Star Wars: The Old Republic Showcased at E3 2009
A lot goes on at E3, that probably goes without saying, but it takes a major event to draw a true crowd on the show floor. In years past, one company could be counted on to erect a giant wall of screens in the West Hall of the convention center and draw large crowds with a loop of upcoming titles without so much as having a booth. LucasArts typically arrives to the show incognito, renting out one of the side meeting rooms and keeping far out of the way of the major show-going traffic, often to privileged eyes only.
This year was only different in that there was a distinct lack of a certain wall of screens. Instead LucasArts borrowed the EA booth to hype the crowd with a single trailer. This one teaser began drawing crowds up to 30 minutes before it would play. Star Wars: The Old Republic took advantage of a sub woofer lined raised floor and EA’s massive video wall to play an intro cinematic that many in attendance not-so-secretly wished was a full length major motion picture. In a word, gorgeous. In that 4 minute clip, a cruiser rams into a building, a mandalorian warrior uses her jet pack to scale the walls of the jedi temple and an epic battle ensues between a dozen or more sith masters and the stalwart jedi that guard the halls.
Without showing an ounce of gameplay, the trailer does its job in making us want more. We’ve got a few screenshots to help that. The Old Republic is the much anticipated three-quel (of sorts) to the Knights of the Old Republic RPG series, with the exception of being a Massively Multiplayer Online title that takes place approximately 300 years after the last KOTOR game. 8 character classes, 2 allegiances and 4 planets including Nal Hutta, the home of the crime-boss Hutt clans.
The title is being developed by BioWare, the storytellers behind Mass Effect, Jade Empire and the original Knights of the Old Republic and they are promising to lead the charge in creating a story-drive title, not just a grinding, mission completing typical MMO. Personally, I’m hoping that fact will make the case and really differentiate TOR from the Star Wars: Galaxies MMO. As much a fan as I am of the Star Wars universe, it wasn’t hard to get bored in that MMO.
Price and release date are yet to be determined.
