Another BioWare game, another at least competent Xbox RPG. Bear with them, because here we go again.
Obsidian Entertainment did an excellent job of making Knights of the Old Republic II feel just like the first – no complaints, that's what most people sort of wanted. Knights of the Old Republic is wonderful. The second one is pretty good. By the time Jade Empire hit us, we'd essentially played two other Xbox BioWare RPGs. The honeymoon (hey, this is an Xbox I'm using to play [wow!] an RPG!) was over (... but there's something a bit too familiar about this...), and we were ready for something fresh, or at least a little different. Maybe this Western-made Asian game could rescue us from our Xbox role-playing doldrums!
The game looked promising enough. Again, we have a dark side / light side thing going on – in this case a contest between the path of the open palm and the way of the closed fist. We get to romp around ancient fantastical China, amassing a group of followers. We get to see some bloom effect (as seen in every game made in the past year!), maybe a few more polygons. There's some sort of realtime combat – that could be cool. So, yes, Jade Empire had some people excited. Problem is, it's a KotoR game for people who don't like KotoR – think about that for a bit and you realize it translates into “why does this exist?”
Jade Empire has some of the aspects you've grown used to, but has strangely been stripped of many of the features you've come to enjoy and even expect. First of all, Jade Empire has, practically, no equipment in the traditional RPG sense – it has precious little equipment at all. In place of Dark Jedi Robes and Mandalorian Melee Shields, you have several (several in an underwhelming, disappointed sense) slots into which you equip stat-boosting gems. There you go. Up to around seven little trinkets with attributes like “Body +3.” The epitome of character customization this game is not, young padawan. The only other areas that determine your PCs (player character's) vitals are A) techniques you've learned (which are mostly like permanent gems, i.e. a “Body +3” that doesn't take up one of your very dear amulet slots), B) how you've leveled him (at each level-up you can choose to spend a few points in a grand total of three different categories, Body, Mind and Spirit), C) what combat styles you know (each style also has some point allocation) and D) which of the six total character models you selected right after picking NEW GAME (Remember, because there is no equipment your appearance never changes. Ever. Choose carefully!).
A second deviation is the party member leveling, which simply doesn't happen, visibly or possibly otherwise. (I'm sure it does, but I couldn't resist a trite jibe at the impotency of your allies.) You cannot control your party members outside of a few rare circumstances, and in battle they're pretty weak, unless you set them to support (as opposed to attack), in which mode they sit and recharge your magic or health or focus or give you a stat bonus while you fight.
You'll be better off not having played the KotORs, because if you have, you may expect (among tons of things) from Jade Empire many “planets” for your adventuring pleasure, which simply don't materialize. You start off in City A, then move to City B, and then finish up in City C. The end. Like in the Star Wars games, the cities have a few dungeon-like areas attached to them, and the cities in Jade Empire are much, much busier than the cities in the KotORs, but wow, this is a very not-expansive game. In these busier cities, there are optional sidequests, and though the rewards aren't fantastic you'll probably do them anyway, because what else are you going to do? Go defeat the boss before you've gotten your money's worth?
That's what you wind up doing anyway, though, but at least when you do it you'll get to use a satisfactory combat system. If there's one thing Sudeki did right (and there is), it's combat. If there's one thing Jade Empire didn't copy from Sudeki that I wish it had, it's combat. (In fact, Sudeki is one of the few games I can think of that actually does equipment worse than Jade Empire.) If you played the demo of the game, that's the combat right there. It involves some initially exhilarating wild hopping and a descent into a numbing but efficient pattern – you'll find yourself sticking to one or two combat styles and employing the same plan of attack most every fight. The plan will involve two strengths of hits (regular and shield-breaking) and acrobatics, and it won't be very exhilarating at all. You'll just fight the battles, and that's what you'll be doing. When you lose you'll be frustrated, and even when you win you'll wonder why you can't run with ease just because you're locked on to an enemy.
Every line of dialog in the game is voice acted, which is impressive, and decently, which is almost unbelievable, but if you've ever played Sim City 2000 on any speed faster than Turtle you probably won't be waiting for the speakers to finish their audio clips, anyway. Conversation trees are handled in exactly the same way as they are in the KotOR series, and you of course obtain dark or light side point for various choices. The game has at least two endings, and perhaps a third for “neutral” players (they sort of tout this third neutral path half-heartedly, from time to time), but it's unlikely that you'd want to go through a third time, as it's simply not compelling enough. The story is nothing special, and features a predictable “surprise” and tiny romantic opportunities (your characters can kiss!).
The graphics, however, are super. Cities and countrysides are imaginatively designed and are enjoyable to romp around in. Everything looks pretty grand, and about the only thing I can complain about is the odd build of many character models, primarily the female ones – their shoulders stick out a little oddly from their bodies. It's not a constant annoyance by any means, but it's a weird little problem to have, especially when everything else oozes polish.
The music in the game is above par, as well, and you may find yourself leaving your speakers on with the game playing while doing other things.
Loading is certainly something that happens, though at least in this game, for the most part, cities are loaded all at once. You'll know what you're getting into, again, if you've played KotOR.
Overall: 7/10
And really, that's what it boils down to. You already knew, mostly, what you'd be getting into, and now you know pretty much all the way. Jade Empire is a watered-down Knights of the Old Republic with a simple realtime battle system and pacing that gets you ready for a longer story than is delivered. For all this, it's not a bad game, but it's entirely possible to have a decent game that's disappointing, which is exactly what we have in Bioware's latest Xbox offering.
