You see, it’s not like the older Final Fantasy games where you stand there like a muppet, waiting ages for an animation to pop up with the character only doing something once you’ve chosen your attack from a menu, then he/she stepping back and waiting for the response in kind from your opponent. In KotoR you pause the action to make any decisions, and then your character does that action in real time when you’ve unpaused. This gives all the benefits and complexities of turn based combat, but the action needed for people like me who hate the “Its your turn” style of play in old school RPG’s. Plus, you don’t have to spend all your time pausing/unpausing making every decision for every member of your party any time you want them to do something. You can give orders during real time, stack a load of commands in a queue, or just leave your team to it and they’ll attack accordingly all by themselves!

It's been a very long time since I've experienced anything on par with the original Star Wars movies - to the point of being moved, fascinated, overwhelmed, and riveted all at once. While good games such as Dark Forces and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast did justice to the series, little things like Episode I and II have caused consternation among fans of the genre, and subpar games like Force Commander have hurt the genre in general.

Knights of the Old Republic is everything a good game should be - deep, involved, long, and the kind of game that makes me want to come back for more; playing for eight to twelve hours straight just because it becomes a physical impossibility to stop. Star Wars has a new and rewarding experience awaiting not just fans of the genre but anyone who loves great sci-fi.