Jade Empire: Special Edition

I’m not much of an RPG-er but I do enjoy the occasional RPG that isn’t played out from a top down or isometric view and isn’t a total click fest like say Diablo or the more recent Titan Quest. As a result of my weird taste in RPGs I only seem to prefer action based ones like Fable or Oblivion that control more like action games and for some reason you do share a similar taste and can’t stand the whole ‘point and click’ funda, head over to Nikhil’s article where he’s highlighted five such action RPGs.

Now one such game on that list that managed to catch my fancy was Jade Empire, a game developed by none other than BioWare, the very same bunch of talented dudes behind games such as Knights of the Old Republic I and II and the upcoming, highly anticipated Unreal 3 action RPG, Mass Effect (Xbox360). What attracted me to Jade Empire in the first place was the fact that even though it was a console port (ported from Microsoft’s first generation Xbox), it was a very well made port that boasted of some killer sturdy controls; and secondly, it’s a BioWare game so it’s bound to be good right? You bet your ass it is!

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If you’ve already played the game on the Xbox, there’s not a whole lot of new content here that’ll warranty a purchase, but if you’ve not played it before, you’re in for a hell of an adventure. For starters the game controls like any third person shooter which means your character can move around using the WASD keys and look around using the mouse. In default configuration the mouse’s left click is used for melee attacks while the right click enables you to block. Spells can be assigned to the numeric keys and while this may be a tad overwhelming at first, once you get the hang of the game you’ll be kicking some ass in no time. But before we dwell into the game’s mechanics, let’s take a quick look at the game’s oh-so-deep plot…
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Like any RPG you’ll start the game by choosing one of three different characters and once that’s done the game drops you into the peaceful town of Two Rivers where you’re minding your own business, mingling with the locals, practicing martial arts and so on when your village is suddenly attacked by pirates. This serves as a basic tutorial and gets you acquainted with the controls and some of the spells this game has to offer. Once you’re done kicking some pirate butt you find out that your master has been kidnapped so you embark upon a journey to find him, unravel the secrets behind your origin and put an end to the ghostly apparitions plaguing the entire Empire.

Since this is a Bioware game, the story runs real deep and it unfolds brilliantly through cut scenes and a multitude of characters you’ll encounter during the course of the game. RPG whores will have a ball going through all the rich dialogues the game has to offer, but after a while I started getting pretty restless and bored with all the incoherent rambling onscreen. Not only will you receive an overwhelming amount of information from these NPCs but you’ll also receive tons of diverse quests; some of which are optional while some are compulsory to progress through the plot. Don’t dismiss the optional ones too quickly since successfully completing them will reward you with newer items and (or) experience points that can be used to level up your character’s attributes: Body, Spirit and Mind. And don’t worry; even if you’re not too familiar with RPGs, this game has a very simple interface so you’ll know exactly where you want to spend those exp points.

As expected the game will allow players to play as they feel like which means you can be every one’s knight in shining armor by following the Way of the Open Palm or you could be a selfish little bitch who only cares about your sole existence (which is cool too you know) by following the Way of the Closed Fist. Speaking of fists, the combat System in Jade Empire is fairly straightforward and is pretty simple to get the hang off (although there were tons of people who got put off by its simplicity). As soon as you’re about to approach an enemy, the game automatically locks you on to the target closest to you and if you’re up against more than one enemy you can toggle through your targets with the simple touch of a button. While this works pretty well through most of the game, it can get a bit frustrating as and when you’re up against multiple enemies since during such times moving your character around can be a real pain in the backside.
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You’ll have a multitude of fighting styles (the PC version packs in two more than the Xbox version) to choose from and if using your hands isn’t your thing (yeah I know that sounded dirty), the game will even provide you with a certain amount of weapons (which use up your focus when used unless and until you upgrade them). To even out the odds in your favor you’re even granted with a slow motion mechanic called focus which proves its usefulness when you’re surrounded by a bunch of pesky ghosts or a boss. Speaking of enemies this game boasts of a pretty varied variety so you have everything from humans to orcs to ogres to ghosts to your regular run of the mill enemy grunts and ghosts can be the most annoying to deal with since your weapons will not have any effect on them and to make matters worse the lock on system can restrict your movement while you’re getting bombarded with their projectiles.

Visually this game is pretty impressive since the first Xbox was a pretty powerful console to begin with. Sure the game’s no Oblivion but it isn’t ugly by any means and on a good PC with all the effects cranked up to the max you will be impressed with this game. Since this is an RPG, voice action has to be good enough to match the intricate plot and in that matter Jade Empire scores pretty well too; only problem is that some of the character’s accents seem a bit off.

Unfortunately the game has no multiplayer of sorts and is relatively short for an RPG but at the end of the day it is an enjoyable experience and thanks to the talented folks at BioWare the transition to PCs has been a most pleasant one so if you haven’t played this on the Xbox, this is one adventure that shouldn’t be missed.