The end of 2011 up until now has me playing Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic. A game that I both looked forward to and dreaded all at once. I only got to play the Flashpoint during PAX East. It was a good time with a group of strangers as we attempted to beat the boss and his giant pet. But why dread it? People I know who beta tested the game and just kept complaining about how it's the same old MMO. Nothing new. But I had hopes that it would be good anyway. I've had a great time when I played City of Heroes when it was released. I played it for four years. I made some great friends in the Liberty Server who I still talk to on occassion. I came into World of Warcraft later on. I liked it but my MMO bug was done and I was able to play it casually enough. I never got around to doing big raids on it though.

Luckily someone was willing to play Star Wars with me. My brother who sometimes submits photographs to this site, DoubleFatPigeon. I played the game and taught my brother some of the basics of an MMO since it was his first time playing one. It took me a long time but I decided on Bounty Hunter over Imperial Agent. I really liked the Bounty Hunter in the trailers for this game and decided to build a female one. Yes, I should be ashamed of myself. But she was so cool! I couldn't help it. So far I love storyline for that class. It could be brutal. Especially if you make dark side choices. Being a Bounty Hunter I try to play with the intent of always making cash no matter what I do. And I'll also be honest. I suck at playing a bad guy. I end up feeling bad for some sucker who tells me they have a family to support and I let them go. But I'm trying and have managed to get more dark than light. As a matter of fact one recent mission where I played it soft got me busted for not doing as I was told. Lesson learned. As of this writing my Bounty Hunter is only level 20. So I'm not very far yet.

My second build was a Smuggler. Interesting class at first but I got a bit bored with him. I did manage the first ten levels to see where the story went and to get off planet. Parts of it were interesting but left me a bit bored. A friend of mine told me the story get's better once you get your ship so in the future I'll be going back to it.

My third build was a Sith Inquisitor. I liked this class. Force lightning shooting out of my fingers and every chance I get I go dark side in the dialogue. The first time you get off the ship in Korriban you are in a very hostile environment. It's a kill or be killed kind of feeling. Feels right that the sith classes start off in such a dangerous environment.

My next build is the Imperial Agent. I just started that class and to be honest it's my favorite story wise. You work as a spy for the Empire. You start in the same planet as the Bounty Hunter and some stories you do repeat. There was one mission where someone asked to retrieve her child from her husband who ran off. As a Bounty Hunter I fulfilled my contract on what I should do. As an Imperial Agent my decision came from the thought that whatever I do must benefit the Empire. So both choices were very different. Choosing the dark side won't always be an option as far as my reasons for doing what I do.

I think some aspects can use a bit more work. The space ship battles, while an interesting idea, needs some changes. I would like to see maybe a radar added and a bit more freedom to fly around. Since it's an MMO how about having friends man the turrets and make it sort of like an instance in some ways. Get to relive that moment on the Millennium Falcon when Luke and Leia helped Han Solo to blast off some fighters. Maybe I'm asking for too much on that point cause then you'd basically be creating a whole new game, but I think space ship battles definitely needs to be looked at again. Good try and not a bad concept overall.

Also, I found myself a bit disappointed in the character selection when creating your character in the beginning. I thought I'd be able to choose more races, but that is sadly not the case. I can understand why you can't have a wookie since no one would be able to understand them and all dialogue will be subtitled. But there are so many races a few more should have been added.

Something that did bug me for a moment was that there was a icy cold planet called Hoth. *Spoiler if you havn't read the novels* During the Darth Bane novels which takes place much further into the future the planet get's named Hoth after a Jedi General during a battle which obliterated both Jedi and Sith. Maybe it will be explained down the road or maybe it's as some say online that General Hoth took the name of this planet for himself and the Hoth in the future is a different planet. I'm sure it will be explained later.

I like this game so far. Maybe it's the fact that I'm playing a game with my brother and taking our time watching the stories unfold. It's probably too early on in the game and things may change. But for now I'm getting a kick out of it and hope to play it for a while more yet. All my later builds I built just to see their opening stories and who I may potentially play later on. I still have other classes I need to sample but so far Bounty Hunter and Imperial Agent are my favorites. The fact that each character get's their own ship is a plus to me. I love the Bounty Hunter Ship's look.

Visit the Star Wars: the Old Republic's YouTube channel for additional trailers.