Graphics

• This game was released in 2003, so its graphics heyday may have faded years ago. 
• However, I don’t think that the game was ever a graphics “show stopper” due to the game’s bland and muted hues. 
• The game just looks average, mostly due to muted colors and a lack of impressive detail. 
• This may be due to this game being originally made for a console and then ported over to the PC.
• Many of the character faces were also dull and featured unconvincing facial animations. 
• There were also a few occasions where the character’s heads were clipped (you could see inside of them).
• Despite some graphic problems, the game still has a lot going for it.
• The worlds look nice and there are nice details such as birds flying in flocks. 
• Characters throughout the game look pretty good, and most of the monsters look good as well. 
• Most of the in-game architecture looks nice, which is important since you spend most of your game in temples, caverns, and spaceships.
• Overall, the graphics range from good to pretty good. 
• While the colors may be dull and the details are lacking, the game still looks good, with occasional moments of beauty.  

Sound

• For the past 10 years, virtually every Star Wars game has used some form of the film series’ music composed by John Williams. 
• While Williams’ music continues to impress soundtrack enthusiasts, its appearance in games has been far from perfect. 
• The problem with the use of his music is that not all of soundtrack cues blend well with game levels. 
• Some songs vary between romantic themes and action themes, which can potentially make the song feel out of place as you blast away storm troopers. 
• To solve the above problem, some sound editors have cut and pasted “best of” Star Wars action moments into one misguided track. 
• These new versions may technically work with the game level, but after a while, they sound tiresome because you continue to hear the same themes, again and again.
• Bioware wisely chose to not rehash the Williams’s music, opting instead for the well established game composer, Jeremy Soule. 
• Jeremy worked on the previous Bioware game, Neverwinter Nights, so his music style fits perfectly for epic RPGs.
• As you travel from planet to planet, you will hear Soule’s music accompany your progress. 
• At times, it can be subtly beautiful, and you won’t really notice it till the battle music kicks in during combat. 
• Every now and then you will hear a few notes of the “Star Wars” theme, but Soule’s composition is mostly new, effective, and quite beautiful.
• The sound effects are good, but the voice acting is superb. 
• The voice actors are very effective at conveying many human emotions, which is something that most games can’t claim. 
• The voice actors for Carth and the “evil” robot were some of my favorites.
• I found the sound effects to not be as noticeable as the music and dialogue.
• The sound effects use the typical lightsaber and laser blasts sound files.
• Overall, a really wonderful aural experience is to be had when you play this game.
• I didn’t get to try out the game’s surround sound capabilities, due to using a 2 speaker set up.  However, this game still sounds wonderful.
• I found that all of the sound and music significantly enhanced my gaming experience.

Captivation

• If you are remotely interested in a rich story set in the Star Wars universe, then you will easily be inclined to play this game.
• I found the missions to be fun, and the additional aspect of making light or dark choices made me consciously choose how to complete the mission. 
• The missions are also quite varied, so you won’t see any “gather a magic mushroom and bring it to the fairy to get the magic flower which needs to be brought to someone” crap.
• This is not a game with a high degree of replayability. 
• You could play through it once with the light side, and once with the dark side, but the missions will remain the same throughout both choices.
• There aren’t a wide variety of side-quests. Once you are finished with the game, there may be little appeal to return to for another round.
• Similarly, most missions can only be completed two ways (light or dark) so there isn’t a necessity to go back and try missions again to see what happens.
• I played close to 45 hours total for this game, and not all of the smaller missions had been completed. 
• Throughout my gameplay experience, I continued to experience a driving force that compelled me to play, “just a little bit more” to find out where this story would lead.
• The interesting story lines associated with certain characters were also an aspect that held my interest
• Some of the characters have side-quests, which lead you to various planets.
• Most of these missions are optional, but worth playing.
• If you are looking for a game with lots of upgradeable spells and new moves, then you might not be so inclined to play this for such a long period of time.
• It should also be noted that the game can be easy to play.
• The game’s controls are easy to understand within minutes, and within an hour, you basically know to play the entire game.
• I never found the game too difficult that I didn’t know what to do nor did I continue to keep dying. 
• The game does feature an adjustable game difficulty, so if you like your games more difficult, then the option is easy to change. The degree of difficulty seems to affect how strong enemies are, or how many hits it takes to kill an enemy.
• The enemy AI consists of enemies attacking you once you are in sight.  Most enemies use the standard laser rifle, with the occasional NPC using a sword.
• Being able to play a game that doesn’t force me to repeat sequences again and again is a big plus in my book!
• Overall, this game held my interest for a long time, mostly because I enjoyed the story and I liked the characters.
• The game’s missions also kept me returning to play just a little bit more before I would stop playing.  This reflects the game being somewhat addictive.

Final Thoughts

• Positives
• The game features a great, original Star Wars story.
• The characters have great depth and are very interesting.
• The role-playing action system makes it very easy and fun to play.
• The music and voice acting are excellent.
• The game features hours of fun and entertaining gameplay.
• Negatives
• The game features a stereotypical evil Sith overlord that wants to rule the galaxy.
• The graphics are plain and feature some dull looking colors.
• There are numerous bugs that make the game annoying when walking around people.

Bottom Line

• If you are a fan of Star Wars and Bioware games, or you like playing RPG’s with interesting stories, then this might be your game.