As reported by the Train2Game blog, Bioware have previously stated that World of Warcraft is a big influence on their upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic.

But a report from analysts Cowen and Company reports suggests the influence on Game Design may be too far reaching and in a negative way. It makes interesting reading for Train2Game students anticipating the Star Wars themed MMO.

“We got hands-on time with the game, and were largely unimpressed” reads the Cowen and Company post E3 report.

“Despite promises from EA/Bioware that the title represents a major step forward in MMO design, what we saw was essentially a World of Warcraft clone with Star Wars character skins and the Bioware RPG nice/nasty dialogue tree mechanism bolted on for non-player character conversations.”

The ‘Flashpoint’ dialogue tree mechanism is described in depth by Bioware in a Train2Game blog post from April this year.

Meanwhile, the Art & Animation of Star Wars: The Old Republic is described as “competent but hardly breathtaking.” Cowen and Company predict that the game won’t even see release this year.

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, publishers EA state that Star Wars: The Old Republic needs 500,000 subscribers to become profitable.

Train2Game students can attempt to see Star Wars: The Old Republic for themselves by signing up to be a beta tester. More information about how to do that is available on the Train2Game forum.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the Game Design of The Old Republic? Should it stick to the WoW formula or do something new? What would you like to see in the game?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]