Star Wars Galaxies: Star Wars Galaxies Starter Kit - Bang or Bust?

I saw the box Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit, first thing I notice is a nice picture on the cover of Darth Vader weilding his red sabre and Luke Skywalker weilding his blue sabre, Leia is there with her Jabba slave outfit on, Boba Fette with that nastey rifle drawn and ready, Chewbacca is there with teeth showing in that good old Wookiee Roar of his and of course who could forget Han Solo? Speaking of Han either there was a bad print on this cover or Mr. Ford did not want his picture on the cover of this as you can tell that the resemblance is a cartoonage and not life like for the others. Maybe he played Pre-NGE /chuckle.

Then I notice this big gold/brown oval on the cover that reads "JOIN THOUSANDS ONLINE IN NON-STOP, EASY-TO-PLAY STAR WARS ACTION" and I see the Lucas Arts Logo in the lower right corner but alas where is the SOE logo? Ahhh, scared me there for a sec it's right in a nice spot on the back under a Jedi's Lightsabre blade waiting to be dismemberd if it makes one wrong move. /LOL

Moving on I notice the box art has a light and a dark side and no I don;t mean teh SOE logo I mean on the left side panel it shows Darth Vader and the right side panel show Luke Skywalker, very nice touch if I do say so myself. The back shows a few nice shots of a Imperial - Rebel space dog fight with the explosions and all makes it look interesting to the prospective buyer, a trandosian ( I still think he is sposed to me Mace Windu) and a Twi'Lek Jedi fighting Darth Vader in what looks to be the Naboo Theed spaceport with a couple of squads of Imperial Stormtroopers looking on,as well, there is a shot of a red/orange Twi'Lek with blue lekku markings dancing to the music of an Ithorian Musician in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine and Last but not least, there is a shot of a Jedi next to the control terminal in what looks to be a compound or base of some sort with his sabre ready for action to mangle and DB that SOE logo. /LOL Over all I have to say the box art is very well done and interesting that draws interest and does the nice job of depicting many aspects of the game.

I decide this is the time to open the CD case and take a peek. Woah JACKPOT!!!!, I find a Quick key guide , on the front is the picture displayed on the profession selection screen and it shows under each profession icon the General Skills, Specilization and Special Skills of each of the professions. I think this was a great move players can read what their profession will be and possible this will help them make a choice on what profession suits them best or be like me and they want to try them all anyway. On the abck on this Quick Key Guide is a listing of ground and space movement, combat, windows, chat, interface commands which is great for a new user to understand how the basic of the game works, remember that big manual from SWG: Am Empire Divided /gasp! In here I find as well a nice little 20 page game guide and yes 20 pages and it covers all the basics, no more of this long winded explination IT'S PLAIN AND CLEAR, NICE WORK! There are clear pictures of icons and sample menus you will actually see in teh game and clear explainations on how to use them. As well there is a folded document inside that contains the "Terms OF USE FOR STAR WARS GALAXIES: AN EMPIRE DIVIDED" which is nice to see so you know what you are agreeing to before you install the game. Well done as well.

I look at the gold, the CDs, and I decide to look at the nice screen work on them. Now Lucy You Know You Gonna Be In Trouble. In my set Disk 1: has the nice cover art, Disk 2: Has a nice shot of an Imperial - Rebel space dog fight, Disk 3: Has a nice pic of Lando being a trader with no combat skills holding a carbine and hidden behind a canister from Imperial Stormtroopers *NOTE THE STORMTROOPER ON THE DEWBACK YOU WILL SEE HIM AGAIN*, Disk 4: Has a nice screen of a trandosian jedi and a human Jedi in battle, Disk 5: Has a nice shot of Jabba's Throne room with the lovely Twi'Lek Ayy Vida performing for Jabba's evil amusement, Disk 6: gets the /OMFGWHATWERETHEYTHINKINGWHATASTOOPIDBUNCHOFNOOBS AWARD!!!! The actual CD Screening is a picture of an Imperial Stormtrooper on a Dewback Mount. Now either I am wrong or someone has a short memory lapse and didn't read the NGE forums or never read the reasons why some accounts were closed. Creature Handlers are no more in SWG so where did this guy get a mount and as well I have never in the entire time I have been playing this game saw 1 Imperial Strormtrooper riding anything except a Lamda Shuttle. Sure it says on the box "where the movies left off" but they had MOUNTS in the movies not in the game and this is the most misleading piece of garbage I have ever seen. Further more I feel it is just a slap in the face to any of the Vets that decided to buy this package to attempt to return to the game and see this screen on a CD /forcekickin**s. Why does SOE / Lucas Arts keep making it so easy for players and X-Players to trash you around? *MISLEADING*

The install ran clean and clear with nice screens thruout and some informative information along the way *watch out for the dewbacks*, after the install bits or no bits the patches were almost an eterminty and a half to download even on a DSL connection and I get 100 ping to the servers. After the install the account creation process is clean and clear and man that Credit Card info has no problems going thru the database, and your off into the world of Star Wars Galaxies with a few clicks you are well on your way to what is described on the box as Easy to pick up and play, a living, breathing Star Wars Galaxy awaits you with thousands playing online. Explore exotic places stright from the films *except hoth* and blast right into the action as you battle across planets and even take the fight into space. Choose your side and join the struggle for control of the ever-changing *did I read that right changing? no that can't be* Star Wars Galaxies.

Let's not forget that part of the deal where you get the exclusive in-game Tie-Fighter or X-Wing. It is not a spaceship rather it is a personal transportation vehicle you call down with a menu command once you grant it to your toon. This item allows you to use a single key click with the icon in the action bar and a ship will appear where you are and you can use it as a shuttle terminal to travel to any shuttleport or space station On the planet you are on only. Note: These cannot be called inside of major cites or inside any structure . Makes for good use when you are in the middle of no where finish a mission and want to return to town quicker.

Overall Here are my Opinions:

Box Art: Attractive, Appealing, Draws Interest, Plain and Clear System Requirements, There is that Dewback Mount again.

7/10

CD Case: Nice cover art, durable plastic, nice inlay and holder for documents, plenty of space for the CDs so they do not fall all over when you open it, enough extra room for your own tiny notepad.

9/10

Case Contents: Well organized, filled with information, clear and stright forward, user friendly, reader friendly, well colored, nice detials of icons and screens, I especially like the part where the only picture in teh Game Support section shows Darth Vader, 2 Imperial High Guards, and 2 squads of troopers. *I feel a disturbance in support, something dark inside I feel /LOL. I would have rated this a 4/10 except for the other contents. I saw that Dewback Mount as misleading as heck on that CD, I pitty the kids that say "Mommy, I wan't a big horsie like the big white guy on the box" /sarcasm.

8/10

Price: $19.99 USD

9/10

Install: Runs clean and clear with easy to follow directions and interesting tid bits of information to read during the install and the shots do draw some anticipation to get in to game faster. Downloading the patches taking this long for a new product does not show a through testing or enough pre-release bug fixing for the game.

6/10

Overall the Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit, with the 30 day free trial for new subscribers at a low cost of 19.99 USD is an extrordinary deal for your money. The fact still remins that it claims you need a valid credit card to play this game on teh front of the box but it misses the fact that in order to get the 30 day free trial you will need either a credit card or a Time Code in order to activte your account and get your 30 free days. As well most game stores will not accept returns on open games that contain CDs that can be copied or that have codes inside that can be used before the product is returned. For those that paid the $19.99 to get the software to try the game as they did not know that there is a 10 day free trial on the SOE site and just saw the game on the shelf in the store and thought kool STAR WARS ONLINE you got nerfed, you do need a Valid Credit Card or Time Code to activate the free trial!

I have to call this one even with the few misleads I gave it overall 8/10 - A MAJOR BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! and Well worth the money.

Robert "Bloodraven" Greene
Assistant Site Manager
SWG WarCry