10,000 Wookiees, 15,000 Smugglers and 50,000 Bounty Hunters Can’t Be Wrong...

There’s an old axiom amongst computer geeks: Never install the latest Microsoft operating system until they release the first Service Pack.

A corollary among the gaming world is: Never play a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) within the first six months of release.

We had all hoped, with an extra three months of beta testing, that Sony Online Entertainment would prove us wrong with Star Wars: Galaxies.

Unfortunately, the massive rush of thousands of rabid Star Wars fans to the Internet quickly showed the flaws that no amount of Beta testing could catch, and a few that should have been caught from the get go.

Nevertheless, SW:G remains a game that could stand as a contender for one of the best games ever once those flaws are fixed.

 A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...

 Yeah, I know you were probably expecting me to use that somewhere in here, but let’s face it: The number one thing this game has going for it is the opportunity for thousands upon thousands of Star Wars fans to live out one of the most popular movie franchises of all times.

You start the game as one of eight races: Humans, Bothans, Mon Calamari, Rodians, Trandoshans, Twi’leks, Zabrak and the ever-popular Wookiee. Each race has its own advantages and disadvantages, including language skills. Wookiees can’t speak Basic, which everyone else learns from the start.

This would make it hard to be a Wookiee, if it weren’t so easy to swap languages like baseball cards.

The game is set during the height of the Galactic Civil War, where a small band of rebels fights against overwhelming odds. Or, you can choose to stay out of the conflict, instead making your way as a craftsman, engineer, chef or entertainer.

Then there are the standard combat types: brawlers, marksmen and scouts.

Although the game is a “skill-based” system instead of a level-based system, you still have different levels within each class, and titles that earn you bonuses and the chance to move to “elite” professions. For example, once you hit Level IV Engineering on the Artisan skill tree, you can move forward towards becoming a droid engineer, weapon smith or even architect.

Instead of general experience points, you get XP depending on what you do. For example, shooting at storm troopers tends to get you combat XP. It also gets you Rebel Faction Points, which can be used to “purchase” promotions, support troops and even armor from your friendly neighborhood Alliance recruiter. Same goes for Imperials.

Character attributes and combat are slightly complicated at first, with three general action “pools” used for performing abilities and taking damage. Your health pool determines your skill at close quarters combat and drains when you get a poke in the ribs. Your action pool lets you pull of fancy trick shots and takes a beating when your arms and legs are hit. Your mind pool allows thoughtful stuff like healing folks and surveying for materials. Taking head shots will certainly make it harder to do.

Wearing armor decreases certain kinds of damage, but also put a strain on your attributes. Eating food and drinks are not necessary, but they can boost certain stats temporarily. Then there is the ever-popular Spice (read: drugs) that smugglers are known to deliver.

You can also bring your favorite droid or pet to the fight, and creature handlers are specialists who can train those big critters like the Rancor. 

The Really Good

 This is the type of game that makes me want to go out and buy a faster computer.

Not that I can complain about my current performance. Even with the resolution and details at minimum, this game is a beauty to behold. Sometimes I just like to walk through the fields, outside the city and watch the stars, the moons or even just watch butterflies flutter through the tall grass.

This game was supposedly designed for the “computer of next year” meaning that maybe if you buy a brand new computer next year for $3,000 you can turn on all of the graphics features and the game won’t come to a screeching halt.

I’ve seen screen shots on some higher end systems and the detail is fantastic! Your character creation options are multifold, from the basic height and weight of your character to the number of freckles and age (only with certain graphics cards).

Monthly story “arcs” plan to include almost any character who wants to join (so far the first one is slanted towards those participating in the Galactic Civil War). The participation of the characters determines how the story will unfold in the following months.

Also, if we can believe the developers’ promises, we will soon see things never before witnessed in MMORPGs, such as vehicles, mounts and player-run cities!

So far we’ve seen a mostly positive effort to balance different classes, fix bugs and add new content. Keep this in mind as read the rest of this review, because many of the quibbles I have with the game could change at any moment! Hopefully for the better, of course.

 The Bad – or Not-so-bad, Depending on How You Look at It

Let’s say you want to go exploring the game on your own – even though this is a massively MULTI-PLAYER game. Well, you can start with some canned terminal missions – becoming more and more tailored to each profession with each patch. Or you can hunt out one of the “theme parks” where you can meet some of the characters from the movies – including Darth Vader, the Emperor, even Han Solo and Princess Leia.

You’d better be pretty good before heading out there, though, ‘cause they ain’t easy to reach.

Let’s face it, though – grouping is the way to go.

The developers have created somewhat of a two-edged sword and gone out on a limb – well, to use a couple of overworked clichés – by making the entire game very inter-dependent.

Let’s say you’ve been out bullseye-ing Wamp Rats in the back yards of Tatooine, and you start to notice your Battle Fatigue going up. Well, battle fatigue is a special kind of damage that prevents your wounds from healing as well.

The only way to get rid of Battle Fatigue is at a hotel or cantina, and listening to your friendly neighborhood entertainers.

For the most part, other players are the ones doing the dancing and singing. In return, they’re hoping for a few credits in tips so they can buy a new outfit from the Master Tailor down the road.

That tailor then chips in some credits to his resource supplier, who spends most of his time surveying for resources as they shift from location to location.

Or maybe a scout skins animals and gives the pelts to the tailors, plus some meat and bones to the medic who patches him up. The medic needs the materials to make more healing packs.

At least, that’s the way the game would work in a perfect world.

In reality, there might not be an entertainer in the bar when you go in. Or maybe you have every single battle veteran stiffing the entertainers  – except for the scantily-clad Twi’Lek dancer who flirts with everyone.

It’s also interesting to note that the game was designed for a “casual” gamer to take several months to master a profession. Likewise, the game is supposed to allow low-level characters to group with high-level characters and let everybody have fun.

Nice theory, but...

First of all, the hardcore gamers became masters of their first profession within a week or two. Now, two months into the game, most of those same players have maxed out their elite professions – namely the Bounty Hunters and Creature Handlers that seem to be the most popular choices.

Let’s say you’re a “casual” chef who wants to be bartender at the local bar. It takes literally hours of “grinding” (i.e. repetitively doing the same thing over and over with no other purpose than to gain XP) just to get into the Chef skill tree, and even then it takes another big leap before you really get your suds-slinging skills to a point where any self-respecting Tradoshian would buy a drink from you.

Likewise, though any fool can pick up a blaster, the higher your level, the more special moves you can do -- including blinding your opponent, knocking them down, and ripping their arms off if you’re a wookiee (well, not really). Go to the message boards and you’ll see more and more hunting parties and Players Associations with “at least Master level only” requirements.

Even Entertainers sometimes lose out, as the starting musician only knows one song. Most of the higher-level entertainers have heard that particular song so often they now keep their speakers off during the game. Even the prospect of having to play that song, so the “newbie” can join in, is NOT music to their ears.

Outside of player interaction, NPC (computer-generated) missions are fairly thin. The first story arc sets up a great premise about a secret weapon, and includes the chance to gain faction points in game by decoding a message using you’re own personal mind pool (i.e. the brain sitting behind the keyboard).

The problem is, it turns out finding the disks that include the message is no simpler than slaughtering NPCs at random and hoping they drop some. Not quite what I had in mind when I signed on.

The ugly – not just the Trandoshans! 

The game has been out for almost two months, and some missions have yet to be fixed – even by the “super patch” released last week. Sometimes you will talk to an NPC only to have them tell you “npcfailure1” or similar gamespeak.

These types of bugs should have been fixed BEFORE the game was released.

Not to mention that there are certain parts of nearly ever profession with “known issues” that I’m sure will be fixed at some point, but in the mean time every single instance makes me more irate.

 Did I mention about Jedi?

Yes, you can eventually become a Jedi in this game. So far, though, nobody knows how. It’s the biggest secret in the game, and is supposed to be different for each character. (I still have to wonder how my chef will ever unlock his spot though).

The nice thing is, your main character doesn’t actually become a Jedi – you actually open a new character slot for a character that could become a Jedi – assuming he doesn’t get killed along the way. Unlike other characters, force-sensitive characters die permanently.

 This must be one of the most addictive games I’ve seen in a long time, despite its flaws. As long as the developers stay true to their word in fixing problems and adding more content, they’ll continue to be seeing my $14.95 per month to play.

  Final Rating: