Jade Empire

Though Jade Empire makes a compelling blend of action and role-playing, the fighting segments require practice and patience.

They rocked the house with Baldur's Gate and scored a slam-dunk with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Now BioWare has unleashed Jade Empire, a hot new brawler with the heart of an old-school RPG. If you own an Xbox, you should own Jade Empire. It's as simple as that.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden RPG
The game's developers drew equal inspiration from both ancient Chinese legend and chop-socky grindhouse flicks to forge Jade Empire's interesting post-modern take on Asian mythology. After selecting your character, you begin the game under the tutelage of a powerful instructor. The storyline kicks into high gear after mysterious assassins kidnap your master and burn the village to the ground. Jade Empire's story is undeniably compelling, but it's the down-and-dirty RPG elements (stat building and sub-quests) that make the game shine brightest. Fans of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic should feel right at home, as Jade Empire enables players to choose between "The Way of the Open Palm" or "The Way of the Closed Fist," which place value on kindness and ruthless power, respectively. But it's a shame that, for the most part, you can't customize your character's appearance.

"My Style Is Superior!"
Jade Empire's real-time combat scenarios are a major focus of the game, and while they're fun, they require patience and persistence. With the help of an A.I.-controlled follower, you kick, stomp and slash huge throngs of enemies in scenarios seemingly plucked right out of Kill Bill.

But before you grapple with your foes, you'll need to grapple with Jade Empire's somewhat convoluted controls, which make use of nearly every button on the Xbox's monolithic controller. With practice, the controls are generally tight and responsive, but it's hard to imagine the developers couldn't have found a simpler control scheme. The biggest gameplay gripe, however, is undoubtedly the clunky combat camera. The camera views are so bad that sometimes they almost completely obscure the fight, leading you to wonder if the camera itself is an enemy out to halt your quest.

In all fairness, the game neatly dodges other potential gameplay hazards. If you've ever watched a martial arts flick, you've probably noticed that mobs of bad guys always attack the lone hero one at a time. In an inspired move, Jade Empire follows suit by having its A.I. fighters attack you in waves, a gameplay mechanic that works to the player's advantage. The various mini-games, including an old-school scrolling shooter and an arena combat game, are also addictive distractions.

Sweet, Sweet Chi
If you're anticipating a boring, stereotypical "Chinatown" visual style, then Jade Empire's lush, diverse environments will shatter your expectations; they simply radiate with artistry. The character models are somewhat less consistent in quality. Though the main characters boast fantastic detail, NPCs and enemies have a blocky, low-polygon look that clashes with the game's otherwise gleaming visuals.

The soft, soothing music is so ethereal that you'll barely even notice it, but the so-so voice acting is a disappointment. Aside from the gravel-throated talents of the always-delightful Brian Doyle-Murray (as Qui the Promoter), many of the actors in Jade Empire sound confused or just flat-out bored.

There are just enough rough edges--erratic frame rates, astronomically long load times, and the aforementioned camera problems--to suggest that Jade Empire may have benefited from a few extra months of development polish. But no matter. In the end, the game is still hopelessly engrossing and thoroughly replayable. What were you expecting? Hey, this is BioWare we're talking about here.

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