Have you ever wanted to be a Jedi? Well, there are now many games for that very purpose; however, the selection of really good Star Wars games in the past was limited. The single player game, “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” (KOTOR) changed that. “KOTOR” is a turn-based role-playing game developed by Bioware released in 2003. “KOTOR” reaches out to the inner Padawan in all of us, and was a smash hit on both PC and XBOX platforms.

Based in the Star Wars universe many eons prior to the events of the movies, when Jedi and fallen Jedi turned Sith, waged war similar to the conflicts of George Lucas’ original vision. “KOTOR” allows players to use ‘lightsabers,’ laser blasters, and even ‘the Force.’ Surprisingly the game was executed in a balanced and believable way. The character progression takes the player’s character from a weakling, to an uber-powerful Jedi Master. Catering to players of varying strengths and lending to a sense of accomplishment after using the two-finger choke move for the first time, subsequently forcing other characters to acquiesce to the player’s demands.

One major issue with this game is the amount of backtracking needed to complete a quest.

“Knights of the Old Republic” is not just an early classic; it is also a pretty good game now-a-days. It received many awards, and if you’ve never played it before, just be ready for a significant drop-off in graphics from what you are used to. If you can manage this, Steam has “Knights of the Old Republic” ready for you and may the Force be with you.