PC Gamer (UK) review of NGE here

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

This is the review of Star Wars Galaxies: The Starter Kit in Jan 2006 edition of PC Gamer (UK)

 

'What a heap of junk'

 

Compared to the World Of Warcraft experience, or that of Guild Wars or City of Heroes, anyone allowing themselves to be sucked into Star Wars Galaxies has had a tough time of it. Bugs, balancing, a crashing economy..playing this MMORPG has been a labour of love. At its best, its been atmospheric and fun; at its worst, hell on a desktop.

 

A recent announcement promised to change all that. The already established player base was expected to welcome drastic, game-changing content introduced by a massive patch, and the reissue of the game under the name The Starter Kit. Existing characters would be altered completely to make way for new classes, while skills and combat would change entirely. As of November, Star Wars Galaxies as we knew it ceased to exist; in its place a mishmash of two-and-a-half games' worth of content, people and places.

 

Can these fly-on-the wall alterations really make for a better game? Some of the 'New Game Enhancements(NGE)' are in Galaxies' best interests. A lengthy tutorial on a space station sees Han Solo guide you through the first levels before you're abandoned in the wilds of Tatooine. It's an ideal introduction to the game - a budding hero being helped by Han - you're given the impression you're special.This is how Star Wars in an online universe should feel.

 

What follows is disastrous. Galaxies was once the most unique, in-depth MMORPG available. It had that enviable mix-and-match profession system, crafting that has yet to be bettered and possibly the most devoted fan base you could want for a licensed game. There was also tarnish on Galaxies' crown.

 

Bugs, such as resources allowing the manufacture of stupidly powerful kit and Doctor buffs which allowed players to quadruple their stats, were left unfixed. Professions were tweaked and balanced but ultimately nothing was done to fix these major flaws.

 

Enter The Starter Kit. After just ONE WEEK of beta-testing, the new changes went to the live servers. Thirty-four professions were culled into nine 'iconic' classes, resulting in such losses as the Bio Engineer, Creature Handler and Ranger. Most of the specialised combat professions were condensed into starting classes such as Jedi and Officer, alongside the more familiar Medic and Commando.

 

With no option to chop and change professions the classes are more nondescript than ever. Each of the combat classes are virtually identical, with no customisation options to suit different players' needs. Abilities granted every few levels are now merely replaced with higher ranked versions of the same ability when you level up, so that the whole combat system is now soley based around a few special moves.

 

Targeting has become a manual point-and-click chore, borrowing heavily from Neocron and FPS-style games. As a result, Jedi (the games only real melee class) are at a disadvantage and ranged classes fail altogether - because its impossible to keep a target singled-out when faced with more than two mobs that are close together.

 

The crafting aspect of the game remains similar,but demand for items has almost disappeared. The weapon you use no longer makes a difference: a level 16 DH-17 carbine will kill your target as fast as a level 80 krayted T-21 rifle. The abolition of item decay limits traders to one-time customers rather than the repeat sale economy of the past. Money will soon be just a figure with no actual value, driving crafters out of the game.

 

However dodgy a condition SWG was in before this, nobody could have expected such a total massacre of a two-and-a-half year old game in two weeks. The bustling city life and competitive economy has died. Welcome to a game that has lost its identity, where everybody is a nobody.

 

There are no heroic characters in the tradition of the Star Wars universe, just your average Joes going through repeat missions on Mustafar, with nothing else to do.

 

Andy McGregor

 

SCORE: 27%

Overall:

Its' : Buggy, Desolate, back to the drawing board

Its NOT: got any depth, fun, the way forward

Influenced by: Star Wars, Benny Hill

Alternative: World Of Warcraft - 94%

 

(Benny Hill was an old UK TV comedian by in the late 70's early 80s' known for his great humour and at the end of the show, being chased by a crowd of people at warp speed! - Like when the mobs run off into the sunset when you try to target them)

 

'Just Get me outta here'

Screenshots

Veteran Jedi can become blue glowies to show off their past efforts

Abandon Ship - With a diminishing number of players, you may never group with others on a regular basis, thus missing out on the high quality adventures that do exist out there somewhere.

 

Terrain now plays a more intergral role in combat now. You cannot attack through rock, which seems sensible enough. Infuriatingly, the reverse is not true. Mobs always appear to hit you even if they are hiding behind buildings or solid lumps of land.

 

DMUK

[Darth_Terros]

I read this the other day and its completely spot on!

[Vibro]

He's got it absolutely spot on. Didn't disagree with any thing he said there. I cancelled my subscription a few weeks back, the game has been totally ruined.

[HUGOMAND]

SOE listen to this! DO NOT feel like you cannot change the game back! We'll all love you more if you do, than if you keep NGE!

 

Meh, I'm talking to myself. Me insane, lalalalala

[Coppas]

SOE listen to this! DO NOT feel like you cannot change the game back! We'll all love you more if you do, than if you keep NGE!

 

no piont in tryin SOE dont listen to n e 1 but smedley

[ataco]

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this, how scary it is that this exactly how the game is, how blind SOE are, and how disgusting some magazines are for trying to hold the NGE in high regard, SOE didnt have a huge money making profit, true enough.

 

But they had loyal fans, who paid monthly and many with multiple accounts, all ruined in two weeks.

 

I hope people read this review and stay clear, maybe then SOE will realise that as with publish 22 they have yet again got it wrong.

 

Farewell Star Wars Galaxies, the most fun ive had playing a game for two and a half years.

[Xoriss]

I couldn't agree more with this review...

 

Sad to see it go down in flames like this

[warhawk121]

granted i only had the oportunity to play pre NGE for about 2 months but in that time I had come to love pre nge all its faults aside, a totally customisable class system the fact that you werent forced into a pigeon hole class and the only way to start a new class was to delete your character and start fresh. SWG opened my eye to what a MMORPG should be.

 

then the NGE appeared, everything i had loved about SWG was gone or dumbed down to appeal to the younger generation. I played NGE for a bout 2 days before it got to the point where i just didnt want to log into the lag/bug infested hell hole that was the new SWG.yes pre NGE was buggy but NGE was something else.. so i cancelled my accounts.

 

as soon as i saw a review of SWG starter kit in PC gamer it was the first thing i went to and as previous posters have said the review was right on the money.

 

i'm glad i've quit and have no intention of returning unless they go back to pre NGE system (no i know i'm dreaming) but i would return in an instant if the re-instated the old system, even if it was pre CU.

[caffiend]

i bought the total experiance pack expecting somthing completely diffrent i was hyped up about the old system and when i got on i was aphold at how similir this game was to alot of other cheap free games out there odd spend 30 bucks and wish i'd of spent 40 on eq

[Vedauwoo]

Ok...I know I'm a noob....I just bought it...but I couldn't be more pleased...it would be nice to have some insight into which universes are mor active than others before creating a characat...but really fun none the less!

[LoRdNaTaS]

Ok...I know I'm a noob....I just bought it...but I couldn't be more pleased...it would be nice to have some insight into which universes are mor active than others before creating a characat...but really fun none the less!

 

Just an FYI I played since before CU and I could deal with the CU atleast jedi was not useless. Now with the NGE the server I use to play on is just about dead. All the Imperials that I ran around with and PVPed with are all gone. The funny thing is if I really want to play a FPS which for all intensive purposes the NGE has made SWG into I would go play battlefront.

 

It just really dumb how SOE had a decent game that people liked and wanted to play and now they something I would not wish upon my worst enemy.

 

From what I have seen the only players that are really still playing are people who never played before the CU or NGE or the ones that just made jedi just before the NGE and do not know anything else. They will learn when they are not capable of killing a nuna on tat.

 

Personally I really wish someone could get there hands on the PRE-CU code base. But I know that is a pipe dream and will never happen.

 

So to you all who feel you need to try the game previously known as SWG I say this waste your $15 for about 10 minutes and read forums other then the SWG ones that SOE has and see what the vets say about. And hey if you find you like then so be have fun but sooner or later you will see what we are all talking about.

 

Oh and on the review good job.

[lucyan]

<--- angry vet patiently waiting for pre-cu. So many rumors keep me here and even though almost all hope is gone.... vader did infact b1tchslap the emperor, right. Id give anythinig to have my fav game back. Does anyone know how cool it actually was to be known, to be a prffession they deemed underbalanced and pwning the rest. Im upset with SOE and LA cause of what happened. I know this is as big as a flee to LA but common help us out. Ive spent entire paychecks, overtime and random sales of goods to buy every starwars thing i find. I have a mini storm trooper from the 80's with the dang legs manufactured on backwards!!! All i ask is that LA knock some sence into good ole Jolio and give us a game we like. 38,000 is aparently the registered number for players and that doesnt include multiple account users that will expire eventually. ummm wow thats a drop!!!! GO BACK U NERDS!!! I had to tell my friend in Iraqu what happened.

 

Seems its not going to do any good whining...lol been doing it for 2 months and if they wait any longer no one will come back out of hatred... lol thats a lie id be back in a second.

 

As for the review..... RIGHT ON TARGET!!!! But we arnt going to get anywhere with potitions and reviews... we need to slam this crocks jaw shut and go for the eyes.

 

I say kidnap smed- lure jolio and set our ransom as a soon coming swg with pre-cu everything and fixed. And then when they do it, we will take pictures of the two kissing for compensation and its done.

 

What do we have to do to be heard? Ill do anything!!!

 

eclipse.... day 1 vet.... master powers

[Ice88]

i was anoyed to find that the game i suscribed to wasnt like the reviews at all and that like 3 days earlier that it had had this massive over hual called NGE. My computer broke during the first month and left me with 4 days use out of a month when i sent a message to SOE asking they said no and that id b welcome to suscribe again at 25 dollars a month for us aussies with bugs and lag, im gonna wait and see if it picks up before going back.

[JediConsularAD]

to be honest, now if SOE made a pre-cu server now i would just stck to the nge one, of course i would probably end up being the only one in the galaxy but then i like a bit of quiet time to myself.

[tttvector]

I played 2 years. Wanted more action like NPC/PVP battle areas like Gungan vs Imp in bigger/more areas on planets and in space. Disliked pet ST-AT's, that wasn't very starwarsy. Would've been an awesome upgrade to have mountable tanks, ST-AT's, ect. But no, SOE instead thought it was too hard for brainless 4yr olds to play. Lets make it like no brain's BF2, but worst. Droped 36 professions to 9, and mega bugs

 

It was the only MMO I took a likeing to once it had space combat added. Now I have a hard time waiting for something like it to return. Offline games aren't as fun as what you got from SWG. Loved badge collecting, mixing professions, customization, crafting, pets, cantina crowds, groups, and TKM precu . CU2 made my TKM/Doc junk. Went to CH/BE then CH/BH. Had many other toons also. Couldn't get enough, was a SW/MM, ect. Didn't mind blowing cash on a good game.

 

An evil empire (SOE) killed a once great game.