Two years after the release of Jade Empire for XBOX360, Bioware decided that to release the PC version. With some content additions, they released the game as Jade Empire: Special Edition.

Bioware managed once again to bring a great game to the public. With a few flaws, true. As you start the game, the story starts to unravel to you. You are an Orphan, saved by a martial arts master and raised at the Two Rivers town, a small and unknown town. The story continues ....

Getting started

Creating your character is easy because you will only have to choose your name, to spend some points in the three available attributes (Body, which dictates how much damage you do and how much HP you have; Spirit, the factor that gives you Chi points for powering your more magical abilities; and Mind, where your Focus stems from, the ability to slow down time and to use your melee weaponry) and the additional martial arts style besides Heavenly Wave. Then you are introduced to your master's dojo. Of course, you are the best student and of course a great adventure awaits you. If you think you can guess the story you are wrong. Bits of story are presented and in the end all will turn upside down. I won't spoil the game by telling you what will await you so we must go on.

 


As in KOTOR 2, the story is long and makes you play the game just to find out more pieces of information that will give you a better picture of who you are. The dialogues are long and interesting, the voice acting is very good giving you a real Asian experience.

Martial arts for the win

As you advance into the game you will gain new martial arts to help you defeat your enemies. You will find arts that are very known in China. Heavenly Wave will slow your opponents, Thousand cuts will release a barrage of kicks on your opponent, Leaping Tiger - a claws martial art - that looks really good; Spirit Thief will regain your Chi from your opponents and much more that will be gained as you complete quests. The way you complete them matters as well. The Open Palm - Closed Fist way of life is present in the game and tries to reflect how good or bad is your character, just like in KOTOR 2. This way of life will determine a part of the game as some quests will be available only if you are good or evil.


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Gems

Close to the beginning of the game, you will find a part of the amulet that will allow you to use gems. The gems give you bonuses to your Charisma, Intimidation, and Intuition, three abilities that allow you to escape or turn the dialogue as you want or need. The gems may give bonuses but at the same time may give you penalties to your stats.

Harmonic Combos

As life isn't easy, especially if the destiny has a plan for you (and we know about these destinies), you have to fight a lot. Bioware implemented several ways to combat and if you master these ways you will find the game easy. The life, chi and focus of your character will determine which martial arts will be the best for you. If you want to fight with weapons you will need a lot of focus. To heal or to perform powerful moves you will need Chi. Chi is also used as your healing power, almost instantly healing your character so it's wise to pay a close attention to it. To ease your job, the developers implemented the Harmonic Combos. By hitting an enemy with a Support Skill and then a strong Combat Art attack, you can make him die instantly and leave behind a power-up of some sort, which is determined by the combo. Once you start to fight you will have to try to make this combos as they will allow you to regain some of the losses. There are focus shrines that allow you to regain your health, chi and focus but there are only few and hard to find.

Coming from XBOX

As I said before, Jade was first ported to XBOX. The porting was successful in most with a few details. During the gameplay you will be stuck or the camera might be oriented to your feet and the only way to fix it is to exit the area where you are situated.
A good thing is that saving and loading work very quick not breaking the gameplay.
The cities are quite big but few, full of life and until you will solve all the quests in that city you will learn it. There are a small number of environments; other than "action maps," there are three major cities with a few zones each.

During the game you will also have to play some minigames. You will control a flyer and will have to complete the mission in order to advance the game. Some completed missions will give you rewards which translates into special weapons. Some of the minigames are nice but some are really hard to complete.

Asian water lily

The dialogues and atmosphere are great. The environments are thick with Asian flair and seems to be a strong attempt to recapture the feel of films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," with deep myth and a quiet, dignified feel to many of the characters.

Your companions are rather well structured themselves, and are all more than willing to talk to you in detail if you'll let them. From Dawn Star and somber monk Sagacious Zhou to Bunmaster Hong and Wild Flower, a young girl possessed by a pair of rival demons, you'll be surrounded with followers that bring a special flavor to the game as each has its personal agenda and motives that will be revealed sooner or later (mostly later).

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Gameplay: 87

Special Edition was ported from XBOX but it seems that Bioware invested a lot of time in the porting process and the game is very good with a few exceptions. The fights are very quick and very addictive, easy to approach, the world has it's own life and you are just a tool for the inhabitants. The story has it's own way to reveal itself, not too soon, not too late, and it's full of twists. Lot of quests, very variate with a lot of options to finish, and the game can even be finished differently.

Graphics: 88

Jade is beautiful. The martial arts moves, the animations, the environment, everything is created beautifully. You can see that the developers worked hard to create the game.

Sound: 85

The sound is very good in most aspects. There are a few things that seem “unfamiliar” but you will pass on and dwelve in the atmosphere.

Multiplayer: N/A

Hardware: 80

The game works very good and it's bug free. The camera has several problems and you can see clearly the it comes from a console. But excepting a few problems that is nothing to impute to Jade.