Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On

We finally got to play BioWare's hugely anticipated Star Wars massively multiplayer online game at GamesCom, and we unleashed the power of the dark side as a Sith warrior.

One of the most hotly anticipated PC games on GameSpot at the moment is Lucasarts and BioWare's upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Mixing George Lucas' epic sci-fi universe with BioWare's successful role-playing experience seems like a pretty safe bet after the success of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series. That game mixed successful MMO pillars, such as combat, progression, and exploration with something BioWare excels at: compelling, narrative-rich storylines. Announced late last year, details about the game have slowly emerged since then, and so far, we've seen a number of Empire and Republic classes, including the bounty hunter, smuggler, trooper and Sith. We finally got a brief play of SWTOR as a Sith warrior at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

Before we got hands-on, we were treated to another demo and briefly introduced to the Sith homeworld of Korriban. We saw the massive pyramid-shaped Sith Academy in the distance and a quest that involved clearing a tomb of grave robbers so we could collect some valuable Sith artifacts for our quest giver. Our BioWare guide, playing as a level four character, made quick work of the raiders, as well as some giant K'Lor slugs and their smaller broodlings at which point we moved on to a familiar setting: the hands-on section from the same demo that we saw previously at E3 2009.

Playing as a Sith instead of a bounty hunter this time around, we arrived on a Sith warship with another player, with the task of disciplining the captain who has defied his superior's orders. After a brief cutscene, we engaged in some multiplayer dialogue, which allowed both us and our party member to choose our own responses and then ultimately decide whether the captain should live or die. We saw the former decision played out at E3, so we decided to go against Sith convention and show mercy. The captain didn't take our kindness for granted and requested that we help him defeat some Jedi scum about to land on the ship.

Our decision to save the captain instantly resulted in a new path opening up to us. Instead of taking a right turn toward a shuttle bay elevator, our route instead took us left, into a different area of the ship. The basic controls are all very standard for an MMO: right-clicking the mouse selects other characters, powers are mapped to the keyboard's top button row, and W, A, S, and D keys are used to move. Your character won't automatically attack an enemy within range however, so you will need to keep using those powers to make mincemeat of those Republic dogs. Certain powers, such as basic attacks, earn action points, while others use them. After fighting a few low-level Republic troopers, we'd earned enough to use the Force charge power. This ranged attack lets you perform a huge leap attack to quickly get up close to an enemy. The impale power, meanwhile, stabs your lightsaber through an enemy for a powerful attack. Area stun temporarily freezes enemies in your vicinity, while Force choke lets you perform Darth Vader's powerful signature move. It won't be enough to kill Jedi apprentices and knights, but it will sap a fair amount of their health and feels totally badass. If you succumb to the powers of the light side and die, you won't necessarily have to begin the quest from the start, and numerous items, such as bacta cylinders, will be able to revive you. Finally, we were also told by a BioWare staffer that you will earn more powers through player-versus-environment main and side quests.

For more information about the Sith class read our recently published Q&A with SWTOR's creative director James Ohlen and associate lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi and visit gamescom.gamespot.com for the rest of our coverage from GamesCom 2009.

89 Comments

  • EpicFail37

    Posted Jan 25, 2010 6:53 am GMT

    this is every bit on my wish list...

  • Optimus_Prime83

    Posted Oct 11, 2009 7:06 am GMT

    I hope it would also be published on X360 platform

  • dylanscott1992

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 12:39 pm GMT

    this looks pretty cool

  • kreias

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 10:30 am GMT

    replying Vasot:
    Me and alot of people wants an MMO of KOTOR. And I think the graphic is ok.

  • Sea666

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 10:10 am GMT

    Beta test (public) was announced today - SW:TOR site went down "milliseconds" afterwards .

  • Vasot

    Posted Sep 26, 2009 11:30 am GMT

    I am disappointed the graphics look old and the gameplay repetive with a shallow story
    Just make KOTOR 3 we do not want an MMO !!

  • shooters125

    Posted Sep 11, 2009 6:33 pm GMT

    im glad they got rez items that way we dont have to rely on bringing a preist type character on something a little too hard.

  • Aletunda

    Posted Sep 11, 2009 7:00 am GMT

    this could work out to be an awsome game, just depends what combat and gameplay are like, graphics im not too phased about, i mean Wow doesnt have the richest looking details or anything (as much as i despise that game) and its done pretty well so this should be a hit

  • DarcyAllen

    Posted Sep 7, 2009 10:56 am GMT

    Will I buy this? Most definitely! It's about time we get a good replacement from Star Wars Galaxies! I just hope they don't turn it to crap like SOE did!

  • dg3215

    Posted Sep 5, 2009 9:27 pm GMT

    This game looks like it can be a great game. All I wonder is what are the requirements, I have a great computer but a lot of my friends do not and I hope they can play it. Also I hope BioWare takes their sweet time making it so those nasty bugs that a lot of MMO games have at launch are not there. I will not be surprised if this game does not come out until late 2010 or 2011.

  • village_iddiot

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 10:42 am GMT

    @nerdriot.. I highly doubt it will be anything lik Kotor because their using the engine from Jade empire.

  • village_iddiot posted Sep 4, 2009 10:33 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    village_iddiot

    Posted Sep 4, 2009 10:33 am GMT (hide)

    THIS is really going to suck. I have to assume that all of you are nubes because Kotor was way better than this...Skyydragon "what R the Requirements?" I can already see the requirements. THe best Computer in the world and a hefty price to pay each month. Im sure that Bioware is going to be great and set a number of Precendents for MMO games. It's just all the people that played Kotor will hate this game...

  • Jacen_G

    Posted Aug 31, 2009 7:47 pm GMT

    how they explained it sounds like its Coop instead of MMO

  • Fededyret

    Posted Aug 26, 2009 6:33 am GMT

    you can see some gameplay videos of the very same things - sith warrior class, korriban, bounty hunter, and the conversation with the captain on the ship and much more - on IGN, unfortunate these videos ain't on gamestop yet.

  • skyydragonn

    Posted Aug 25, 2009 9:16 am GMT

    I'm so glad bioware is behind this title. I really dont feel any other publisher has the storytelling savvy to really make an MMO envoirnment "feel" like the star wars galaxy. after watching the recent gameplay video (20mins long in 4 pts) I cannot wait to get a hold of this title. It looks like its going to be awesome fun. especially considering that each class has so many different options to change the story. Eight (yes 8) classes with over 200hours of gameplay each. and every playthrough being different? Goddamn its going to be fun playing through all the variables.
    EDIT: anyone know the system requirements yet?

  • PSplayer09

    Posted Aug 25, 2009 6:56 am GMT

    yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! its a PC game!!!! AND ONLINE!! :O must buy!!!

  • Argal

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 11:57 pm GMT

    @buckeyejuggalo

    How right you are, also played and loved Galaxies until the Combat upgrade, at which point most of the people I had been playing with left and it all turned crappy =/

    I absolutely hate how they turned Jedi/Sith into a starting class, with the Force Sensitivty requirements and Village system Force Users really "felt" like powerful characters and Masters were rare and elusive.
    I managed to get to Adept (I think it was called) rank myself before I quit.

    Nevertheless SWG was still one of the best MMOs ever made and I really hope Old Republic will become the kind of game SWG could have been.

  • turnerdoc

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 6:56 pm GMT

    how much will it cost i played sw galaxies day it came out loved it hated the 15 a month i shelled out to play played for two yrs both the exspanions all total over 400 damn

  • buckeyejuggalo

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 5:11 pm GMT

    Also, I know they're going to just hand Jedis and Sith over to people because of their abundance during this time period but does anyone else miss the old Galaxies way of being a Jedi/Sith? Having to actually work for it and seek the training? Or am I just day dreaming again?