This review contains spoilers
If I’m honest I don’t really don’t know what to think of this game. For this review I’m going to take a different format than I usually do. I’m gonna list all the positives and negatives I can think of and then decide my final thoughts.
Positives:
KOTOR is surprisingly pretty. Places like Dantooine and Manaan look beautiful.
The new planets introduced are all really cool.
I actually quite like the combat.
I like some of the companions. HK-47 is funny, Mission is sweet, Jolee is goofy.
Overall the side quests are great. The best one by far is that Dantooine detective quest.
I like the introduction of Czerka corporation
The Rakata and their Infinite Empire are a great addition to the lore.
That section where you get captured by the Sith and can choose to go on a jailbreak mission as any of the companions is cool. (Obviously you pick HK-47)
I liked learning more about both the Jedi and Sith philosophies.
Love all the ancient sith lore.
The ability to tackle the planets in largely any order is very impressive for such an old game.
The plot twist that you’re Revan is pretty sweet.
Negatives:
The AI absolutely sucks. So much of my play through was spent waiting for party members to catch up to me, before the game would allow me to go to the next area.
Walking speed is far too slow.
Apart from Korriban and Dantooine, each planet has a severe flaw. Taris is way too long, especially considering that it’s the first planet. Manaan has that painfully slow underwater section. Tatooine is mostly empty and boring. Kashyyyk has those fucking monkeys that screech literally every 5 seconds. Finally Lethon has way too much backtracking.
That mini game that sometimes plays when you travel between planets is not fun at all and is just a nuisance.
You have very little reason to use any companions other than Jedi. The Jedi characters are all significantly better than the rest of your companions, making 2/3 of them redundant.
I don’t really feel as though any of the companions are given enough development. Carth is boring. Mission doesn’t really have much beyond her brother. Zaalbar is just kinda there. I think it’s a stretch to consider T3 a character. Canderous and Juanita had potential that was just never realised. HK is really funny but I don’t think he was utilised enough. Jolee is also funny, but isn’t really given much apart from that quest on Manaan. Finally Bastilla is just too predictable. It’s immediately obvious that she would fall to the dark side and of course be redeemed and fall in love with Revan. Way too many companions, not enough screen time.
The Star Forge is so utterly infuriating. I cannot stand the constantly respawning enemies with absolutely no variety. They’re just so tedious.
There’s hardly any nuance in choices. You can either do the obvious and reasonable thing or kill anyone who even looks at you.
Malak is the most Star Wars villain ever. The writers really want you to know that he’s evil and nothing else. Nothing to him other than being a baddy.
Final thoughts:
So this game is only alright at best. Its biggest strength is probably the lore introduced like Czerka corp, Korriban and the Selkath. Even then, I mainly just like these things because they’re later expanded on in SWTOR. But overall KOTOR is a very clunky mess, that has some charm sprinkled along the way.
I’m really hopeful that I’ll like KOTOR 2 as I’ve seen many Star Wars fan hail it as one of the best parts of the franchise.
Positives:
KOTOR is surprisingly pretty. Places like Dantooine and Manaan look beautiful.
The new planets introduced are all really cool.
I actually quite like the combat.
I like some of the companions. HK-47 is funny, Mission is sweet, Jolee is goofy.
Overall the side quests are great. The best one by far is that Dantooine detective quest.
I like the introduction of Czerka corporation
The Rakata and their Infinite Empire are a great addition to the lore.
That section where you get captured by the Sith and can choose to go on a jailbreak mission as any of the companions is cool. (Obviously you pick HK-47)
I liked learning more about both the Jedi and Sith philosophies.
Love all the ancient sith lore.
The ability to tackle the planets in largely any order is very impressive for such an old game.
The plot twist that you’re Revan is pretty sweet.
Negatives:
The AI absolutely sucks. So much of my play through was spent waiting for party members to catch up to me, before the game would allow me to go to the next area.
Walking speed is far too slow.
Apart from Korriban and Dantooine, each planet has a severe flaw. Taris is way too long, especially considering that it’s the first planet. Manaan has that painfully slow underwater section. Tatooine is mostly empty and boring. Kashyyyk has those fucking monkeys that screech literally every 5 seconds. Finally Lethon has way too much backtracking.
That mini game that sometimes plays when you travel between planets is not fun at all and is just a nuisance.
You have very little reason to use any companions other than Jedi. The Jedi characters are all significantly better than the rest of your companions, making 2/3 of them redundant.
I don’t really feel as though any of the companions are given enough development. Carth is boring. Mission doesn’t really have much beyond her brother. Zaalbar is just kinda there. I think it’s a stretch to consider T3 a character. Canderous and Juanita had potential that was just never realised. HK is really funny but I don’t think he was utilised enough. Jolee is also funny, but isn’t really given much apart from that quest on Manaan. Finally Bastilla is just too predictable. It’s immediately obvious that she would fall to the dark side and of course be redeemed and fall in love with Revan. Way too many companions, not enough screen time.
The Star Forge is so utterly infuriating. I cannot stand the constantly respawning enemies with absolutely no variety. They’re just so tedious.
There’s hardly any nuance in choices. You can either do the obvious and reasonable thing or kill anyone who even looks at you.
Malak is the most Star Wars villain ever. The writers really want you to know that he’s evil and nothing else. Nothing to him other than being a baddy.
Final thoughts:
So this game is only alright at best. Its biggest strength is probably the lore introduced like Czerka corp, Korriban and the Selkath. Even then, I mainly just like these things because they’re later expanded on in SWTOR. But overall KOTOR is a very clunky mess, that has some charm sprinkled along the way.
I’m really hopeful that I’ll like KOTOR 2 as I’ve seen many Star Wars fan hail it as one of the best parts of the franchise.