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Jade Empire: Special Edition

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
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Based on 33 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: BioWare

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: February 26, 2007

Summary

Step into the role of an aspiring martial arts master and follow the path of the Open Palm or Closed Fist. In this multi-award-winning action-RPG, your choices and actions will determine the fate of an empire. Will you prevent the destruction of this beautiful land or crush it beneath your heel? Are you a warrior who uses strength and fighting mastery to bring peace or will your power bring pain and ruin? Enhanced PC features include: Customizable, intuitive controls including support for game-pads and keyboard/mouse. Increased graphics resolutions and new visual effects. New monsters and enemies. New fighting styles. Improved combat AI and difficulty levels. New world map interface. Jade Empire: Special Edition is exclusively available for the PC and features increased graphic resolutions with new visual effects and fighting styles, as well as new monsters and enemies with enhanced AI. The game also includes customizable, intuitive controls and an all-new art book as part of the Special Edition bonus content. [BioWare]

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GAMES: Jade Empire (Xbox)

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Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Pelit (Finland)

Offers excellent drama in fresh, new settings. Hopefully, the unwashed masses will come to understand its greatness. [Mar 2007]

GameZone

It has style, depth, drama, and action all compact into one lengthy RPG.

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Computer Games Magazine

Few games in the genre tell a story this well, and fewer still combine that intriguing tale with such absolutely superb game mechanics. [Apr 2007, p.66]

PC Zone UK

With a great story, tons of missions, beautifully rich settings, satisfying fighting and brilliant characterisation, all swaddled in over 20 hours of play, Jade Empire has transcended its Xbox roots to reincarnate itself as a high-kicking, epic RPG for PC. The chi is strong with this one.

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PC Format

Translates remarkably well to keyboard control. [Apr 2007, p.72]

IGN

Like the PC version of "Knights of the Old Republic" before it, Jade Empire is a remarkable RPG that, apart from better graphics and load times, really has little to separate it from the Xbox version from two years ago.

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PC Gamer UK

Elegant and refreshing. [Apr 2007, p.76]

2404.org

Fast-paced as it may be, the fighting in Empire is not exactly cerebral.

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Computer Games Online RO

But now, two years after its initial release, it’s only a good game with a phenomenal atmosphere but one which ultimately shows its age.

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Game Over Online

I’m willing to let the outstanding plot carry the somewhat lesser though still enjoyable combat engine and the thinness of the RPG elements of Jade Empire.

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PC Gamer

The storyline is meaty but short by "Baldur's Gate" standards at around 30 hours, and although this iteration of Jade Empire gets the Special Edition moniker, it contains no new story content. [Apr 2007, p.48]

GamerNode

It's a worthy Bioware RPG and oozes with an awesome storyline and memorable party members, but if you played it before on the Xbox there's really no reason to replay it.

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GameDaily

The game looks dated on the PC, but it offers people a different kind of adventure, one not centered on first person shooting or real time strategy.

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ActionTrip

Jade Empire: Special Edition still has strong replay value, with different characters to choose from and different paths to take in terms of alignment.

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GameSpy

The storyline and characters are as rich as they ever were, but advances in both action games and RPG design can't help but make the game feel a bit old-fashioned and highlight flaws in the combat and ethics system.

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Worth Playing

The combat, while repetitive, is easily approachable and manageable with the extras added to the PC version. The narrative is excellent, with enough plot points and well-veiled twists to make it a beautiful thing to watch.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

Jade Empire is non-linear in the most magnificently linear way, and well worth it for those who missed it first time around.

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Boomtown

It is arguable that no game that is directly comparable to Jade Empire in the past two years has been better than it, and that in all probability none will be until "Mass Effect" is released later this year.

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IC-Games

So if you haven’t visited the Jade Empire before this could well be worth the price, but there isn’t enough extras to warrant it if you have already played the Xbox version.

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GameSpot

The long-awaited PC version of Jade Empire retains the great story and setting of the Xbox original, but the streamlined combat and core design haven't aged quite as gracefully.

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GamingExcellence

The controls are fairly decent and simple, but the camera is just terrible. It gets stuck behind objects, above them, pointing at awkward angles, and sometimes an area will load and the camera will begin pointing at the floor. Directly at the floor.

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PALGN

A good, dependable RPG from the masters of the genre that would benefit enormously from some fresh ideas.

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Gamers Europe

An Average game, with a capital A. it has lots of things that are nice about it and some that are not great. In places it plays ok, in others not. It seems entirely right that the game has been set in ancient mythical China as the concept of Ying and Yang appears to be in full flow here.

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Digital Entertainment News

Enhanced visuals, two new fighting styles, and minor combat changes simply aren’t enough to prompt a second purchase. For a first buy, however, it’s worth every penny.

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PC Gameworld

Adequate, but nothing incredible.

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Thunderbolt

It's not perfect, but it's a great action game with a unique setting and cast. PC gamers looking for a game that doesn't require an upgrade or a rebuild should definitely check it out while they're waiting for their DX10 video cards to arrive.

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Game Almighty

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.

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1UP

Compelling narrative and crippled combat make Jade Empire a case of form over function -- and depending on what you want from a single-player RPG, that might be totally OK. It's short (in the 20-hour neighborhood for first-timers) and sweet; just don't let the premise trick you into expecting gameplay that isn't altogether there.

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Eurogamer

Not only are there better looking, more advanced games on the shelves now, there are also simply better games out there; this genre hasn't stood still since Jade Empire came out.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

C. J. gave it a9:
A fantastic game. After playing Mass Effect, I went out and bought every BioWare game I could find, including Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, simply because I couldn't afford to have missed these brilliant games at the prices they are being sold for now. Having a strong interest in Chinese history, Jade Empire appealed to me immediately. As with Mass Effect, Jack Wall has produced another hit-and-miss soundtrack, with slow, drab tracks followed by thunderous, spectacular masterpieces. The yu pipes and taiko drums prove to be the saving grace here, and the Ancient China-based theme of Jade Empire certainly benefits from their presence. The graphics, whilst not brilliant, are more than adequate. I did, however, play the "Special Edition" PC version, which has been obviously heavily modified as opposed to its Xbox counterpart, so my perspective may be somewhat skewed. I found the characters enjoyable, with vibrant colours and intricate clothing designs making them all the more appealing. I was surprised to read that my personal choice of character, Monk Zeng, was not even in the original release of the game! Good thing then that BioWare had the presence of mind to return him to the cast for the Special Edition release. Voice acting is above average, which is always a plus with a dialogue-heavy RPG, and there are familiar voices involved. I believe I even heard Nathan Fillion in there, whom I had no idea did voice acting for games. There were also no bugs, crashes or sudden errors of any kind here, which plagued my experience when playing through both of the KotOR titles. On the negative, I found Jade Empire's one and only major flaw to be the combat system, which was far too basic. The AI was not particularly brilliant and the combat move sets for each style were very limited. This alone strikes one point from my final score. Nevertheless, if you enjoy BioWare's other renowned high standard RPGs like KotOR, you should certainly not miss this game. For $10 (Australian), there's really no excuse.

Ed S. gave it a7:
Lite fun and lots of action; beautiful to look at.

Andy S. gave it a9:
This is more like it, an RPG that does not take days to learn tp play. The visuals are good, the story compelling and the control system works. So its "old fashioned"? so what! Its all that a game needs to be. My only quibble is that it is fairly short at 21 hours.

David T. gave it a10:
Bar none the best game in this genre that I've played. Please Lionhead give us a sequel it seems as though the the time they put throwing a few extra polys and baubles into the PC version would have been better spent with a sequel.It seems the makers of Fable are finally learning this(My second Fave).

Cast Shout gave it a0:
I bought it on Steam. Quite unstable on WindowsXP. Nothing for the price.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This game is yet another amazing RPG by the RPG gods, BioWare. Amazing gameplay, excellent story that keeps you going, minimal complication of leveling up (unlike some games like Oblivion and maybe even NWN2), and great graphics. Finally a game that got me playing for hours on end, after so many not so good games... The problem is the kind of games that are TRYING to pass as RPG nowadays are focused on two things: graphics, and character customization. The amount of customization options on the characters looks and later level up option in Oblivion is pathetic. Why would I want to change the angle of the guys chin or the color depth of the guys nosehair?? Especially when I barely even see my character..? Graphics? the graphics in oblivion though meant to look real are very artificial and ugly looking... and the skin textures for the people are extremely ugly. and gameplay... what gameplay? the combat system is stupid for hand-to-hand combat. Jade Empire on the other hand doesnt focus on these things. It has some customizations but just enough, and good, vibrant graphics with nice effects, but just enough so that the world doesn't look like a hazy artificial place. And the gameplay is lovely. Hand-to-hand combat is done very naturally in this game.

Andrew K. gave it a10:
Awesome game, best action RPG I've played since Half life 2. has a truly unique, compelling, and intriguing story line that keeps you wanting to hurry to the end to save Master Li.. In truth you can take your time and finish all the gloriously illustrated and story voice acted NPC interactions of any game yet to come.. This game even compells you to talk to simple peasants due to the chance you may stumble upon some simple quest that may make your character more powerful. The action is simply wonderful, fluid combat moves non turn based real time combat makes this game very challenging, I suggest playing on easy mode your first time through so you can master the martial arts moves on each successive play of this game I suggest raising the level of difficulty as the game itself will change due to your difficulty rating.. Every choice you make allows you to change your alignment towards good or evil.. or possibly neutral if your choices aren't genuinely good or evil.. but selfish. Overall this game gets 10 out of 10 due to the amount of work put into this game to enhance the realism and draw your further into the world that is The Jade Empire.. I can see this game becoming the next World of Warcraft.. or Everquest.. As long as they don't make the MMORPG suck like Matrix online sucked... or Star Wars galaxies.. etc.. (or even FF12's horrid grinding rate.) I'll be playing this game for a long time, hoping and wishing for a Jade Empire MMORPG...

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Jade Empire: Special Edition

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