Jade Empire Preview – E3
1996 saw the release of the first BioWare game: Shattered Steel. Since then, the Canadian based developer has been creating console and PC games that defy the standards most gamers have become accustomed to. Their primary focus is on the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre and no other game better defines quality graphics, sound and story than Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Licensed by LucasArts, the game went on to take countless awards for its presentation, its ability to pull in non-rpg gamers and it’s immersive story. We got a chance to speak with one of BioWare’s production designers on the developer’s most promising title to date, Jade Empire.
Jade Empire takes the successful engine, gameplay and choose-your-own-adventure style of game from SW: KOTOR to expand and improve on it immensely, effectively create a new sub-genre: Action RPG. Gamers have come to expect RPGs to utilize a broad story in which you complete tasks and gain experience in order to be become stronger, gain new powers or buy items. Combat typically exists as a turn based roll-of-the-die type of play traditional to pen and paper RPGs. This is no longer the case in Jade Empire. You still have tasks that need completing, items that need purchasing and the like, but Jade Empire’s combat structure is where the game steps away from it’s brethren to become something new. Combat is real-time. That’s right, one push of the button is one punch, combo’s are present and dodging actually prevents you from damage. Take on multiple enemies using 30 different attainable martial arts styles, each learned after defeating the enemies that have used them against you. Add to that 21 different weapons AND magic and you have for one very ambitious new title.
Combat is assited through the use of a targeting system, similar to that of James Bond: Everything or Nothing, allowing you to lock onto and opponent to focus your attacks. Magic use comes from Chi, the ancient eastern philosophy of centered body and mind. Chi is life force and can be harnessed in Jade Empire for offensive and defensive purposes. One such example is Focus Mode. Using stored Chi, the player can speed himself up, effectively slowing the world around him and making enemies easy pickings, similar to Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia. Another Chi use combines your energies with Legendary Fist, one of the 30 styles, to punch your enemy and transform his body to stone. Then finish the job with a well placed kick, turning him to rubble.
Speaking of rubble, environments are fully interactive. Stone and wood are not only breakable and throwable, but stainable, preferably with the blood on one’s enemies. The worlds are beatifully rendered and imaginitive. Your primary base of operations (in ancient China) is the Garden of Floating Stones where massive boulders float effortlessly above the heads of the characters, tethered by heavy chains to the ground. Chinese architecture is beautifully represented as are environmental effects, such as dust, wind blown leaves and flower petals.
Character creation and development has been added giving players 7 base styles to customize to their liking. An advanced procedural routine gives characters the ability to really emote. Their situation determines the emotion that shows through in amazing facial expressions during all aspects of the game, even during combat. As the characters’ mood changes, their faces contort to be sullen, remorseful, joyous, angry, the whole gamut. This also effects the outcome of the game. In KOTOR, the decisions you made and the way in which you treat both your enemies and your friends set you down the path of either the dark or light side of the Force. Jade Empire’s Moral Path feature calls for the same concious decision making that will culminate in one of two endings. Help is available though, as you meet non-playable characters in your journey that fight along side of you. Players are given basic command of these characters, but not of full real-time combat abilities. In addition, as players progress they are able to steal the spirits of creatures they have destroyed. One such creature we saw in the demo was of a giant griffin-like creature standing on two legs, with giant wings and a beak. We saw the main character transform into this beast in order to have a sporting chance against an equally monstrous foe.
The look and feel of this game makes one wonder why it wasn’t applied to KOTOR 2, but we found out that BioWare made a concious decision not to continue with what they felt was a restrictive franchise. Their wish was to create their own original stories and characters without the constraint of the Star Wars Universe, vast though it was.
We see great things to come for BioWare. Talk of a Jade Empire sequel are already being tossed around as well as their most immediate next step, a game they’ve named Dragon Age. True to form Dragon Age promises to create yet another sub-genre that breaks barriers. This time, they are calling it a Party-Based RPG. More on that when we know. Full review of Jade Empire this fall.
