Before Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect, there was Jade Empire which was Bioware’s first attempt at creating an original IP. Having mainly worked on Star Wars and the D&D setting Baldur’s Gate, Jade Empire was a pretty big step for them due to not just trying to create an original IP. The game also served as their first foray into the Action Role-Playing Game genre.
Unfortunately, even though Jade Empire received positive reviews it was never able to achieve critical success and is remembered as more of a cult classic over Bioware’s other successful titles like Mass Effect, KOTOR, and Dragon Age. Here’s hoping by the end of the article that you’ll be convinced to try out Jade Empire.
Reviewed Well But Sold Below Expectations
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As of writing this article, Jade Empire has a Metascore of 89 and a user score of 8.3 on Metacritic which is seriously good. Back in 2007 when the the Special Edition was released, Games Radar gave it 4.5 out of five stars which again is seriously good. If the game reviewed well, why didn’t it sell as well though? The biggest answer is because of its launch year.
Jade Empire was released in April of 2005 for the original X-Box when the sixth console generation was nearing its end. The X-Box 360 was set to release in November 2005 and instead of buying a new game on an old console, people instead saved up money to buy a new console instead.
In an interview with gamesidustry.biz, former Bioware co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk said “But it’s interesting, because it reminds me of what’s going on right now with analysts saying that game sales are down because people are waiting for new consoles, and we released Jade Empire into that kind of window.”
By July of 2005, the game had sold 500,000 units with the goal being to sell one million units. From Dr. Zeschuk’s quote though, it sounds like it failed to reach its goal which is sad because a game as good and as ambitious as Jade Empire had every right to succeed.
Wuxia
Looking at the screenshots of Jade Empire you’d be forgiven for thinking it took place in ancient China. Instead, it’s heavily inspired by ancient China and uses Wuxia as its setting but it isn’t strictly set in China. To break it down though, Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction that features characters who can fight in an almost supernatural-like way such as being able to jump/fly through trees, channel their chi into attacks, etc.
Some good examples of Wuxia-inspired media is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Matrix, and Kill Bill.
Combat
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The combat in Jade Empire is both incredibly fun and also pretty simple at the same time. It’s a real-time action RPG with the main focus on being martial arts and magic that doesn’t overload the player with difficult combos. instead, using the A button on the Xbox controller uses the basic attack, the X button is a heavy attack, and using the two together acts as crowd control. The B button acts as the block button which is easy to remember.
You can chain attacks together but they’re pretty straightforward and not overly complex. Chi lets you both empower your attacks, let you use special abilities like transforming into a giant toad, ox, etc, and allowing you to heal yourself. All of that drains your chi though which you get back from gathering energy balls that enemies drop after being defeated.
It also features a focus mode which allows you to slow down time similar to the Max Payne games and Matrix films.
Morality System
Similar to KOTOR before it and Mass Effect after it, Jade Empire also has a morality system but unlike KOTOR’s which was pretty black and white given the light side/dark side nature of Star Wars, Jade Empire’s is more nuanced. Instead, it uses the way of the Open Palm/Closed Fist with both choices being an equally valid way of playing the game. While I primarily like to play good characters, there are times I’ve taken a CF option.
Where To Buy
You can pick up Jade Empire on Steam and for pretty cheap too due to the Steam Sale, From EA’s site, and Good Old Games. If this article convinced you to try out Jade Empire let me know what you thought of it in the comment section down below!
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