Jade Empire preview

Ride the lightning.

Jade Empire is a curious hybrid. On the one hand, it’s a role-playing game, on the other, a beat ‘em-up. That may just be the oddest combination this side of puzzle/driving, but BioWare are known for their desire to blaze their own trail. And nobody can deny that their games almost always turn out great. They’re role-playing experts first and foremost, so we can be fairly sure that they will be able to tell a compelling story set in Ancient China, with exactly the right mood and backdrop. The question is if they know how to make a beat ‘em-up?

Once upon a time...

Have a fortune cookie... of death!

The story begins when you take the role of a young apprentice of a martial arts master (you can choose between nine predefined characters, or create one yourself), but something has gone awry in the Empire... ghosts and demons appear all over the place. Your master sends you into the world to combat the evil, even though your abilities are still very limited (funny how great masters always seem to be fond of doing that – ed.). But as the game progresses, you will of course upgrade your skills and gain entirely new abilities. You will also be able to recruit henchmen, to assist you in the monster-bashing shenanigans.

Pound them ’till they fall!

Imaginative creatures and stunning environments... I can't wait.

There are thirty different schools of martial arts (and other forms of combat) in the game, and you can switch between the ones you have learned during the real-time combat. This turns every battle into a combination of tactical thinking and feverish attempts at pushing the correct buttons. It’s very intuitive, though; I was instantly able to beat my enemies up easily and with a single push on the D-pad, I could switch from hand-to-hand to a sword technique or I could use my focus ability to make time pass slower for my enemies (can anyone say “bullet-time”? Any self-respecting game apparently has to have it these days...).

I could also use my Chi power for magical attacks or for turning myself into a demon, whose essence I had captured. It’s nothing like playing Soulcalibur or Tekken, but that’s beside the point – this is primarily a role-playing game. It sure looks like one too, what with all the stats, powers, magic, monster forms and non-player character interaction business.

Good or Evil?

You break my village... Now I break you.

Your journeys through the Jade Empire should eventually lead you to the capital and the source of all the evil, but there are many missions and sub-quests along the way and you always have the choice of walking the good or the evil path. Sound too much like Knights of the Old Republic to you? Well, it was an excellent feature in that game and it will also add an extra dimension to the gameplay in Jade Empire, as well as making the game worthy of completion several times.

Jade Empire will see a European release for the Xbox in the beginning of 2005 and could easily prove to be one of the greatest role-playing games of the year. There are also good odds for a PC version later on.


Source: Boomtown.dk
English version by: Jonatan A. Allin (neonwolf)