REVIEW & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT BY 'SEEROO'

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Be the hero of your own Star Wars adventures in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures includes Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided and all of the game’s expansions, including Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees, and Trials of Obi-Wan, along with all of the “Chapter” adventures that are downloaded regularly to your PC. The Complete Online Adventures is the most inclusive and immersive Star Wars Galaxies experience ever introduced, and is the perfect gift for yourself or for the Star Wars fan or PC gamer in your life.

The Complete Online Adventures includes hundreds of hours of game play. Players of all levels can jump into exciting adventures 24/7 and travel to legendary Star Wars locations with iconic characters. Along the way, players can join with others on missions that take them across the galaxy fighting with the Empire or the Rebel Faction. Getting started is easy – The Complete Online Adventures is all you need!
 

Before jumping into the game we popped the Bonus DVD into our drive. This DVD is jam-packed with heaps of heaps of images, movies and even a  demo of  of the popular PC strategy game Star Wars: Empire at War. A slide show Star Wars Galaxies screenshots and never-before-seen concept art, all set to beautifully orchestrated in-game music; Interviews with Star Wars Galaxies production staff, detailing the incredible art, characters and music of the game; Excerpts from the popular “From Pencil to Pixel” book that chronicles the art of Star Wars Galaxies; In-game movie featurettes produced by Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) fans; plus Cinematic trailers and commercial television ads produced for Star Wars Galaxies. As a stand alone this DVD offers some brilliant artwork, insider look at game development and a tempting look at the SWG universe prior to taking the plunge.
 

It was now time to dive into the MMORPG world. Installation was very easy as was the process of updating game files. This is all done thru the SWG Login Interface which also provides gamers with gaming & community news. The first choice to be made is the character race and creation. Pick from 10 species, Bothan, Ithorian, Mon Calarmari, Rodian, Human, Sullustan, Trandoshan, Twi'lek, Wookiee, or Zabrak.

You can the modified the numerous settings like eyes, cheeks, size, weight plus heaps more including your starting uniform and accessories. You then get to select from the nine professions (Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Officer, Commando, Spy, Trader, Medic or Entertainer) what role your character will follow in this open universe. With you new look, profession and start kit it is time to stop watching Star Wars and start living it. Select your server (ours being Naritus) and you are now a newbie Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Gamer (MMORPGer)
 

Seeroo (a spy) is our pint size Rodian hero. Very dark with large silver eyes, he is almost drowish (D&D nerd term). Seeroo awakes in the intro tutorial in an Imperial Medical facility, where Han, Chewie C3P0 and R2D2 help break you out, plus train you in the basics of the SWG interface. Once you have 'mastered movement, item interface and some basic combat skills leading to the untimely deaths of stormtroopers, Han and the Falcon escape the imperials with the help of yours truly on the gun turrets. One quick hyperspace jump and you are at the relative safety of Tansarii Point Station.

This area offers training and tutorials for all new characters. Learn the basics of missions, armed, unarmed and ranged combat, your profession specific skills such as medic or stealth. Your character will quite easily attain level 5 in no time at all and then be allowed to leave for the real world. So without any way off the station it is time for our newbie to run some missions, earn some money and gain some skills.
 

Tansarii Point Station is a three deck circular space station. The top floor is an atrium filled with exotic plants and creatures. The main floor contains the docks, station office, combat training rooms, medical center, and central cantina. The lower level contains engineering areas and a lot of criminal activity surrounding a central droid repair bay filled with malfunctioning droids, you even bump into a few famous faces along the way). Starting off slowly, Seeroo ran a few 'courier' missions, pickup packages whilst fighting off the occasional heavy or droid.

The interface is fully customizable, with all the HUD features being able to be resized and moved around to your liking. Combat is a simple point a click plus as you get to go higher up in levels you gain some specialized skills. Pretty soon you are gaining quite a little pile of credits as well as a bunch of items, looted form your opponents. These you sell to the Junk Dealers. The more important class specific missions get a tougher but are well worth the reward. Having completed the Spy Quest, Seeroo pockets 135 exp, 1600 credits, and your spy uniform.
 

Before you know it you are at the magic level 5 and now able to leave the comfort of the station. But it is wise to full take advantage of this 'safe' training area. It is here you get to know your controls, understand your characters abilities, and ring up a few extra levels before launching into the wider universe. After only one week (approx 5 -7 hours of play) we had complete our 'land' based training. This is where the benefits of the Complete Adventures shines in value. It is now time to Jump into Hyperspace with a bit of Space Combat. But we will save that for next week....

So, our initial impressions? The game plays and feels very much like Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), but mush more customizable interface but without a term based interface. There has been a lot of effort put into the new ranking system. You will hear a lot of old SWG player whine and moan about the new gaming system, but as a whole it make it a hell of a lot easier for novice and first time MMORPGers to enter the universe.

The Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures quiet easily pays for itself. Not only do you get  the core game plus all three additions, you also get an exclusive playable AT-RT vehicle to use once on planet,  and the Bonus DVD (great artwork and behind the scenes content) PLUS 1 months game time pre-paid. For under AU$60 this is a game you simple have to try.

Check back next week for our introduction to space combat...

SCORE: MMORPG FOR THE MASSES