Preview: The Gathering: Hands-on4th November 2004Imagine Bruce Lee getting caught up in a little role play, no we're not talking any kinky bondage here, role-play gaming is what we're on about. Then cross all the martial arts and kung fu action with a little Baldur's Gate, make it enjoyable and you have Jade Empire. Unfortunately, comparing a game to Baldur's Gate is more than likely to deter the odd punter, so it's better if you imagine more of the Bruce Lee idea (not the appalling Xbox game, however) but from a third person narrative. Due to hit the Xbox in March 2005 Jade Empire is being developed by Bioware, who previously handled the original KoTOR and Baldur's Gate -to name but a few. From what we were told -and what we could view- of the introduction and the story, both have great depth. The story is based upon using Chinese mythology in an ancient time -but with some future advancements, for example, flight and weaponry. At the first glance the fantasy and technology combination, mixed with the story, will make you think about the Final Fantasy series of games -and rightly so, for this game is more than likely to appeal to the same fans. The story despite its complicated nature goes something like this: an evil emperor stole 'The Water Stone' from a village and all was lost apart from seven orphans. These orphans have been trained into fighting machines ready to take vengeance for the stolen stone. You must choose one of the orphans to use throughout the game and motivate them through the story. The characters are slightly different in the way that they take you through the game; different levels of 'Mind', 'Body' and 'Spirit' are present in each character. Jade Empire starts off like most RPG's, begin on a low level and gain higher levels through experience, gather new items on your way through the levels and talk to as many people as possible to get all the help you need. The game play is beautiful; it's very easy to just jump into for five minutes with easy controls and intuitive interaction between enemies. The fighting is based around three main ideas: hand to hand combat, weapons and magic - all of which come in a variety of styles and with various traits and combat bonuses. There are two extra abilities that you can make use of through the game: Chi is a kind of extra power to increase strength of attacks and pulls off some stunning visual interaction with enemies; and Focus which acts like bullet time giving you time to pull off all of the super quick moves you want. Utilising a brand new game engine, Jade Empire makes full use of the Xbox console to deliver optimised graphics and, in turn, great looking gaming. With optimised textures the environment feels almost real, in a kind of 'Xboxy' way! Playing with superb environmental graphics and fantastic game play you're surely going to be pleased to know you have to progress through around 80 chapters, encountering a variety of characters, creatures and weather systems. Features that appear to impress and will surely make this game stand out from the crowd include being able to rotate the camera while paused, being able to create your own personalised character based on the decisions you make throughout the game, turning into Siege Gods for extra might and having more than one way to solve a problem. We think this game will leave you hanging on for more -and you'll be pulling sick days at work for a whole week! Good news for you, bad news for your boss. |
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