Tom Hasler makes star love not war with The Old Republic.

Combining the production quality of a Bioware style narrative and the scale of a massively multiplayer game is an already ambitious undertaking, even without the inclusion of the much revered and elaborate Star Wars setting. It may have taken six years and $200 million, but Bioware have finally realised this lofty goal, with Star Wars: The Old Republic, a fully voiced MMO with over 5 novels of narrative content voiced by nearly 1,000 actors across three different languages.

SWTOR retains the same core design and feature set you would expect from a modern massively multiplayer online game, but on top of that it adds single player oriented story content. While it may seem antithetical to make single player features a key selling point of an MMO, the result of blending multiplayer and single player components is an overall experience that feels epic and comprehensive.

The way Bioware have implemented these features helps ensure that players aren’t ever completely isolated from each other; everyone still occupies the same open environments and can still converse on various chat channels. However there are certain small areas that players can enter which are exclusive to them allowing the game to present them with the paced and choreographed content you would expect from a single player game. You can still talk to other players in the chat box and anyone you’ve grouped up with can join you in these areas, but otherwise you are effectively cut off while the game advances your character's personal story.

The story itself is a combination of different elements, each of the game's eight classes has his own unique storyline to complete as he progresses through the game – these class stories vary quite dramatically to fit the persona of that particular class, for example, the Smuggler is a carefree outlaw trying to make his fortunes amongst the stars, while the Jedi Knight is much more stoic, focused on saving the galaxy and generally being a hero. Along with each classes unique story there are self contained story arcs on each of the games various planets that can be played by any of the games classes. There are also hundreds of side quests with somewhat trivial storylines as well as story elements integrated into the games various multiplayer activities. This story allows the player to get to know their character in a way that hasn’t been realised in an MMO before; typically the only thing a player thinks about when it comes to their character is their play style in combat and how cool their clothes look. In SWTOR however players will find themselves actually role playing and appreciating there characters in the way they were supposed to be. This attachment to your characters is enhanced further by the branching narrative system seen in Bioware’s single player RPGs where players can control their responses in conversations – the responses influence both your morality and the affection of your companions, allowing players to project a little of themselves onto their online persona. The result of this focus on narrative is that players will find themselves thinking of their character as an escapist alter-ego rather than just a series of abilities and statistics. When I think of my smuggler, I don’t think of his healing skills or his blaster mods, but instead his grumpy attitude and predilection for inappropriate flirtation.

Along with the narrative-heavy solo elements of the game, SWTOR features an array of MMO staples, such as a crafting system and auction house, player versus player battlegrounds and challenging content that needs to be tackled in groups. One of the most interesting activities are Flashpoints – self contained 2 hour missions that require a group of around 4 players to complete. While all Flashpoints feature challenging boss fights and nice rewards, a handful feature a series of cinematic sections where you and your team all participate in the conversation. The person who responds during each round of conversation is random, so while you may want to have spared a prisoner's life, one of your team members may decide to kill them all leaving you powerless to watch. This is a great way to showcase your character's persona, and help breakup the non-stop action.

Combat itself follows MMO conventions; most people will be familiar with the fundamentals from games like World of Warcraft. That’s not to say that SWTOR’s combat isn’t original however - given that Star Wars isn’t the typical fantasy setting, many of the classes have somewhat unique mechanics, such as a cover system for certain classes. Furthermore, the combat is made more engaging by polished animation and effects and some clever use of contrast between ranged and close combat.

The biggest shake-up however is the companions who follow you around as you explore the galaxy. While having computer controlled allies assist you in combat is nothing new in MMOs, SWTOR takes the concept further by giving each class five companions who can be fully customised with gear and can carry out a variety of combat roles, or venture on on their own missions, bringing back rewards for you to enjoy. This adds a new layer of depth to combat as each encounter now involves an element of teamwork, and using the right companion for the right situation can make a big difference in some of the games for challenging sections.

While there is certainly a lot of interesting features on offer in SWTOR, there are a number of issues that may deter people, such as the prohibitive expense of the game, a plethora of bugs which are gradually being addressed, and the amount of time required to make significant progress – it’s a time trap. The game also shares many of the design principles that make MMOs notoriously addictive and players may find that SWTOR is too distracting to make the commitment necessary to fully enjoy what the game has to offer. If, however, you have the time and money, which potentially means thousands of hours and over £100 over the course of six months, then this might be the game you’re looking for.