Jade Empire released released during a time when Bioware released banger after banger! Play this and appreciate it for what it is, there's not really been many games that have such a unique premise both in gameplay and setting. I highly recommend you give it a chance
It's free on prime gaming and 89p on GOG. I will take one star off though, unless you grew up with games like this the dated mechanics will start to annoy you. Though, this was the game that showed that puzzle based, stealth FPS games could also tell a phenomenal story and if you can overcome some of those mechanics and have patience then it'll be the best 89p you ever spent.
Get the game, it's £7.89.
I enjoyed some of the mechanics and playing as a dragon with a boost pack on during battles is actually pretty fun! With that being said there's not a lot of variation in how battles go, the real focus of the game is on interaction and decision making. This might be due to resources getting allocated to DOS during development as a lot of the game feels half baked or rushed in the later stages. Not bad when it's on sale, whether you like it or not entirely depends on your preference. It's not long (Depending on what difficulty you play) clocked about 6 hours or so on it and it has some replay value but not £30 worth of replay value.
My main issue was getting it to run on modern hardware/software. I don't care if it's worse than the original or better, this game is literally 89p and it's better than almost 95% of Ubisoft's modern catalogue. It's a solid game that i have enjoyed playing for 15 hours.
This came out 5 months before New Vegas from what i can remember and well the reception was mixed. With that being said I'm glad GOG somehow managed to preserve and make it available again, this one sadly passed me by during the 360/PS3 era but like VMB gained a cult following and after playing through it multiple times i can honestly tell you this is an underrated diamond. Honestly, this game feels like a peak Bioware game, with an Obsidian spin and so much B movie energy! Buy this game, It's honestly the closest thing to a Bond Mass effect your going to get.
The world is still shallow as hell, with nothing really going on in the background as you progress through it. No gang wars, corps fighting each other, NCPD being overwhelmed or anything like that. Yeah there's some instances where the gangs fight each other or the NCPD but they just feel like MMO encounters to me and don't feel dynamic at all which is a shame. Bugs are still a thing, even two years in and cars being stuck in the floor or flying still happens from time to time, not game breaking but seriously killed my immersion in some cases. Hell i played this on the Xbox one s on release, even back then before the patches and the sub 30 frame rate this game was beautiful and you can tell how much effort went into the detail of the city even if it is for show mostly. Now playing on my gaming laptop at ultra settings and man this game is eye candy to me, like i spent way too much time staring into puddles and reflective surfaces with RT on when i was playing round with the graphical settings and it's just gorgeous. Art style, lighting, particle effects etc everything just feels right. Went with the ultra settings with RT off though, still gorgeous just with a better frame rate. So, yeah i think anyone who wants to experience a fairly emotional story with interesting and compelling characters and some really decent side quests i think this a game for you. Had some crashes but that was because the overlay on GOG was turned on and i don't know if that was a driver issue or a game issue so i hope they fix that. This also plays great on my Series S so honestly performance shouldn't be an issue, still a demanding game though in places like jig jig and the aptly named stutter street but other than that I've had an above 60fps experience 95% of the time. I enjoyed it and i got my moneys worth, wish they didn't cut the story in half though :l
