Jade Empire Review

[jiujitsu]

I just finished Jade Empire for Xbox. I can give you a very good idea of what the game is like with these keywords:

Kotor, Fable, and Ancient Mythical China.

Now... the only really part about the game that is like Fable is the combat, but JE's combat is ten times more fun. The part of the game that is like Kotor, however, is everything but the setting.

Sometimes while playing I would think I made a mistake and accidentally put in the Kotor disk. Many of the quests gave me deja vu. Most of the time I felt I had seen it all before.

Also, it was pretty short. There are really only two town/city areas to do things in and the rest is just going along with the main story. I completed it in around 24 hours and I was taking my time.

The setting itself was very refreshing. It was good to have something out of the ordinary. The characters were really cool, for the most part.

The game just really likes to remind you of Kotor in just about every way. Even the villains have the exact mentality as the Sith. Which really really annoyed me. "Ok! Cue bad guy template we used last time!"

If you enjoyed Kotor chances are you will really like this game. If you enjoyed Fable you are a simple minded fool(myself included) and you will also probably enjoy this game. It is dumbed down a bit from the likes of Kotor, but a bit more complex in the fighting than Fable is.

I liked it. It isn't anywhere near groundbreaking gameplay wise or story wise, but it's got a nice setting and memorable characters.

Well, that's what I saw in the game. Too many similarities to other games, but some redeeming qualities. Oh well, I'm done. Get your own opinion.

 

[kris]

the setting was "kind of refreshing". The fact was they copied to much of China IMO, mongols and everything.

Like you I share the view it was to short, I was clearly expecting some more places after the imperial city. At least there was quite a bit to do at the places.

 

[caveyboy]

hmm..
I wondered about that game..
I saw good PREVIEWS before it came out..
and then i saw bad REVIEWS.
I never played the game but from what i heard i'll give it a score of an 8(some of my old friends had that game,that's how i got the score)

 

[dipdipdip]

I don't know if I'd say the game had an interesting setting. It had a nice look to it, but as for the setting, very little of it stood out for me. The air fortresses and dungeons felt pretty standard for what you'd see in any given console Japanese RPG.

The monsters were pretty neat, though. I liked fighting Horse Demons and Lion Ogres.

 

[Sandelfron]

My only gripes with Jade Empire is that it was too short (1/4 KOTOR?)
and there weren't enough different locations to visit. There is a huge
map on the map screen -you're expecting it to be dotted with places.
As it turns out there are 4 features on the map in the entire game.

 

[dipdipdip]

I didn't think there was that many.

 

[Sandelfron]

I didn't think there was that many.

If you do the scrolling airship battles you get to visit The Forge (one extra).

 

[Jed]

I never played the game but from what i heard i'll give it a score of an 8(some of my old friends had that game,that's how i got the score)

How can you numerically score a game you've never played?