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review :: jade empire
Jade Empire
Reviewed on: XboxAvailable on: Xbox
It's not a perfect game, and it's a pity there isn't more depth to either the fighting OR the role playing aspects, but Jade Empire will keep you entertained for an enjoyable week or so.
Players: 1
Genre:
Release: TBA
Genre:
Release: TBA
Developer:
Distributor:
Distributor:
Jade Empire is the newest game from Bioware. Bioware have previously brought us Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Knights and Baldur's Gate, so you might just possibly have heard of them.
It's probably best to describe Jade Empire as a cross between Knights of the Old Republic and Fable. In fact, while it's hard to define Jade Empire as anything specific, it is quite reasonable to call it a few different things. It's a fighting game crossed with an RPG, for example.
One thing I DON'T think it deserves is the universal accolades it's getting. Maybe it's just me, but some things have really bugged me.
The fighting system is not as good as it could be or should be, especially when fighting multiple enemies. It starts off well, and improves once you get the hang of the (poorly explained) harmonic combos for some great gore, but all in all it's quite limited. You only really have two attacks. Normal on the A button and heavy on the X. There's no real combos to these moves. About the closest you can do is hit A repeatedly for a long one button combo. Then just repeat that. Over and over. And over. And over. It would have been nice to see different moves. Not even all that many, but some sort of capacity to mix things up a little. The only other move you can do is an "area" hit. These are cool moves that do damage over a certain area. The area damage moves use up some of your chi, but a lot of them are well worth it, blasting an area with rock, calling forth a Dragon, etc.
It would have been nice to have a little less "lock" as well. In a game where there are often (usually) multiple opponents attacking you, being locked to one, especially when the computer for some reason chooses to lock you to one that's a distance away, can get you pummelled. There is a "free move" option, but it's clumsy, and should be able to be toggled on and off, rather than requiring you to hold down both triggers.
So as a fighting game, Jade Empire is somewhat flawed. How does it stack up as an RPG?
Well, sadly enough, flawed as well. While the story is exceptional, the voice acting excellent (for the most part) and the graphics fantastic, the actual character development is a little limited. For example, you simply don't get many new weapons. There's no real customization of your character at all. You have some "essence gems" you can put in an amulet, but the number of slots for that is very limited, even at the later stages of the game. You can get no armour. None. Of any kind. You can never buy another weapon. As a role-playing game it's more limited than even Fable could manage to be. That's impressive.
Don't get me wrong, there's some things to definitely like about Jade Empire. The graphics are impressive, again bringing to mind Fable, with an ethereal quality to the lighting, and some very nice attention to detail. The fighting styles are nicely realized, despite their limits.
Most of all, and this is the most important thing, probably, but most of all, the story is excellent. It's a deep, engaging story, that has enough twists to keep you interested. I guarantee you won't see some of them coming. Nice one, Bioware. I thought I'd seen everything.
On the whole Jade Empire tries to be too many things, and succeeds at none of them. It's a pity, because if it had succeeded better on the fighting level I would have had cause to recommend it highly just on that. But it's just too clumsy, and too repetitive. Such a waste. (Actually, any game developers looking at creating a 3D combat system that can target multiple enemies could do worse than looking to the PS2's Mark of Kri. A hugely under-rated title, this one was one of the most fun I've had in ages, and Jade Empire with a similar style and some combos would have rocked.)
It's hard to recommend Jade Empire particularly strongly. It's good. But it's not that good. It's fun... but it's not that fun. All in all I can think of a number of games I'd rather play than JE, and I was really looking forward to what seemed to be the holy grail of gaming. The fusion of my two favourite games, RPGs and fighting games. Well, I'll just have to keep waiting, and hoping.
It's probably best to describe Jade Empire as a cross between Knights of the Old Republic and Fable. In fact, while it's hard to define Jade Empire as anything specific, it is quite reasonable to call it a few different things. It's a fighting game crossed with an RPG, for example.
One thing I DON'T think it deserves is the universal accolades it's getting. Maybe it's just me, but some things have really bugged me.
The fighting system is not as good as it could be or should be, especially when fighting multiple enemies. It starts off well, and improves once you get the hang of the (poorly explained) harmonic combos for some great gore, but all in all it's quite limited. You only really have two attacks. Normal on the A button and heavy on the X. There's no real combos to these moves. About the closest you can do is hit A repeatedly for a long one button combo. Then just repeat that. Over and over. And over. And over. It would have been nice to see different moves. Not even all that many, but some sort of capacity to mix things up a little. The only other move you can do is an "area" hit. These are cool moves that do damage over a certain area. The area damage moves use up some of your chi, but a lot of them are well worth it, blasting an area with rock, calling forth a Dragon, etc.
It would have been nice to have a little less "lock" as well. In a game where there are often (usually) multiple opponents attacking you, being locked to one, especially when the computer for some reason chooses to lock you to one that's a distance away, can get you pummelled. There is a "free move" option, but it's clumsy, and should be able to be toggled on and off, rather than requiring you to hold down both triggers.
So as a fighting game, Jade Empire is somewhat flawed. How does it stack up as an RPG?
Well, sadly enough, flawed as well. While the story is exceptional, the voice acting excellent (for the most part) and the graphics fantastic, the actual character development is a little limited. For example, you simply don't get many new weapons. There's no real customization of your character at all. You have some "essence gems" you can put in an amulet, but the number of slots for that is very limited, even at the later stages of the game. You can get no armour. None. Of any kind. You can never buy another weapon. As a role-playing game it's more limited than even Fable could manage to be. That's impressive.
Don't get me wrong, there's some things to definitely like about Jade Empire. The graphics are impressive, again bringing to mind Fable, with an ethereal quality to the lighting, and some very nice attention to detail. The fighting styles are nicely realized, despite their limits.
Most of all, and this is the most important thing, probably, but most of all, the story is excellent. It's a deep, engaging story, that has enough twists to keep you interested. I guarantee you won't see some of them coming. Nice one, Bioware. I thought I'd seen everything.
On the whole Jade Empire tries to be too many things, and succeeds at none of them. It's a pity, because if it had succeeded better on the fighting level I would have had cause to recommend it highly just on that. But it's just too clumsy, and too repetitive. Such a waste. (Actually, any game developers looking at creating a 3D combat system that can target multiple enemies could do worse than looking to the PS2's Mark of Kri. A hugely under-rated title, this one was one of the most fun I've had in ages, and Jade Empire with a similar style and some combos would have rocked.)
It's hard to recommend Jade Empire particularly strongly. It's good. But it's not that good. It's fun... but it's not that fun. All in all I can think of a number of games I'd rather play than JE, and I was really looking forward to what seemed to be the holy grail of gaming. The fusion of my two favourite games, RPGs and fighting games. Well, I'll just have to keep waiting, and hoping.
Final Verdict
It's not a perfect game, and it's a pity there isn't more depth to either the fighting OR the role playing aspects, but Jade Empire will keep you entertained for an enjoyable week or so.Pros
Great graphics, impressive martial arts styles. Very nice animations on characters and fancy styles. Most of all, good strong storyline and characters.
Cons
Really lacking in depth. Fights get very repetitive. It would have been nice to get more of a sense of "upgrading" your character. AI in supporting follower is very iffy.