E3 2012 Hands On: Star Wars – The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic was one of the stars of last year’s E3, with publisher Electronic Arts and developer BioWare praising both the changes it would make to the core MMO gameplay and the way the game would deliver a storytelling experience equal to at least three titles in the Knights of the Old Republic series.

Despite some recent setbacks linked to subscription and peak player number, the two companies are putting on a positive spin at E3 2012 on the first six months of life for The Old Republic, highlighting the way they delivered content via two major patches while also addressing the requests of the community.

For the coming year, the big reveal is that players will be able to explore a whole new planet, called Makeb, which has been taken over by unscrupulous Hut lords and can be used as a springboard to dominate a section of the galaxy if the Empire and the Alliance don’t act in force.

Makeb will offer a lot of content and exploration options and gamers will be able to also experience a new operation, called Terror from Beyond, and a new high-level Player versus Player Warzone, Ancient Hypergates.

The most interesting addition to Star Wars: The Old Republic, one clearly designed to appeal to long-term fans, is the introduction of HK-51, an assassin droid companion that gamers will only be able to obtain after a series of complex and difficult quests and battles.

BioWare developers promised that his personality would be close to that of HK-47 from the Knights of the Old Republic games, and that he would deliver the same dry humor and punishing attacks.

In a brief play session, The Old Republic again seemed like a solid MMO, with a number of interesting mechanics to boost cooperation between players and well integrated lore, although it’s not clear whether this is enough to insure its long-term wellbeing.