In just a few short years, Bioware made a name for themselves simply for producing a critically acclaimed Star Wars game that was far better than anything to come out of Lucasarts in years. Ditching the license, Bioware has crafted Jade Empire, an involving character building action-RPG that may not be as deep as their previous efforts, but it's far more accessible, and arguably, more fun. It's also too easy (and occasionally frustrating for reasons other than difficulty), and you can breeze through it on anything other than the hardest setting.
The character selection process has a small bearing on actual gameplay other than looks. You'll be customizing them so much by games end, you'll end up with the character you want anyway. Fighting styles are the big draw here, as the developers let you switch on the fly, creating combos, confusing adversaries, and making your chosen warrior unique to your style of play. Leveling up and adding various gems increases the customization process another notch.
All of this is handled in a way to make it fit within the game world, but not so confusing that you can't pick it up in the first hour of play. Within that time, you'll experience most of what the game has to offer, from combat, to story, and the choices. Through dialogue exchanges, your character can be a saint, or as evil as you want him/her to be. Every single line from the NPCs is voiced by actors; you'll never need to read just text other then to make your character say what you want.
That helps give the game its replay value, as the branching story does play out differently. Unfortunately, no matter how many times you play through, you'll deal with aggravating, constant, and slow load times. There are game crashing glitches that seem completely random, all that dialogue does seem stunted once in a while as the disc doesn't seem to spin fast enough to keep up, and not all cinematics can be skipped.
You'll also have to deal with a somewhat clunky combat system. If you practice, it can flow together nicely, but the enemies hardly put up a tough enough fight to make it feel worthwhile. You can beat the game using only one style. When they block, it's annoying as they throw up their shield and stand there. Try to land a slow, block-breaking maneuver, and they'll retaliate before it connects. If you're patient, it's just a matter of jabbing the B button to dodge and then wailing on X to counter. A few spots feature regenerating enemies that make this even more annoying.
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