London - Arabstoday
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the first massively-multiplayer game from BioWare, a studio renowned for excellent single-player role playing games such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and the original Knights of the Old Republic. From the outset, BioWare\'s goal has been to create the same sense of immersion and story progression in an MMO. That means that all dialogue is fully voice-acted, and there are loads of dialogue choices to make throughout the main storyline. Also, there is a main storyline(!). The rest of the MMO standards are expected to be (and unless they were removed after the beta, are) there, including crafting, multiple character advancement options, dungeons and raids (known as Flashpoints and Operations respectively), PvP, and piles of loot ripe for the taking. As I expect The Old Republic to have hundreds (perhaps thousands) of hours worth of content, a traditional review would take weeks. Thus, as IGN has done with several MMOs in the past -- check out our Rift Review Journal and DC Universe Online Review Journal -- I will be doing a \"Review in Progress,\" in which I provide almost-daily updates about what I think about various aspects of the game. When I feel like I have played enough of The Old Republic to give a fair and valid review, it will be posted here, and the review journal will be reposted elsewhere for your viewing pleasure. In other words, if you want to keep up with IGN\'s review of The Old Republic, you ought to bookmark this page. In the past we\'ve also hosted a guild open to join by our readers. We won\'t be doing that this time. Sorry! But you are totally free to pretend that you are in a guild made by us and say Beyond and Scoop to your heart\'s content. The reviewing process will begin when we gain access to the game which will likely be Wednesday, December 14. It will end when my hands or eyes fall off, possibly in early January. In the meantime, enjoy some of our other Old Republic coverage or take a gander at our Star Wars: The Old Republic Wiki. You can also plan your character out using our Star Wars: The Old Republic Character Builder.