The vibrant hum of a swinging lightsabre, the dull roar of a Star Destroyer, the high-pitched scream of a TIE Fighter; to so many of us, these are the sounds of our childhood. How many of us remember when we first saw Star Wars? The magnificent title music, the excitement that gripped us when we first saw Princess Leia’s Corellian Corvette under fire from Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer Avenger, and didn’t let go until Luke climbed down from the cockpit of his X-Wing, triumphant in his victory over the Death Star.

These images and more formed the mosaic of the Star Wars films. Yet, Star Wars extends beyond the films; dozens of novels, comic books and games form a deeper background than any other universe out there. Perhaps the most innovative product was the Star Wars RPG; though based off the success of games such as AD&D, it had a personality all of its own. With the advent of computer gaming, many people wondered; when would Star Wars progress to the next level? When would we be able to take the role of a character in the Star Wars galaxy and live out our own fictional lives?

In early 2000, Verant, the company responsible for the phenomenally successful Everquest, announced that it had acquired the massively multiplayer rights to the Star Wars franchise. Not only had they acquired the rights, but they had hired Raph Koster, the producer of Ultima Online as well as Rich Vogel, another highly placed UO developer. Though little detail was released on the upcoming title, speculation was rampant. Would the game be PvP? Would the game have space combat? When would it take place? The dev team, sensing a PR opportunity, began to release information about the game.

Star Wars Galaxies will take place in the time period between the destruction of the first Death Star and the Rebels seeking refuge on Hoth; the Empire, still reeling from the annihilation of their supposedly invincible battlestation, are cracking down on the Rebellion, and the Rebellion, though they managed to strike a blow against the Imperial forces, are on the run from the Empire. Thus, the Galactic Civil War is in full swing, allowing for Imperials and Rebels to find targets in ample supply. The question must be asked, however; with a Galactic Civil War, how do you protect those who don’t want to participate? Simple; you do not allow them to be attacked.

SWG’s PVP system was originally intended to allow for the killing of innocents, with the caveat that said a killed innocent could remove the ability for the murderer to ever kill again on that server. The system, when proposed, was met with mixed reactions from the public; though many people saw it as an excellent, foolproof system, many others debated endlessly about how they saw the system impacting their style of play. Finally, the system was changed to accommodate the needs of both sides.

In SWG, players are given the opportunity to join either the Rebellion or the Empire. To further stratify the playerbase, players are given the option to become either covert (not always PvP) members, or overt members (which causes the player to be flagged PvP+ 100% of the time.) In compensation for the extra risks brought on by the joining of a faction, Overt members enjoy certain factional perks that are inaccessible by the general population, such as military ranks, faction-specific vehicles and weapons, and access to faction-specific missions.

Battlefields allow players to further customize their play preference; in a sense, battlefields are areas where everyone entering is flagged PvP+ and assigned to the team of their choice, or they are given the option of leaving the battlefield area without participating in the battle. Thus, even neutral players can have some participation in the outcome of the Galactic Civil War, or the GCW for short.

Due to the science fiction nature of Star Wars, combat in the game is primarily range-based, with melee, usually the backbone of fighting, taking a backseat. That’s not to say that melee combat is ignored, however; there are several different options available to those who prefer to fight their enemies face-to-face, ranging from the martial-arts style of Teras Kasi, to simple brawling with force pikes, vibroblades, and molecular stilettos. Each combat style has special moves of their own that allow players to customize their combat style, targeting specific body parts and allowing for special disadvantages to be used against the enemy.

Ranged combat, as shown in the movies and books of Star Wars, is the primary method of resolving conflicts in the galaxy. Whether you enjoy sniping, heavy weapons or the old standby, the blaster carbine, you’ll find situations where your style of fighting is the most efficient. With even more special moves being available for ranged combat than for melee combat, the ability to customize your assault allows for each battle to unfold in a completely unique fashion; while one group may focus entirely on doing large amounts of damage in the first few seconds of a fight, another group may try for a headshot to blind the opponent and then chip away at its health with small-arms fire.

The enormous variety of abilities available to the various soldiers, mercenaries, and bounty hunters raises the concern; what about those of us who do not, in fact, wish to fight at all. For this, Raph Koster drew from his experiences in Ultima Online, the only current MMORPG to have an in-depth, interactive crafting system. Many characters in UO had very few combat skills; they preferred to spend their time crafting and making money in that fashion; enjoying the social aspect of the game above all else.

Again, SWG delivers in spades. Every crafting skill that was available in UO such as tailoring, blacksmithing, mining, baking, are all available in SWG as well, but with new twists and with even more skills available. Players will be able to customize the looks of houses, of items, even of players, if they decide to follow the path of such diverse professions such as the hairdresser or image designer. The goal of the SWG development team was to create an entirely player-run economy, in such a way that players would want to rely on each other for their buying needs. In adding features such as off-line mining and off-line crafting, the amount of time spent “macroing” would be diminished. In another example of straying from the norm, crafters in SWG will gain skillups by other players utilizing their wares; so if player Joe sells his blasters to 100 other players, and they all use them, he will gain skillups through that use.

With a Space Expansion already planned, editions of the game planned for both the X-Box and Playstation 2 game consoles, and even more expansions being hinted at by the dev team (such as an expansion that adds the famous “Black Sun” criminal cartel as a player faction), SWG is poised to be a rare game that brings not only an excellent license to the table, but also perhaps the most revolutionary game play proposed in any MMORPG thus far. Whether or not it fulfills its promises remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain; The Galactic Civil War begins anew.

May the Force be With You.

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