loonyblog.

Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire at Rest?

The first batch of reviews of Star Wars Galaxies are starting to come out (we've got a bunch of reader reviews over at Shacknews) and they've pretty much confirmed what I expected...like every other MMORPG out there, this is most certainly not for me. What is a bit surprising however, is that I'm starting to get the impression that the game isn't doing as good a job at appealing to non-MMORPG gamers as everyone thought it would. Which if true, would make it the second high-profile massively multiplayer game (following the hugely overhyped The Sims Online) that failed to do so.

My problem with MMOs is pretty much the same problem I have with games like The Sims...I need an ending. If there's no discernible end to the game, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. Plus of course, I get far too many games to spend more than two months on a single title. Heck, spending a month on one game requires something really, really big. But a year or more? You have to be joking. But I'm weird in this regard, and fully accept the fact that many people are perfectly willing to spend 12+ months on a single game if they feel they're getting enough value out of it.

My other problem with MMORPGs in general, is that they're dull as cardboard, and that's something I figured SWG would be able to break out of. A game wherein I'm expected to get a job and earn a living isn't a game to me, it's work. A game that has a Star Wars license that doesn't have me actively engaged in combat on a galactic scale seems like a complete waste of a license. I mean, the name's Star Wars, for god's sake! I want to be an evil, evil bastard, killing rebel scum with lightning from my fingertips. But...that might just be me. It's probably just me.

But who knows...the game's just getting started, and they have promised space combat will be added sometime next year. A massively multiplayer Tie Fighter sounds pretty darn cool, and I might even be willing to give that a shot. For a month or so, before I grew bored of the fact that there's no ending, of course. Then again, if I have to get a job as a space trader in order to subsidize my rebel-killing hobby, I might not be able to get into the thing at all.

Oh, well. At least Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will be released soon...that should offer the best taste of the dark side I've had since the original Jedi Knight (which really did let me kill civilians with my badass lightning...muhahahahaha).

Posted by jason at July 7, 2003 03:50 PM | TrackBack | Read more: