{sidebar id=3}{sidebar id=1}It has been eight long months since the official announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) but during these many months Bioware and LucasArts have slowly revealed information about this game.  They have teased (in a very cruel manner) everything from planets, character classes, allegiances and factions, the timeline behind of the game to some developer diary videosThe only thing that we have not seen from them is actual gameplay, until now.

Recently, at GamesCom in Germany, Bioware lifted the shroud surrounding gameplay in a twenty-minute video through IGN. This is very exciting because now we finally know what the User Interface is going look like, the graphics style, the environments, and we finally get a glimpse into a few of the classes, including their separate but unique fighting styles.

While playing MMO's, gamers want to be fully immersed into the genre with fun multi-player gameplay, a great story, fluid and stylish graphics and in this case Star Wars.

The following is our first impressions of the game to date, it is a work in progress and some of the features may change over time.

Graphics with Style

The graphics have a realistic cartoon-ish style to them, akin to The Clone Wars television cartoon series. I have decided that after seeing this video a few times now, I believe that the developers are taking the look of this game in the right direction.

The environments look amazing and it is hard to take your eyes off all the sights. The planet of Korriban brought me back to the Knights of The Old Republic RPG. It just looks somewhat different, could this be the fact that TOR is set 300 years after the events of KOTOR?

Either way, exploration is going to be an interesting aspect, and exploring Hutta looks to be the most fascinating experience.

Combat

Combat is of course an important part of Star Wars. At this point in the game, the combat looks surprisingly good. The animations are very smooth and look as though Bioware really spent some time with this aspect of the game. Every class has their own unique fighting style and abilities that is going to make you feel as though you really have your own role in the galaxy, which I believe is going to set this game apart.

For the purposes of longing for the game, let us look at the classes that are currently known as of the end of August 2009.

The Bounty Hunter Class

Bounty Hunters (BH) are known to be badasses, and they are known for their different weapons, gadgets, and abilities. It is great to see everything that the BH has at his disposal.

In true Star Wars fashion, gamers are equipped with a flamethrower, a blaster, wrist rockets, charges, darts and a jetpack. More than likely, they will introduce more cool weaponry and gadgets prior to release.

In the video, they show the ability appropriately named, "Death From Above." Using your jetpack, you hover in the air and rain down blaster fire on your enemies.  One thing the Bioware is definitely going for is that the BH can fight in your face without taking cover, which will be very different then SWG where cover was important.

Without a doubt, the BH is going to be tough to play but an extremely intere

sting class.

The Smuggler Class

The smuggler class is a very popular class because many players want to live their very own Han Solo experience, my cousin included. We only have seen a glimpse of the smuggler in action but from what we saw with this class, I am guessing that the smuggler class is going to have some great personality.

The ability to be able to take cover behind crates, trees or anything else available is a great addition to the immersion of the game. Taking cover and flash bang grenades is probably the smuggler's best line of defense because in Star Wars, smugglers are not known to rely on armor.  Nevertheless, I am guessing there will be some type of armor for this class.

If you would rather fight up-close and personal, you probably have the greatest ability ever. By greatest ability ever, of course, I mean a kick to the groin then to finish off the enemy, a blast to the head.

After seeing this, I could not stop laughing, I personally want to thank the person or persons that thought this idea up and put it into effect.

The Sith Warrior Class

A Sith warrior will be a formidable opponent to the BH and other Jedi classes. This class has many offensive abilities to choose from but that makes it exciting.

First, we have Force Charge, which is a quick lunge toward the enemy with the light saber that ultimately takes some damage away. Then you have Force Choke, Force Lightning and probably many more of those great force powers. This class has some defensive abilities, for instance deflecting blaster fire with the saber.

Unfortunately, there is not as much known about this class as to do an extensive review.  Nevertheless, I am delighted to see how smooth and fluid the Sith's movements are. Even with the quick speed of the Force Charge, you can see every body movement during the attack. It is always great to see extensive attention to detail being played in any MMO.

Story-Driven MMO and Choices

Attention to detail is important for any videogame but Bioware has been pushing their story-driven concept of this game as the single most important part of the game. In addition, they want everyone to understand how the choices you make effect everyone around you and this ultimately effects how you will be treated in the game.

Will they fear you, hate you, love you, or worship you?

I believe this will be your decision but you will always have enemies no matter what choices you make. These two concepts are going to make you feel like you are really in a living, breathing, ever-changing world.  Although other titles have attempted this level of storyline before and failed miserably, we can only hope that Bioware will do it right.

Game Accessibility

One part that we hope Bioware really does right is the game accessibility. Unfortunately,  since this game has not been released yet and Bioware has yet to speak to AbleGamers about accessibility options, there isn't much to speak about on this subject.

Although, I have my concerns already and that is not a good sign.

My first concern is about Closed Captioning. Being a fully voiced MMO means ultimately no reading. My question is, will there be an option for CC?

However, we did see some text translation from a Trandoshan in the first video. This could be a good sign for the hearing impaired.

My second concern is on the fast pace of the combat. For many disabled gamers this might be a problem. The one bright spot to this; everyone gets a companion character to assist in battle. This may be very helpful with combat when you are doing solo quests.

My final concern is about options for the color-blind. I am hoping that they will put in an option that allows players to set their own colors for enemy targets and other items because currently the game relies far too heavily on reds and greens.

Does Star Wars Galaxies have an expiration date?

Now that we know what TOR is kind of going to be like, there is some relief about combat and the completely story-driven MMO idea. When gamers first got wind of a new Star Wars MMO, there was some reserved apprehension about this new game. Thoughts of a failed Star Wars Galaxies came to mind. At the same time, there was some excitement and wonder.

After seeing what they have in store for us all I can say is, WOW!! I am looking forward to playing this. Could this be the death of Star Wars Galaxies? Time will only tell but my heart tells me yes.

What are your thoughts on these videos and the information released about the game so far?

Let us know...