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PRE-GAME

Orphaned at a young age, you we’re taken in by martial artist Master Li. He’s spent the last 20 years teaching you how to the trade, but now he’s been kidnapped by the evil Lotus Assassins. Now you must choose your path and set out on a journey to save Master Li that will traverse the mighty Jade Empire, and who knows; you may even find your destiny along the way.

EYE-SPY

THE HOOK:  Let’s see… Martial arts action? Check. Action RPG? Check. Great story and killer graphics? Check. From BioWare, makers of some of the finest RPG’s around. Check.

Did I mention the Martial arts action? All these elements and more combine to make Jade Empire a game I just had to play.

HOW IT LOOKS AND FEELS: The graphics in Jade Empire are worthy of legend. This game features some of the most beautiful environments I’ve ever seen in a game. Add in the most fluid animations you’re likely to see this generation and you’re in for one heck of a visual treat. The character and creature models are all quite well done, though there isn’t really enough variety to them.

The controls in Jade Empire are easy enough to pick up. Move with the left stick, camera with the right. Out of combat A is your action button, B lets you roll, X adjust the mini map, and Y lets you enter Focus mode. In combat A is quick attack, X is strong attack, B lets you dodge out of the way, and Y, well, Y is still focus mode. You lock onto to one target at a time, and hitting one of the shoulder buttons lets you cycle between them. Hit both shoulder buttons at once to enter free roam mode. The D-pad lets you change between fighting styles. You can have 4 set at any given time, but you can change them from the menu whenever you want, even in the midst of battle. White button lets you heal yourself using Chi, Black increases the strength of your attack by using Chi. Start brings up the menu, Back pauses the game.

HOW IT SOUNDS: The music in Jade Empire is none too shabby as well. For the most part the music is quiet an unobtrusive. It’s pleasant, but you probably won’t remember it later. Overall a good soundtrack.

Jade Empire features quite a bit of voice acting, and I’m happy to report that it’s all top notch. While your main character is quiet for the most part, everyone else is voiced to perfection by a cast of both celebrities and experienced voice actors. The guys at BioWare even went so far as to create a new language for some of the characters to speak, and the voice actors for these roles do a fantastic job.

The sound effects are similar to the music. There’s all good, but nothing stands out to much.

EXTRAS: Jade Empire comes with a shooting mini game in the vein of Ikaruga included in-between chapters in the game, which become playable from the loading screen after you beat them. The main disc also includes a playable demo of Conker, Live and Reloaded. If you get the Limited Edition then you’ll get a second disc with even more extras. On it you’ll find an extra playable character and fighting style for the main game, as well as a G4/TechTV making of Jade Empire special. There are also playable demos of Forza Motorsport and MechAssault 2.

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: I have to say this game looks so good you almost can’t tell the difference between the in game cutscenes and the actual cinema’s. Still, there are far too few cinema’s in the game.

BEST PLAYER: You can choose from 6-7 different characters when you first start the game, each with different strengths and weaknesses. There’s Fast, Strong, Balanced and Magic characters to choose from. I’ve only played as a Fast character so far, and after leveling up a bit I’ve been able to even out the character more, so anyone will probably do you just fine.

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: There’s currently no cheats available for Jade Empire.

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: Infinite Chi and Focus would be fun. That would allow for some really over the top battles.

OH MAN! MOMENT: After playing for a little while you’ll come to realize just how amazing and beautiful this game is.

GLITCH ITCH: Combat can get pretty intense sometimes, and occasionally the camera will get stuck in a bad position, but you can fix it by hitting the right stick. Also, I’ve had some problems with changing fighting styles using the D-pad; I’ll hit a direction and it’ll switch to the wrong style, or it won’t switch at all. This can be a problem in the middle of a battle.

FAN SERVICE: Well, if you’re a fan of Chinese martial arts films you’ll probably want a bucket to catch all the drool. For everyone else there are your traditional sexy women and men characters for you to enjoy.

END GAME:

I should start by saying that RPG’s aren’t usually my games of choice. I’m not saying I never play them, just that most of the time I get bored with them after a couple days and never finish them. I can count the number of RPG’s I’ve beaten on one hand. It takes something really special to get me hooked on an RPG, and Jade Empire has it in spades.

You start out the game by choosing a main character from one of the 6-7 available. Next you jump straight in to a practice battle to get the hang of the controls. Afterwards, you’re free to roam around the school where you study martial arts, but you eventually need to go talk to Master Li. He sets you on your journey to discover your destiny, before he gets kidnapped. Then it’s up to you and your allies to track down Master Li and rescue him. Along the way you’ll encounter all sorts of creatures big and small, alive, and dead.

BioWare set out to streamline the RPG experience in Jade Empire. They wanted to place the focus of the game back on the action instead of scrolling through near endless amounts of menus. The combat in Jade Empire is real time; you can change between fighting, magic, and weapon styles at will, with no menus to go through. They’ve also eliminated items for the most part. There are no healing items in the game; healing is done by expending Chi, or by praying at a health shrine. Upgrading weapons is a snap as well; buying a new weapon will automatically replace the old one of that class.

During the course of the game every conversation and action you perform will lead you down either the path of good or evil. Similar to the Light and Dark side of the Force in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in this game you can choose to follow the Way of the Open Palm or the Way of the Closed Fist. Each path will lead you to certain abilities and upgrades available to followers of that path. You can also follow a more neutral path if you so choose. Still, at the end of the day the only real difference in the two paths is that the Way of the Closed Fist will get you more silver, but considering you never really need that much to begin with, it’s kind of a moot point.

Jade Empire has seven chapters too it, and supposedly you can beat it in 20-30 hours with all quests completed. All I know is I’m about 20 hours in and I’m still on chapter three. Then again, I don’t play many RPG’s; maybe I’m just slow. Still, I’d have to recommend Jade Empire to just about everyone. This game has something for fans of nearly every genre out there. I’d defiantly say buy it, but if your not sure then you should still at least rent it.

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