IGN Review - 9.0

[Gritalian]

I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that The Old Republic is a stand-out, wonderfully crafted MMO. The story elements deliver on every front, the vocal performances are excellent, and some genuinely clever innovations have been applied to PvP combat. There’s also a massive volume of content to keep you hooked for a long time. But it’s important to keep in mind that The Old Republic doesn’t stray too far from standard MMO mechanics. If the target-attack style of combat and the repetitive quests of other MMOs has thrown you off in the past, then extra consideration needs to be taken. Even then, though, The Old Republic is worth a try. The characterization and settings are superb, regardless of what you think of the genre. BioWare has a lot of room for improvement and expansion, and I’m really excited to see where The Old Republic goes in the next few years. You should be, too.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1214622p1.html

[Littleshashi]

I always wonder what goes into the number rating system. One might notice that it's very, very close to a certain other game in this genre. Do they get influenced by advertisers? Who sits down and scores each component?

Anyhow, I'd pretty much agree with his review, and he took his time. The third finger of my left hand definitely agrees with his opinion about the no-auto-attack.

[Durzlla]

Sorry to sound kinda dickish, but i never trust IGN's ratings their HEAVILY biased

[Deleted]

I completely agree, that's what I've been saying I'd give to the game since I played it.

Also...the 10 he gave to sound...so true...I think that's the only perfect thing about it, it captures the essence of Star Wars, it's impossible to make better than that.

If you like that kind of music, though, that's another matter...

[Atelniar]

As a Shadow I find the primary attack issue funny. If you know how to manage your resources at a fluent rate then you will use that button fairly little compared to what the impression is. But that doesn't necessarily work for all classes the same way and is understandable. For Jedi Shadow Infiltration specs all melee attacks activate a proc that reduces the cost of our high-output "backstab" ability. Therefore there is incentive to use the "basic" attack when your energy is below 50% to regain force and chance a proc that will be a massive boon to your DPS.

At least it is better than auto-attacks. It's a step forth but certainly could add another dimension for different specs. Even if it already does for some specs in the game. It makes the "basic" attack a lot more fun than just a doing something. The best thing about SW:TOR is certainly the sound aspect in the form of voiceacting and the music. The music is excellent, as is the sound of lightsabers or general combat. I usually go to other sources than IGN for my gaming reviews, but a 9.0 score is actually not all that bad in terms of how I see the game on a scale from 0-10. SW:TOR has its strengths but although the addition of RPG elements makes for a huge step forth in leveling and pure story-telling enjoyment in an MMO the game is not a massive MMO-revolution which todays community expect everytime a product launches. 9.0 is a fair score actually, the problem I have with IGN is its lack in consistancy when it comes to grading games. A fair few crap games that get solid scores solely based on trademark.

[Deleted]

it's an mmo.
it's out for not even a month.

i highly doubt that some ign guy played a character to level 50, did some endgame-stuff, did some pvp, played several classes, etc etc

i suppose some reviews will be "omg story mmo,star wars, voice over, GREAT!" and some will be "crappy wow clone, outdated graphics, no content"

let's talk about game ratings in some weeks or even months. please.

[Eggowaffles]

it's an mmo.
it's out for not even a month.

i highly doubt that some ign guy played a character to level 50, did some endgame-stuff, did some pvp, played several classes, etc etc

i suppose some reviews will be "omg story mmo,star wars, voice over, GREAT!" and some will be "crappy wow clone, outdated graphics, no content"

let's talk about game ratings in some weeks or even months. please.

Didn't even bother to read the article did you?

[Deleted]

He keeps saying "but this", "but that" giving negatives about various aspects of what he is talking about, and then the game gets a 9?
Feels like his score is swayed by something other than what he hes talking about.

If I were to read the text and then look at the score I would have guessed a solid 7 by the tone of the article.

[Deleted]

Sorry to sound kinda dickish, but i never trust IGN's ratings their HEAVILY biased

I'm heavily inclined to agree. As a wannabe journo who has had some experience, I find their standard of journalism terrible in the past few years, especially since they were bought by News Corp.

More on topic, I find it hard to trust reviews like that on MMOs, unless reviewers are given early access like regular release they don't have a chance to fully experience a game, and even then they don't experience it in a fully released environment I prefer the way that Kotaku or Rock Paper Shotgun review MMOs, with a staged set of updates as to how they're progressing and what they think as they progress, ending in a full review.

[Zelk]

too soon.
/10 chars

[Tastyfish]

barley a month out and a near perfect review... Author must of did nothing but play this game.

[looopy]

I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that The Old Republic is a stand-out, wonderfully crafted MMO. The story elements deliver on every front, the vocal performances are excellent, and some genuinely clever innovations have been applied to PvP combat. There’s also a massive volume of content to keep you hooked for a long time. But it’s important to keep in mind that The Old Republic doesn’t stray too far from standard MMO mechanics. If the target-attack style of combat and the repetitive quests of other MMOs has thrown you off in the past, then extra consideration needs to be taken. Even then, though, The Old Republic is worth a try. The characterization and settings are superb, regardless of what you think of the genre. BioWare has a lot of room for improvement and expansion, and I’m really excited to see where The Old Republic goes in the next few years. You should be, too.

AKA if ya don't like mmos, don't buy this

[Dakia]

Sorry to sound kinda dickish, but i never trust IGN's ratings their HEAVILY biased

People have bitched and complained about every single favorable review about TOR that has ever come out. Nothing against you specifically, but at some point people need to stop crying wolf.

[Gladiator2009]

People have bitched and complained about every single favorable review about TOR that has ever come out. Nothing against you specifically, but at some point people need to stop crying wolf.

IGN is the foxnews of video games. I think that was more his point.

[Velorian]

I didn't really expect anything else, I agreed with practically everything in the review. Why are people surprised by this?

[Loaf Lord]

barley a month out and a near perfect review... Author must of did nothing but play this game.

And maybe he did?

[Investigator]

Shrug. People are looking at things way too subjectively, as in 'if I didn't enjoy playing the game then no way can it deserve that high a grade, they must have been paid off'.
They forget that their viewpoint may be skewed because of burn out on themepark MMO gameplay or features after playing them for years; however, that doesn't make those features bad, only it makes it that people having grown tired on themepark MMO's after years just cannot enjoy them that much anymore.

Anyway, IGN isn't that unique, PC Gamer gave a 9.3, Ten Ton Hammer an 8.8 and mmorpg.com an 8.7, as good as all reviews rank between the 8 and 9, which considering objectively what SWTOR offers is fair.

[wownerd]

I want to know from the people who say "too soon to review" or its not even been out a month", When is the best time to review a MMO?, Because the way I look at it a MMO is hard to place a review on in general because the game is constantly changing, you get new patches with new content or even patches that fix potential issues you had with a system in the game.

Like look at WoW people rate each content patch differently, SO shouldn't the content patch effect the games overall rating? and if that's so then should you wait till the first content patch of an MMO to put a review on it?

For me its a fine time to review the game and put your opinion out on it, and from reading the article i do agree that some things hold the game back a bit, and the Voice works pushes the review up a bit just because it is that good, But that kind of stuff happens with lots of games, Like Rage for example (not to say they are alike) Rage has great graphics and good game play but its end story leaves much to be desired, so just because its ending sucked it still ended up being in some peoples game of the year stuff because of the other elements of the game, So just because there are some negatives does not mean the game is going to get a horrible rating.

[kippi]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/115/1152717p1.html

They gave rift an 8.5, nothing to see here.

edit: I guess I mean, their rating system is more about hype and advertising than actual gameplay.

[Gohzerlock]

Ign gave skyrim a 9 as well I believe? and we all know how buggy/broken that was