Having missed out on the original Jade Empire for Xbox, I came to the PC version with a fresh and untainted perspective. As a huge fan of Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic, I had a pretty good idea as to what I would be getting into. Unfortunately, Jade Empire feels like a distant cousin to Knights, though even this relationship may require a DNA test in order to prove.

Ironic Dubbing

After you've created your character, which is nothing more than inputing a name, selecting an appearance from limited choices and allocating your abilities, the game begins in earnest. It was at this point that I started laughing at Jade Empire, and not with it. It strikes me as ironic that the voice-acting in Jade is performed by mediocre American actors putting forth little effort to get into their Asian roles. It sounds as bad as an imported Kung-Fu movie from the 1960s, making me wonder why Bioware just didn't hire Asian actors in the first place. Perhaps you'll be able to look past this design choice, but having what sounds like the cast of the O.C. phoning in their roles strikes me as terribly misguided.

As the story progresses, it doesn't take long to see the heritage of Knight of the Old Republic appear. You'll be faced with moral dilemmas, though this time around it's more thinly disguised and vague. Actions you take, whether through conversation or combat, will influence the course of the game as well as ultimate outcomes. It's this particular feature that made Knights so enjoyable, and for the most part that legacy is carried on.

Jade Empire has received a significant graphical upgrade for the PC and for that I'm happy, but overall, the game still comes across as a poor western attempt to duplicate Asian design aesthetics. It's the exact same feeling I got when playing Hotel Dusk on the Nintendo DS, an adventure title that tried to mimic the atmosphere of Hollywood's film noir era, but really did nothing more than cement the fact that designers should stick to cultures they know, as any journey elsewhere will inevitably feel hollow and stereotypical.

The combat in Jade Empire is yet one more aspect that comes up short. It just feels like mindless button-mashing with little consideration for strategy or tactics. At first you'll find yourself micromanaging your experience points in the futile belief that such actions will benefit you in combat, but the sad truth is, you can just select a stance or two to concentrate on and mow through just about every opponent. The ease of combat is magnified by way of Focus mode, which just slows the game down ala Matrix, allowing you to plow throw enemies with alarming ease. Finally, like Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire teams you up with various cohorts you'll meet along the way, but their function just serves to make combat even easier. This is all so disappointing because Jade Empire's entire emphasis is on combat. If the system doesn't work, then the game doesn't work. Hence...Jade Empire doesn't work.

My main concern about Jade Empire was how it would make the transition from console to PC, at least in the controls front. All too often a console game will be ported to the PC with the mistaken assumption that all PC players have access to a gamepad. Fortunately, Jade Empire works rather well with keyboard and mouse. But that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. In the end, you can't help but feel that Jade Empire lost its focus in the design phase. No one element really works, no one element really stands out. Perhaps the two years it took for Jade to appear on the PC was its ultimate downfall. It feels old and dated, a throwback.

I wish I could recommend Jade Empire, as I'm a huge Bioware fan, but this is not one of their finest moments. I'm sure Mass Effect will get this bad taste out of my mouth...right Bioware?