Jade Empire: Special Edition

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 294 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 210 out of 294
  2. Mixed: 66 out of 294
  3. Negative: 18 out of 294
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  1. Sirik_Matak
    Feb 18, 2016
    1
    I knew that I will eventually end up with this game in my hands. And thank God I didn't have to pay for this, because it is one of the worst, one of the most generic, one of the most laziest console TPP action games... ever. I've played few hours, constantly being under the pressure of overhelming tediousness, blandness and the most boring and unimaginative gameplay designs I've ever seen.I knew that I will eventually end up with this game in my hands. And thank God I didn't have to pay for this, because it is one of the worst, one of the most generic, one of the most laziest console TPP action games... ever. I've played few hours, constantly being under the pressure of overhelming tediousness, blandness and the most boring and unimaginative gameplay designs I've ever seen. The pure idea of a mediocre pre-nextgen console TPP brought out from the Platonic Idea to the petty world of shadows on the cave's wall. It's mind-boggling how badly mediocre and soulless this game is.
    So, let's take one of the simplest, bland settings you can build your setting on. Wuxia, boom, there's your whole game out of a sleeve! Why bother to write a plot? Throw in generic evilness and your typical out of a hat orphan that is actually the most important element of its universe, being trained by a mysterious, yet equally important master. One day, your idyllical environment is being crushed by absolutely random LOL evil's henchman raid and this your great journey begins. With kung fu!
    Now, the absolute trash story, characters and setting doesn't have to be that last nail to the game's coffin. That is, if the gameplay wasn't absolute TOSH either! It's the worst type of your PS2 button masher, but worse, because to the reduntand spam two buttons randomly to win it tried to implement stats and various fighting styles. Don't get fooled. They're all the same, with light fast attacks and slow heavy attacks to break through the block. Just mind your health bar and that's it. With absolute inexcusable input lag (on a PC?!) the game turns into boring mash the button parade until you encounter the next character to have... Wait, that's it! How about the dialogues? Maybe that's the real meat in this? Well, not, the writing in Jade Empire is really low bottom (how about options "Don't call me like I'm someone important, mate!" vs "Yeah, that's right. I was meant to great things, remember that" - what the **** People boast that kind of bullcrap?) and "ok, let's get that next line over with" voice actors didn't help the case either.
    After 5 hours of this slog I'm done. What an awful, awful game. Bioware games were never something special in the actual game quality (not production values) department, but this tosh is just mind breaking. I would take Dragon Age 2 (!!!) over this rag.    … Expand
  2. suneater
    Dec 11, 2012
    1
    This is probably the most blatantly offensive, stereotypical, cookie-cutter, console garbage action RPG I have ever played. Poor game length, awful controls, awkward mini-games, muddy graphics and linear level design round out what is probably the worst game made by Bioware. Don't bother with this even if it's on sale.
  3. CastShout
    May 10, 2007
    0
    I bought it on Steam. Quite unstable on WindowsXP. Nothing for the price.
  4. Mogul
    Apr 22, 2012
    3
    For me, the combat system in this game made it nearly unplayable. I just didn't enjoy it at all, and actually didn't finish this game (a huge rarity for me, as I play to the end of just about every game that I buy). The story also was uninteresting to me. BioWare has made a lot of great RPGs, but I don't consider this to be one of them.
  5. inkblowout
    Jul 22, 2016
    4
    Probably the worst bioware game in my honest opinion. I feel as there is something lacking in Jade Empire which Dragon Age, Mass Effect and KOTOR have... it's just not there and I don't know what it is.

    There is some good moments that Jade Empire hold, like how the open hand and closed fist options aren't really dependent on Good or Bad choices...it's more of a Passive    Probably the worst bioware game in my honest opinion. I feel as there is something lacking in Jade Empire which Dragon Age, Mass Effect and KOTOR have... it's just not there and I don't know what it is.

    There is some good moments that Jade Empire hold, like how the open hand and closed fist options aren't really dependent on Good or Bad choices...it's more of a Passive Aggressive/Aggressive Aggressive choice rather than good/evil wish is great. Also the story is original as well I just felt like the story is a bit rushed for the story to properly develop... It went from casually training to fulfilling your destiny in 2 hours... um that's a bit quick don't you think? Even KOTOR had it's plot introductions built up (with taris) same with Mass Effect (Eden Prime and Proving Saren's guilt.) and Dragon Age (with the prologue and the gray warden ceremony) And all of those intros took me at least 4 hours and even more to full explore everything. And listen.. I'm all for short games but I'm not all in for horrible paced games... Jade Empire seems to be incredibly rushed for a bioware game and that I'm not happy about. Combat is JE is probably some of the best combat I've seen for a bioware game but the limited options for fighting styles is limited but lots of fun to play and beat some baddies up.

    I got this game free on origin and I was really excited to play it... but I feel that I couldn't continue on... I simply wasn't enjoying the game. It's a shame because the combat is really good and the rpg/action in Jade Empire works really well but this game fails to impress me like KOTOR, ME and DA:O brought to me in the first place and all I wanted is a good story with proper character developments... and JE had all that... but it felt rushed and that's why I didn't like this game. I have only 7 hours completed and that's enough honestly.    … Expand
  6. gracjanski
    Jul 25, 2020
    4
    As many others I was interested in the game because of the asian setting. And yes, the story and atmosphere are great. Bioware is know for writing good stories and dialogues, so this is another plus. In addition the graphics is nice for a game from 2007. The music is beautiful.

    BUT: the gameplay is aweful and simple. And because there is not much to do you are going from one dialogue to    As many others I was interested in the game because of the asian setting. And yes, the story and atmosphere are great. Bioware is know for writing good stories and dialogues, so this is another plus. In addition the graphics is nice for a game from 2007. The music is beautiful.

    BUT: the gameplay is aweful and simple. And because there is not much to do you are going from one dialogue to another, like an interactive movie. The dialogues are good and perfectly spoken (english version), but some characters are onesided.
    Anyway the biggest problem is the gameplay: The fighting is very action based and there is not much to think about, just react fast and thats all. There are some items, 3 attributes, game is very linear, like on railways...console game. This game could be great, but someone decided to publish a dumb game for the masses maybe.    … Expand
  7. Demiurge11
    Apr 11, 2021
    0
    The Good:
    - Nothing. This game is terrible.
    - Actually, the only good thing is that I paid less than $10 for this garbage. Phew! The Bad: - The game didn't even run on Steam (on Windows 10) and I had to look up how to fix the install issue. It was something dumb the developer should have fixed (a missing steam.dll file) - On PC using a keyboard, the controls were really spongy. The    The Good:
    - Nothing. This game is terrible.
    - Actually, the only good thing is that I paid less than $10 for this garbage. Phew!

    The Bad:
    - The game didn't even run on Steam (on Windows 10) and I had to look up how to fix the install issue. It was something dumb the developer should have fixed (a missing steam.dll file)
    - On PC using a keyboard, the controls were really spongy. The only result of any battle: being killed. I had to lower the difficulty, but on Easy the game is too easy. - The plot is a very American plot with a pseudo-Chinese pastiche stretched across it. It doesn't fit. It comes off as gross, racist, and offensive.
    - I looked at the credits, and spotted perhaps a Chinese name or two? A game about Chinese people with no Chinese people making decisions on the art direction and plot. How awful.

    The Ugly:
    - This game sits square in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. The 3D characters are really disturbing. e.g. you see your character constantly nodding in a conversation, even when the other character has finished speaking and you're thinking of what to say next.
    - The characters don't really look Asian. A lot of them don't really look human at all (although they're supposed to look human)
    - There is a fake Oriental-ish language that they invented, that sounds like an idiot trying to babble Chinese or Japanese.
    - There is a character that looks like the Boudha. This is more than a little offensive.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

38
#38 Best PC Game of 2007
35
#35 Most Discussed PC Game of 2007
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2007

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. IGN
    86
    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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  2. GameSpot
    78
    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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  3. 1UP
    70
    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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