Its time again for yet another Star Wars game to present itself. In a long tradition of mediocre titles spanning several years on vari- ous gaming platforms, will this succeed in giving the fans what they so desperately seek, or will it turn to the dark side and be- come another average Star Wars game?

Knights Of The Old Republic (Kotor) is set 4000 years before the storyline of the Star Wars Films. It tells a tale of great wars be- tween the Jedi order and the seemingly unstoppable Sith. With out giving anything away here plot wise. It is your job as the last hope to save the galaxy. You and your fellow freedom fighters must make a choice as to whether you will save the freedom of all, or succumb to the lure of the dark side and become truly evil. You decide.

Kotor is an Rpg at heart, where you begin your adventure choos- ing which character class you are going to be. presented with 3 choices here, the classes on offer are soldier class, scout class or scoundrel class ( either male or female). Each having their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Its worth paying attention to the class descriptions here so you choose the right character that complements your style of game play. Are you going to be a ruthless killer who is unmatched in combat? Will you assume the role of smooth talking diplomat? Will you be a traveler, ready to explore any environment? Choices, the game is full of them and will be paramount in molding the way your character behaves, looks and ultimately changing the storyline.

As you interact with the numerous inhabitants of the various planets, you are given options as to what type of questions are asked and also how you will respond. This greatly affects your character as being rude to provoke a fight or perhaps robbing someone will steer your char- acter closer to the dark side. However being nice and interested in what people have to say can reveal hidden side quests and valuable information. These mostly steer your character to the light side depending on how you handle the situation.

There are a lot of conversations which are all voice acted (other than your own character) which is great, with many producing hilarious re- sults. I found it far easier being rude and full of myself than it was to be nice and undertake an often lengthy side quest. However you will miss out huge chunks of the game being evil so I would recommend playing a light side character first. Worth noting is that unlike many Japanese Rpgs, Kotor does not hold your hand throughout. Its down to the player to explore and find out what to do next. This is a great approach which adds to the sense of freedom you have within the game. Remembering that Kotor is an Rpg the combat is really a hit and miss affair. Players will ei- ther love it or hate it.

The battles are in real time but are turn based. This means that you have control over your characters movements and attack commands. The actual attack will be con- trolled by the computer. Once you get used to this style you will begin to see how cool it is for an Rpg. The attack animations are excellent especially later in the game when you acquire light sabers and Jedi powers. Also as you progress through the story there will be other interesting characters that will join you in your adventure. 2 other characters can accompany you in the explora- tion and battles. Managing your team is tricky at first but once mastered will make your unit totally awesome. As with any Rpg you are able to assign skills and powers to your team as well as yourself when you level up. This can create almost infinite possi- bilities on how you develop your approach to the game.

Kotor looks good as well but maybe not as good as it could do on Xbox. Also at times there are some inconsistencies regarding the frame rate. However this game is far bigger than the issue of graphics. As with most games some areas really impress in their scale while others are less pleasing to the eye. Like myself, you will probably be too engrossed in the game play to actually care about these issues. Kotor is an excellent game with many pro- claiming it the best rpg on Xbox. Featuring an excellent movie like storyline which really captures the feel of the Star Wars uni- verse, an authentic musical score, lots of replay and many other cool features. what more could you ask for? Are you light or dark on this one? Either way, this game ROCKS.