelling across the Universe, hunting down the last remaining members of the Jedi order. You’ve got to hand it to LucasArts, playing about with their universe and it’s characters extensively seems to be paying off (you start the game playing as Darth Vader for god’s sakes! Back in 1997, the ten year old me would die of excitement at the prospect of playing Darth Vader in a game; it’s definitely the most bad ass thing ever).

Playing around with their universe is quite a risk, especially considering how touchy and volatile the hardcore Star Wars fans can be. LucasArts have managed to pull it off really well. I admit, the name Starkiller is a little bit… lame, but the story is true to the Star Wars universe whilst offering a fresh experience from a series that has already been done to death.

Lord Varder PWNS

In fact the only complaints I have about the story are that a) its far too short (There are quite a few plot holes in between levels. I want more goddamn it!) b) “Starkiller” sounds far too nice and namby pamby for a Sith (he should sound like a cold blooded killer, and less like someone who would help you get your cat down from a tree) which sort’ve ruins his character a little bit.

Finally, c) the inclusion of a choice between 2 different endings, a good one and a bad one. This inclusion in particular is irritating as it’s the only part where the story itself falters. Not only is it painfully obvious which ending is the “real” ending, but the other completely screws with the story of the Star Wars films. I’ll try not to spoil anything but let’s just say it completely kills off one its biggest characters, rendering all that’s meant to happen after the game as useless.

The game would be far better with the one, “real” ending; completely ridding us of the opportunity to ruin everything by selecting the obviously fake one.

Anyway, the sound and visuals of the game also help to immerse you within the compelling story. The soundtrack is not unlike the incredible, cinematic sounds found in the Star Wars films themselves. Because of this, the soundtrack itself helps convey the typically epic experience, making the story seem more authentic whilst helping the player connect more with the game. The voice acting is also equally as impressive; each actor giving a brilliant and believable performance. Again, this helps to immerse you within the universe of the game.

I hate to sound like a total graphics whore, but Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks absolutely gorgeous. As Starkiller travels through a tonne of locations from lush jungles to barren wastelands to the interior of a space base. All of them look stunning. The cut scenes are very reminiscent of the Star Wars films (cinematic and epic; I half expected Ewan McGregor to storm onto the screen, armed with a lightsaber and a hunger for Sith pwning). I hate to sound like a broken record, but this really helps to immerse you within the story and by the end, you will believe that in the over arching Star Wars narrative, this actually occurred.

Perhaps I should stop masturbating over the game and get to the real crook of things to tell you what the game plays like… Well, in terms of gameplay this doesn’t particularly break any new ground (it plays like your typical action game), it’s still very solid and offers a few nice features such as an interesting upgrade system, spectacular force powers (that make you feel like a god), collectables and a combo system that feels achievable and intuitive whilst avoiding the feeling of it being too easy.

The only problem I have is the way in which you have to stop moving all together to deflect lasers back at enemies. This completely breaks up the flow of the combat and quickly starts to become annoying. It also takes a bit of getting used to, making the game quite hard to begin with. I really hope this is rectified in the upcoming sequel.

Force Unleashed is not only a nice way to get in your lightsaber swinging practice before Force Unleashed 2 drops, its also well worth checking out. The game is bound to be fairly cheap now (check out our Amazon shop below!) but it also boasts quite a lot of DLC, which goes a good way to extend the shortness of the story. Check it bloody out!

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Graphics aren’t quite 5/5 but the game is still stunning.

Sound: 5/5 – The voice acting is utterly believable and the soundtrack is entirely like the soundtracks of the various Star Wars films, giving you an authentic Star Wars experience.

Gameplay: 3/5 – Gameplay is solid without being revolutionary. Force powers are awesome, however deflecting lasers kills the flow of combat.

Longevity: 4/5 – The story itself is far too short, however a host of DLC helps go some way to rectify this problem.

Overall: 4/5 – A great story and solid gameplay results in a score of 4 Jedi holocrons out of 5.

[starreview tpl=16]

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