December 23, 2005

A review of the Xbox game Jade Empire.

Martial arts, dragons, demons and magic, what more could you as for? In the world of action RPG’s, Jade Empire is seeks to grasp the hearts of all willing gamers through it’s amazing elements. BioWare comes to us once again to immerse us into a world of fantasy and magnificence. Choose your character and walk down the path to enlightenment, but be wary, for there are those who stand in your way in order to sway you from reaching your ultimate goal: the fate of the Jade Empire lies in your hands.

GAMEPLAY
When you begin the game, you are given the choice to begin your adventures through the feudal Chinese world as a pre-made character or one of your own customization. Unfortunately, you cannot customize the character models, but you will be able to change the skill points and the name of your character as you see fit (yeah I know, it got to me too). Then you are placed into the sparring ring of the school you have been training under with one of your fellow students. Here you will undergo the basic tutorial and get the overall feel for the game. The fighting style you begin with is determined by the character you chose or can be customized at the start of a new game. This choice alone can either make or break your character, but don’t be discouraged, you will be able to pick up new styles as you continue your journey. After the tutorial, you are able to explore the world and interact the local NPC’s with responses that are either good or bad. In any case, most of the time you speak to them is in order to help you understand more about the Jade Empire and who you are. When you continue onward, you are given more information about your chi bar, which controls your magic like mana, your focus bar, which allows you to use a weapon and enter a slow-mo bullet time mode, and your health bar (If you don’t know what this does, then just stop playing the game…no seriously).

Just as you get used to your village, it is attacked by a traveling group of bandits. During this time you are given your first companion that can either attack with you or stay back and give you enhancements as you fend of the hordes by yourself. You are also given a weapon, which depletes your focus bar with each swing, slash, stab, etc. Soon enough, you will also notice that the attacks from the styles you choose will be quite repetitive unless you change your style during a fight. Not only will this help you in battle and head off your opponents, but it looks cool too. s you engage your enemies and get a feel for the controls, you’ll soon be finding yourself in fights you would probably see in the movies. Soon enough you’ll notice an alignment bar like the one in KOTOR. This bar is affected by the way you interact with NPC’s and how you deal with certain situations. Also, as an added bonus is that you can access special mini-games as you move forward in Jade Empire. This unique gameplay definitely had me hooked.

GRAPHICS
What good is a game if you can’t appreciate how it looks? Well, there’s no problem with the looks of Jade Empire. Blood is questionable, but it doesn’t affect the overall look of the game. The graphics are, without a doubt, top-notch. The environment of the world made feel like I simply jumped into a famous landscape painting and decided to have myself a look around. The character models of the possible players you can choose from the start are well done as are the NPC’s you interact with. The creative sights that you will encounter, such as a version of heaven, will have you gawking at the screen. You will find no disappointment.

SOUND
Ambience is nice...so relaxing. This game offers a nice selection of music as you explore the world. The sound FX of the fighting is done quite well too. Overall though you most likely won’t be paying as much attention to the sound as you would the screen, but still those who can appreciate the hard work placed into the soundtrack won’t be disappointed. As for sounds like footsteps, walls breaking, etc…not bad indeed. Additionally, the game received excellent voice-overs that only assist the solid storyline. Jade Empire’s sound passes my test with flying colors.

REPLAY
This game’s choices will have no trouble bringing you back for more. One might definitely try it out at least twice to see the difference from being a good guy and a bad guy. Some will go through it to try out different starting styles to find which character is the best to play with. Some might do it just because they love to. In any case, I could see myself playing this game at least 20x before I would get bored, but that’s just me. Overall replay? I give it a hell yeah!

OVERALL
Two thumbs up! A game all RPGers can enjoy. Was it the best game I have ever played in my life? Hmm…No. Damn good though. I will not snatch its glory away because of my own preferences. Overall, this game is off the chain, amazing, gorgeous, addicting, and all that jazz baby! If you don’t find a place in your heart for this game, then you should make some because it deserves every inch. Definitely worth the cash in your wallet and don’t hold out, go for the limited edition while you still can.

Overall: 9.2
Graphics: 9.5
Gameplay: 9.5
Sound: 8
Replay: 9
Fun: 10