A universe worth exploring

BioWare’s release capitalizes on the outstanding storyline and aims farther than attracting those dedicated fans of the franchise. Star Wars’ saga spans over decades and all around the world there are people excited about the prospect of getting immersed in the captivating universe they’ve seen on TV. Quests are in abundance and with over fifty planets to explore, it is downright impossible to ever get bored or to find your missions repetitive.

It all begins with the character selection and this stage can be considerably longer than you’d expect, as BioWare doesn’t take customization lightly. After choosing your allegiance and joining the Light or the Dark forces, you have to decide what type of character you will be playing. It is rather underwhelming and despite the huge diversity of characters that populate the Star Wars universe, your choices are not too many. They all look very good though and so does pretty much everything in Star Wars: The Old Republic, with superb graphics being one of the its assets.

Walking down a familiar path

The combat system is fairly simple and difficulty increases gradually as you progress with the campaign, so you shouldn’t set your hopes too high. Lightsaber battles will eventually come, but in the early stages, the duels and fights will be decided by a few attacking strokes. The universe itself is amazing, so you will encounter various foes while trying to complete the quests, with diplomacy being in most cases more effective than confrontation. The art of dialogue has been perfected in Star Wars: The Old Republic and even NPCs are very articulate, with the lines of conversation being quite impressive.

While it has many common features with World of Warcraft, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because Blizzard’s flagship title is the best MMO ever created. Star Wars: The Old Republic has the prerequisites to replicate its success and with a lore that rivals the one in WoW, BioWare should find it easy to follow up with an expansion. It is way too early to discuss about the endgame content and comparing it to what Blizzard has been brewing is pointless, because Star Wars: The Old Republic is still in its infant stage. The future looks bright though and it’s only fair to say that the force is strong with BioWare on its quest.

If you love lightsabers, you will surely love this:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Pc, Video Game

• $59.95 List Price
• $49.99 at Amazon.com

Product Description The Old Republic, players will explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Players choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force.... Read moreAmazon.... Read more

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STAR WARS BACKPACKS
Two of my favorite products over at HalloweenCostumes.com are the Yoda and Chewbacca backpacks.  I am a HUGE Star Wars nerd and when I saw these I freaked.  I know that “super cute” usually isn’t an adjective that is used in conjunction with the franchise (besides Ewok-references, of course), but… they are really cute.  Not only is this a gift for the teens and adults you’re shopping for, but if you have any little Jedis in your life who are into the films, they would love either of them as well!  They would be the coolest kids in school carrying around their books in the tummy of everyone’s favorite Wookiee!

STAR WARS CHOP SABERS
Another super awesome Star Wars item I found, this time at ThinkGeek.com, is Star Wars Chop Sabers. I know, I know – total novelty item, but still really cool, especially for a collector. What makes them even better is that you can choose from versions of the iconic weapon used by Luke, Yoda, Darth Maul (with this one you CAN snap another saber onto the other side!), Darth Vader, and Mace Windu.  And while they don’t actually hurt people, if someone tries to steal your sushi you are armed and ready!

iPAD ARCADE STICK
Ok, Ok – enough Star Wars!  I get carried away, I’m sorry.  Moving on: another awesome gift for the special nerd in your life is the JOYSTICK-IT iPad Arcade Stick, found at ThinkGeek. It is literally a little joystick that you can attach to your tablet so you can play your favorite classic arcade games and can be used to help you defeat the big bosses in thousands of newer games.  How freakin’ cool is that!?  I mean, really.  Come on!  Plus, even though it has the word “iPad” in it, it does work on other many tablets.  Another item I am fond of is the Big Big Cursor Conductive Stylus.  It comes in both pointer hand and arrow styles and they are just too awesome.  I think any hardcore computer nerd would appreciate the novelty they bring.

E-READER
Finally, if you wanna blow your geek friend out of water, or if you really owe them for something, you hook them up with a Nook or Kindle. E-readers are probably one of the hottest gifts this season and the these two just might the most popular. It offers so much more than just books, as well – games, apps, current (or daily) magazines and newspapers.  It’s all right there at your fingertips.  Also, for what it is and all it offers, it is highly affordable with three different versions available. The best part of it all, from my point of view?  24/7 FREE support for any issues or problems you might have with it. Brilliant, right?  Happy holidays and merry shopping!

Image credit: Yoda Backpack, Chop Saber, iPad Arcade Stick, E-Reader

About the Author

This post is written by Maribeth Curley of HalloweenCostumes.com, which has an awesome selection of Star Wars costumes. Maribeth would be done with her shopping, but she is a little too busy deciding whether she wants the Chewbacca or Yoda backpack.

JOYSTICK-IT iPad Arcade Stick

Electronics

• $12.99 at Amazon.com

Product Description Bring your tablet-based gaming to the next level with the JOYSTICK-IT Tablet Arcade Stick. The JOYSTICK-IT gives you a real physical joystick for increased precision with touchscreen based games. Simply press down to attach the JOYSTICK-IT to your tablet based computer's screen for improved gaming. No wires or batteries needed.The JOYSTICK-IT works with thousands of different game apps. Any game that has an on-screen control pad of some kind is perfect for the JOYSTICK-IT.... Read more

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The TV Series follows right after the recent “Clone Wars” move which I hadn’t had the chance of seeing yet, but I have read reviews on it.  Now lets get to describing what I like about the show.

First the animation is very good, particularly the space battles are top notch and very enjoyable.  I was always a fan of the LucasArts Games for the PC, X-Wing, Tie Fighter…etc and watching the show brought fond memories of this game to mind.  Particularly in the most recent episode Shadow of Malevolence where a small strike force of Y-Wing fighters were dispatched to bomb the Malevolence a massive star cruiser captained by General Grievous.

The story is very sound and is as good as the audio books that I frequently listen to set in the Star Wars Universe. The voice work is a little flat, but not overly so. Particularly I think that Grievous and Ahsoka voice work is good. For those who don’t know Ahsoka is Anakin’s padawan apprentice and she is spunky, head strong, mouthy and is ironically the same personality type that Anakin was in the Episode II, whereas Anakin seems to be more stable and focused (like Obi-Wan) in the Clone Wars series. Ironically so far in the series we don’t really see any traces yet of Anakins emotional unbalance and hot hotheadedness, which leads us to believe maybe some events occur in the near future which start to cause his mental breakdown.

Either way the show is very enjoyable, and my 5 year old son and I watch it now as a regular Friday night routine.

-Dragon Blogger

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