Before we go any further into this review, just take a moment to close your eyes. Well, metaphorically at least.

Now call up all your memories of past Star Wars video games: the not so good, the bad, and the downright bloody atrocious. Gather them together in one single chamber of your mind and let them seep away into a distant galaxy far, far away. You don't need them anymore. These were not the games you were looking for.

The numerous quick-buck film tie-ins that have plagued Star Wars' video game mythology over the last two decades have had their time. Forget them. At long last it is time to enter the living, breathing Star Wars universe that every man, woman and child who ever loved the films has always ached to view from the inside looking out.

Knights Of The Old Republic isn't your standard Star Wars game. In fact, it isn't in any way your standard video game, because BioWare - the developer of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, MDK2 and the PC smash hit Neverwinter Nights

Any self-respecting gamer needs this title in their life. However, reviewing Knights Of The Old Republic is a difficult proposition - to do it justice we really need to talk about the game, but by talking about the game we run the risk of spoiling elements that are best discovered by the virgin mind. So, if you're feeling brave, have a quick glance at the final score, smile to yourself and go make an essential Xbox purchase. But if you need to know a little more - and on your head be it - then read on, young Padawan.

Pigeonholing Knights Of The Old Republic into a traditional video gaming genre is no easy feat. It draws upon so many elements from gaming's rich heritage that it deftly defies simple classification. Combat has all the fervency of a beat-'em-up while the adventuring story is more akin to the 'choose your own adventure' books of yesteryear than anything else. But we'd better tell you now that underneath the bountiful layers of gameplay goodness rumbles a crusty old Dungeons & Dragons dice-rolling RPG engine. But fear not, you won't need to don a Red Dwarf T-shirt and avoid washing your hair to enjoy this masterpiece.

BioWare has taken only the very best elements of role-playing dice-based combat and gameplay and cunningly disguised them so the headache-inducing number-crunching is simple and enjoyable for the newcomer, yet deep enough for the hardcore. Combat, with characters using every imaginable weapon from the films and more, is in real-time but can be paused and tackled in the more traditional turn-based fashion if you so desire. In fact, how you want to play this game is more in your hands than ever before.

The meat of the game sees you controlling your own unique character, traversing seven planets and involving yourself in hundreds of mini-quests, building your character's own personality and unique story. As the game progresses, you slowly find out you are no mere nobody but have a strong affinity with the Force and a sense of destiny. Jedi training ensues and you choose your own path through the game with the overarching concern of either allying yourself with the light side Jedi or the dark side Siths.

If you hate RPGs and are feeling tempted to dismiss this right now - don't. There is so much more to KOTOR than floaty hit point numbers and inane NPCs. In fact, blink and you'll miss the fact this is an RPG at all. Whereas a traditional RPG has you levelling up by gaining experience points solely through fighting, KOTOR dishes out Exp for a multitude of reasons. Successfully convince a Sith guard to invite you to her party or pick a complicated lock to gain access to a high-security building and you'll not only further the story but also earn valuable experience to put towards your character's development.

You begin by picking your character, their sex, features and skills, ranging from ability at hacking computers to proficiency in persuasion. There's an option to let the Xbox choose all this for you, but to know your skills is to know your character. Then it's straight into the action as you find yourself aboard a vast spaceship under fire from the Sith armada.

Your ship has been attracting Sith attention due to its cargo: a valuable female Jedi Padawan by the name of Bastila. So far so New Hope, but if the names seem unfamiliar to you that's because this story is set 4,000 years before the events of the films. Whereas past games have relied on the stars of the films, from R2-D2 to the ubiquitous storm troopers, KOTOR relies on its own merits as a game to attract the punters.

The benefits of this anonymity are clear. While the comforting core basics of the Star Wars universe such as the Force, the Empire and the Jedi are present, the rest is a blank canvas. So the player approaches with no preconceptions or understanding. The ending of the story is unknown. The nine characters who join your party through the adventure are colourful and varied and right from the off you feel the weight of the universe around you, evidenced in the lavish care and attention in the minutiae of the plot and coherency of the world.

The main innovation in the game other than the combat is the interaction with NPCs. In most RPGs it quickly becomes tedious clicking 'A' on every man, woman and robot so they can spew out their pre-prepared and largely irrelevant comments. In KOTOR, talking becomes one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game as, after every sentence uttered by an NPC, the player has to select a response. You can play the good cop, the bad cop or just be plain indifferent if you prefer.

As you can fashion your own response to every conversation in the game, BioWare brings the issue of the light and dark side into play. By playing the bad guy and being rude to everyone, you will begin to shift towards the dark side, while being good and helping the weak will increase your light side affinity. This tussle between good and evil provides one of the focal points for the game and produces one of the most interesting innovations seen in games of this type for many years. Every action has a reaction but, unlike in most games where the player is placed on rails and must behave within the constraints of the game, in KOTOR you are given a freedom of choice that will ultimately affect the outcome of your adventure.

The game constantly throws moral choices at you. While many are clear-cut choices between good and evil (such as whether you should murder someone to steal their money or help them instead), some are not so easy to choose between. For example, at one point in the game you will encounter a distraught woman who has lost her droid. It transpires that her husband passed away some time earlier. An expert with technology, he had made this droid based on his own character to look after her if he died.

Said distraught female thinks the droid has been kidnapped and commissions you (should you want) to find him. Later that day you find the droid on a suicide mission. He informs you that the woman had got just a little too attached to him and had been treating him as her husband (if you know what we mean). He had run away to kill himself so that she would be forced to create new relationships and friendships with humans. Should you convince the droid to go back to the woman or should you aid his suicide? It's no easy moral choice (no matter whether you are looking to go to the dark or light side) and so the game forces you to think about what you would really do in this, albeit unlikely, scenario.

Because it's you making all the choices dialogue-wise, you soon become deeply attached to your character, far more so than in traditional pre-scripted Japanese-style RPGs. At each level-up point you can choose the stats and skills that you want to increase, adding even more control to the proceedings. So if you want your Wookie to be an expert in healing your party and your droid to be a genius with computers, simply develop them as you see fit. Then select your party from the pool of characters that have joined you and approach problems whichever way you want.

The stunning soundtrack, mirroring themes from the films, helps to add to the epic sense of adventure, and the graphics, while not the best seen on Xbox, certainly do the job and provide some beautiful and varied vistas, from grey cyberpunk slums to rolling sunset-drenched hills. Perhaps the most impressive feat, however, is the fact that every single line of dialogue in the game is spoken.

When you take into account all the possible responses to your answers, it makes the mind positively boggle and the feeling that you are participating in a huge film is accentuated.

KOTOR is one of the most compelling games we have ever played on any system. Prepare to lose meals and sleep over its problems and driving storyline. The pace of the adventure never lets up so, like the films, you are bludgeoned into sitting and watching what happens next. The game might not be for everyone, but the fact you now take an active part in the story and what happens makes the whole experience more transfixing than George Lucas could ever have dreamt. Mark our words; to fans of RPGs, developers looking to enter the genre, and even to games in general, KOTOR is as significant as Halo.

Power
Whole cities bustling with people, each with their own story and own voice acting, Incredible.

Style
Beautiful locales and great characters made all the better by the fact you can wield lightsabers.

Immersion
This is arguably the most immersive and complete world ever recreated on Xbox.

Lifespan
A whole universe complete with a thousand different paths to explore and numerous worlds to visit.

Summary
A very important game in the history of video games, proving that a Western developer can make a stunning RPG.

1. Possibly the best Western RPG ever
2. Lightsabers well-executed
3. Branching story
4. So much to do!

1. Sadly, Princess Leia's not in it
2. No stormtroopers