BioWare's kung fu role-playing game Jade Empire is free on Origin today. Apparently it's in celebration of the game turning 10 years old - 10 years old!
Jade Empire first came out on the original Xbox in 2005, and was BioWare's follow-up to the revered Knights of the Old Republic. But Jade Empire struggled to have the same effect. It had a lovely sunny disposition, all gentle flowers and ancient Chinese landscapes, and trod the well-worn BioWare path of story, companions, dialogue, good and evil, and saving the world, but its combat was thin.
Whereas Knights of the Old Republic used a deeper, albeit diluted Dungeons & Dragons approach with obvious rounds of combat, Jade Empire opted for a real-time combat system with abilities for use whenever they cooled down. It turned out to be a half-way house: slow for an action game but not deep enough (especially after many hours) for a role-playing game. Simply, it wore out before the end.
Read more…
More...
Jade Empire first came out on the original Xbox in 2005, and was BioWare's follow-up to the revered Knights of the Old Republic. But Jade Empire struggled to have the same effect. It had a lovely sunny disposition, all gentle flowers and ancient Chinese landscapes, and trod the well-worn BioWare path of story, companions, dialogue, good and evil, and saving the world, but its combat was thin.
Whereas Knights of the Old Republic used a deeper, albeit diluted Dungeons & Dragons approach with obvious rounds of combat, Jade Empire opted for a real-time combat system with abilities for use whenever they cooled down. It turned out to be a half-way house: slow for an action game but not deep enough (especially after many hours) for a role-playing game. Simply, it wore out before the end.
Read more…
More...