Star Wars: The Old Republic
That's no MMOon.
The conversation itself, as well as being fully voiced, follows the traditional BioWare route of suggestive choices, three for each branch, which are then fleshed out in the actual responses. Not only does this mechanic keep things more interesting - because I was intrigued to see how each choice would be manifested rather than impatiently waiting for the text I'd just read to be vocalised - it fleshes out the player character beautifully, with even the 'nice' light-side options rendered in gritty Sith style. There are four or five decisions to be made, unless of course the first choice is one to execute, and each feels as if it has a real influence on the mood of captain and crew, and therefore on the interactions available afterwards. Our mollycoddling seems to assuage the initial aggression of the situation, mollifying our wayward CO into rallying his troops and offering sound tactical advice.
This isn't one of the earth-shattering choices we're promised we'll be making, it's a single early mission, but we're promised that the consequences range beyond the simple location and number of boarders. Humiliate or intimidate the captain too much and we're told that he might not be so willing to offer advice or more palpable support once you're away, aboard the enemy vessel. Absence, it seems, makes the heart grow bolder.
We're also shown the multiplayer conversation mechanic, whereby speech options are allocated randomly for members of your party to decide. We're only shown a party of two behaving in this way, and BioWare is cagey on what maximum party size will be and how this will affect conversations, but what we see works well, even allowing a sort of good cop/bad cop interchange. It raises an interesting question, however. Grouping is a notoriously hit-and-miss affair, and finding like-minded individuals in the virtual world is not necessarily an easy task. In a world of irrevocable consequences, where the decision of a stranger can dictate a portion of the next 400 hours of your gameplay, choosing who you take with you on missions suddenly becomes extraordinarily important. We shall see.
But, it's time to earn that combat pay, so we head down to the shuttle bay from the bridge to fend off a team of Republic Commandos.
As you might expect, the skills of the Sith Warrior are melee-focused, with a smattering of Force powers to spice up his arsenal. Two 'point-building' basic attacks are on offer, ala World of Warcraft's Rogue, with the 'spending' skills providing the high-impact damage-dealing. Most useful is a long-range leaping strike, enabling players to close the distance on ranged opponents quickly, forcing them into toe-to-toe slugging matches. The ground which the Sith covers with this attack is considerable, plus it can be combined with a regular jump and executed in mid-air, adding to its range.
A spinning gut-lunge and a sparkly area attack are the point-spending attacks bolstering our level-8 character's assault, whilst the out-of-combat heal of Channel Hatred is quick and effective, adhering to BioWare's policy of not wanting people to have to "sit around on hills eating bread" to restore health. Most iconic of the combat skills available has to be Vader's favourite though: the Force choke. This lifts enemies from the floor and gradually drains health, whilst also presenting them as the perfect target for ranged allies to perforate.
Action-led and frantic, combat usually means being outnumbered, enhancing the feeling that even low-level characters far outstrip everyday folks in their martial prowess. Blocks and parries are animated and synchronised - in Erickson's words, "you don't need to check the feedback text, you can see what's happening". Again, it's very hard not to appreciate how much of KOTOR is being channelled here, especially as the Sith Warrior is the class with best fit to the PC and Xbox classic. Of course, it's still a matter of hot-keys, random number generation and stat checks, but these mechanics are well-concealed beneath the brightly stylised combat engine, engendering an atmosphere of skill and action rather than dry statistics.
Of course, it's way too early to start making any concrete judgements. BioWare is under no illusions about how much of the balancing and fine-tuning work still needs to be done. But The Old Republic is shaping up very nicely, thank you - and that comes from a man who thinks that Luke Skywalker is a whingeing little twerp. Sorry.