Jade Empire is a BioWare-developed, Microsoft-published title, exclusively for the Xbox console system. Microsoft arranged for a media tour of BioWare’s Edmonton studios and afforded a hands-on look at the first hour, or so, of gameplay in this pending title. GameZone was invited along for the trip, and had the opportunity to delve into the world.

The game set-up in the previewable portion was somewhat linear with a musical score that drove the intensity of the action and hinted at more to come. While there were five playable avatars, bridging four central styles of play (speed, strength, magic and balanced), during the opening chapter of the game, there was little to distinguish between the classes. Male or female, the action and combat played out the same at this stage.