Nothing beats cascading through your chosen virtual world, weapons at the ready, companions at your side, ready to take on the hoard of whichever AI baddie a game can throw at you. Role Play games act as the perfect counterbalance to the tide of first person shooters; instead of running through the same bleak grey map, being shot by a fucking twelve-year old who proceeds to tell you how he's t-bagging your Mum, you're exploring a beautifully crafted universe with new quests to discover and new secrets to unlock. When it comes to Star Wars and RPG's, everyone's mind drifts back to Knights of the Old Republic, the hugely successful epic we spoke about last week, but y'know what, as great as the first one is, I'm a far greater fan of its ill-treated, often overlooked sequel, The Sith Lords.
To make up for their apparent failure, Obsidian released all unfinished content alongside the game, including pre-recorded voice acting, maps and textures, and all programming files, ready for tech savvy players to reconstruct which of course, they did. The Restored Content Mod, currently several generations in and constantly updated, does an incredible job of completing the game, providing the full experience we all deserved. Despite it's misgivings, there are two elements which, for me, make The Sith Lords a vastly superior game. I'm very much a story driven player, and the totally immersive plot of The Sith Lords more than makes up for its incomplete nature. If elements of the first game were taken from The Phantom Menace, the The Sith Lords is The Empire Strikes Back, far darker in tone and story, showing us a grittier galaxy, full of criminal gangs, vengeful mercenaries and ravenous Sith monsters.
We get to see the true aftermath of a defer stating war, where nobody came out on top. A broken Republic clings to life whilst the mighty Sith have been reduced to striking from the shadows, and in the centre the Jedi Exile (the player character) struggles to survive in an ever hostile world, whilst following in their footsteps of their old master, Revan.
Now, can we dump this ridiculous MMO shit and bring out Knights of the Old Republic III already?
'Apathy is death.'
In the meantime BioWare's latest RPG, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is released in the UK today. Check out our First Impression already, or check back next week for our full review!