Well, against my efforts to break up with Star Wars and avoid MMOs, I’ve started Star Wars: The Old Republic. Star Wars meets World of Warcraft. That can’t possibly be a life-destroying game. I’ve gotten to level 5, so I can’t offer a full, or even remotely thorough review, but I can give my first impressions. No PVP, no advanced classes, no vehicles, just the bare basics of what the game is and how it looks.

For starters, this really is Star Wars meets World of Warcraft. The zone layout, the flow, the combat mechanics, the class selection, the quests, they all call back to the MMO I quit three years ago and is still crushing gamers’ souls. There are melee, ranged, healing, and magic classes, with different quirks to make things interesting.

I was pleasantly surprised by the smuggler, who uses a cover-based mechanic to jump behind objects to enable other skills. It’s a small twist that makes the guns-and-bombs-using smuggler feel distinct against more traditional classes. The Jedi consular is much more of a mage/priest with some melee skills, using their powers to throw debris at enemies and create shock waves to loosen them up before moving in to kill. They both play differently, and as they get more skills they branch out into even more unique styles, with two more advanced classes for each class at level 10. The Bounty Hunter mixes things up even more, taking what could have been a swap of the smuggler and making it much more heavy weapons and armor-based instead of pistols and tricks.

The classes and races are inexplicably limited, with certain classes not getting certain races. The races don’t seem to make much of a difference in gameplay, so this is disappointing. I’d love to be a Chiss smuggler, but they’re Sith-only.

The opening zones at split into four areas, with one for every two classes (Jedi Knight/Consular, Smuggler/Trooper, Sith Warrior/Inquisitor, and Bounty Hunter/Imperial Agent). The action in these areas seems similar for the pairs of classes, but you actually get slightly different “stories,” with different quest areas limited to just one of the two classes. The quest scenes are all voiced, giving the game a cut scene feel and making you actually pay attention to why you’re doing what you’re doing instead of scrolling down to the bottom and finding the objective. These scenes even have conversation choices that let you actually role play what your character is doing. It’s a great way to make you feel connected with your character and not think of him as just a loot magnet.

The graphics are good for an MMO, but not very impressive. Character models are attractive and locations are interesting and fairly detailed, but it doesn’t have the depth or scope of Mass Effect and Dragon Age’s worlds. There are lots of zones, but they’re MMO zones, so don’t expect everything to be packed tight with interesting things. There are plenty of side quests to get in every area, but it follows the WoW pattern. The presentation is good, but The Old Republic is still paced like an MMO, and it doesn’t try to do a lot beyond that.

I need to play to level 10 to unlock the more specialized classes (Sage/Shadow for Consular and Gunslinger/Scoundrel for Smuggler), and I’ll need to go beyond that to get my ship and companions. However, so far this looks like a very strong outing. The big issue is whether the endgame content will be as compelling, once players are done with their plots. We’ll see how that goes, and whether The Old Republic can dig into the MMO market and make a lasting impression (and not fizzle, cough, sputter, and go out like Star Wars Galaxies).