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Looking at a lot of the other reviews here, I see two contrasted opinions, hostile to one another: either this is the greatest SW game ever, or KotOR 2 is. The truth is, neither of the two games is the greatest one ever, because there's no such thing, but the design priorities of the two games are very different, and each one has its audience. The second criticism that I have of a lot of the negative reviews is judging KotOR's mechanics and gameplay based on modern RPG standards. That approach is basically useless for a review of a 20-year old game. You have to take the context of the time when the game was made, into account, and I would venture to say that this game is quite good by the standards of early twothousands. That being said, KotOR is basically a video game adaptation of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", with a Star Wars skin on top. If you like the classic, standard Hero's Journey, and if you like SW, chances are you will find something enjoyable in this game. If you don't, or if you prefer a deconstruction of that concept, check out KotOR 2. For anyone interested in an in-depth review explaining the relationship of these two games, and SW in general, with "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", I recommend that you look up a video essay named "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 Vs. Joseph Campbell" by Noah Gervais. He goes into more detail about this, and I consider it the ultimate review of these two games.
I've never played the original game, so this Anniversary edition is my first contact with the franchise, and it was overall a positive experience. I love the weirdness and the macabre that they were going for, and I'm a sucker for live actors in video games, so from that angle this hits the right spot for me. The quality of life improvements are also really good; I feel I would not have liked the game without them. The messy part for me were the puzzles. Some were pretty good and I got a kick out of solving them, but some were tedious (piano puzzle) or just plain annoying, unless you like that particular kind of puzzle. Still, this was, and in a way still is, a passion project of the kind that is rare to see nowadays, and I feel it deserves respect for that at least. It's not a game for everyone, nor is it a game for all graphic adventure lovers, but it definitely has something to offer if you can get past the early nineties design.
This is one of my all time favorite games, and so this is going to be a pretty biased review. The game description is a bit vague, but this is really a 4X game at core, with some features being more limited (research always progresses in a certain order, there's a limited number of ship and troop types), and some features being extremely open-ended (fleet management, special operations, etc). The biggest strength of SWR is how it made use of the enormously numerous Expanded Universe materials (this is now known as "Legends"), and the many planets and characters mentioned in various games, comics, books and more. The late nineties were the high point of the Expanded Universe, but this also meant a fair bit of weirdness in what was the SW canon at that point, before the prequels. The strategy part of the game is also pretty good, as it tries to model some realistic concepts: intelligence information gets old, ships need time to get where you need them (sometimes a lot of time), fleets can run away and need to be chased down (unless you have a gravity well ship). The game also tries to have events happen dynamically, but also in a manner roughly similar to how they happened in the movies: Luke goes off to Dagobah to train and comes back stronger; Han can get captured by bounty hunters, and other characters go off automatically to try and rescue him. There's also the famous "Han Solo Effect" where Han gets a speed boost if he's traveling outside of a fleet. The community for this game is also super active and very friendly. There's mods and editors that improve the visuals, change the galaxy map, edit planet descriptions and much more. The multiplayer is also somewhat active, which is great. That being said, you need to like older game design a bit if you're to enjoy SWR. It is not modern, and it is clunky at times, but there's a certain charm that no other SW strategy has managed to meet, in my opinion.
I don't think I can add much to all the other reviews, but I'd like to say that I thought the remaster was done really well, and it was a pleasure to play through. That being said, it's true that I like the tone of this game less than I did the first one (this one is a bit more laid back and humorous) and the story is pretty basic. But, the globetrotting is good, the puzzles are mostly good, and the side characters are pretty great. Also it has pirates. EVERYTHING. IS BETTER. WITH PIRATES. For people who want to play through the series, I do recommend it.
First off, the ending of this game is excellent, and completely in tone with the first two Syberia games. I can confidently say that it will satisfy older fans, once they see it. With that being said, this game is a mixed bag, with a plot that would have been just a side episode in the original Syberia games, with mostly weak puzzles and underwhelming gameplay, dodgy voice acting (with the exception of Kate and Dana, both of whom are voiced excellently), and an amazing soundtrack as usual. The game looks great, and I liked the overall vibe of Vaghen; I think it expands the setting of Syberia in a good way, showing how Hans' influence can be felt throughout the world. That being sad, it's a bit sad that Vaghen is basically the only location we spend the game in, not counting the mine from the prologue, and a lot of flashbacks showing different places. Some of the puzzles were good, like the Musical Square one, but those are exceptions, and not the rule. I also cannot fathom why they didn't just call the "National Socialists" with the name they are known for, but rather used a made up name for them. Still, all the shortcomings of this game are just wiped by how satisfying the ending was for me, and that makes me very happy. Even if we never get another Syberia game (and I hope will get more), I would be quite happy with how this one ended things. I truly feel that Kate Walker is one of my all time favorite video game heroines, and I was happy to be a part of her journey.
It's been a long time since I played this, but I was happy that it came out on GOG. I remember it as a fun, albeit a forgettable ST game. I do remember that I really liked the mini-games they added, with the tricorder, and I thought they added to the ST vibe nicely. I also remember liking the premise of the Hazard Team being assigned to the Enterprise after Voyager returned home, but I also remember that not amounting to much, and missing some of the camaraderie that was palpable in the first game. I'm intrigued by the mention of the coop mod in some of the reviews, so I might go back to play this again with a friend. I suppose comparisons with the first game are unavoidable, but I try to judge games on their own, at least when possible, and I can't fault this game for trying to go in a few different directions, and ultimately not succeeding in most of them. Still, it was a nice experience, for a ST fan.
I don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said about this game: good plot - check, great voice acting from the cast - check, good mechanics (considering the engine) - check, variety of levels and good pacing - check and check. What I can reflect on is my own experience when I first played this in the early twothousands. At that point, I have only seen a bit of TNG and all of DS9, but VOY hasn't been shown yet on our local TV stations, so this game (and its manual) was my first introduction to VOY, and I felt that it was something worthwhile right away. Sure, it seemed more shallow than DS9, but it felt more vibrant and with a better ensemble cast than TNG. So, if someone wants to view this from the perspective of an adaptation, I would argue it's one of the best adaptations of a TV Show into a video game, ever. Also, not knowing anything about VOY, the first time I played the Species 8472 missions, it was terrifying, simply because they felt so "alien" (no pun intended) to the Star Trek I knew. The expansion, though, is somewhat of a cash grab in my opinion. Sure, it's nice to walk through the decks of the ship, and the Captain Proton stuff fits into the overall vibe, but it doesn't really offer anything new. I am glad that it's included with the game here, though.
It's been a long time since I played Armada 2, so some of my memories are hazy, but I remember that it was fun, just not as fun as Armada 1. I appreciate that they attempted to evolve the design formula of the first game, and on paper a lot of the new features (warp, planet colonization, more ship types, etc) sound great, but they feel a bit redundant in practice. I think the clean design of the first game (just a handful of ship types + classic RTS formula + some unique mechanics like the crew and boarding) worked better, and that they should have tried to add just one new element for the sequel, instead of a bunch. That being said, the game was still a lot of fun to play, and the battles were very cinematic. The voice acting was excellent, the story was serviceable if unremarkable. I think this game can be a perfect example of a 4/5 or 8/10 game. It's good, just not mind blowing. For fans of ST, especially TNG, DS9 and VOY, it can be an extremely enjoyable ride.