Really cool, for 35$ I got 8 biowarian RPG's to play in a month.
From sweety Pollyanna diplomatic jedi and womanizing scoundrel (really, smuggler has that "thing" in his plot - sleep with a woman on every planet and then dump her with light or dark sided choices avaible.. I even got a catfight between goody jedi virgin and sith whore) to being "all bad" with imperial characters (bounty hunter sounds like Wolverine), everything in a one single pack.
Gameplay is not that bad, classes really change how it's played - you have your tank and spank, or go bold on them with cheezy jumping, or break boss fights and 2 or 4 characters recommended missions with stealth... then again, I never played WOW, and a lot of my enjoyment comes from socializing with other players and laughing at dialogue choices and some silly stuff. Me and my buddies use mics to rape imperials with our genious tactical plans on warzones (plans like "Oh noes, they go left, so we go right.. no wait, they go right, so we go left! oh wa- !!). Nothing like hitting powerful sith sorcerers in the balls and finishing them with a shotgun blast to the head.
Crafting is really easy (you may not even farm, jut send companions on missions), and arcade flying game spices things up at the beginning a little. There is a lot of ways of gaining experience in this game. You can be a lone loner and just kill mobs, you can make banalshit missions. You can, however, skyrocket to 50s by constanly PVPing, playing flying arcade or talking with your companions.
From howdoesitlook point of view, this game can be both gorgeous and ugly. A lot of textures and armor can't even compete with "free"-to-play korean leftovers, and because everyone in the game "talks", you have a really tight number of options when it comes to making unique characters, and being green or red with horns does't really helps. There are four body types though, which is a huge source material for laughs - nothing like kicking baddies with a fat trooper who looks like some comic fat general from Civil War, or a skinny lady with large grenade launcher, napalming shit like there is no other day.
Armor and weapons go from "huh, it looks ok" to "my god, what were they thinking". The better ones are usually on "tech" guys, like troopers and smugglers, while jedi have all kind of rags on them, which, at best, look like something a cyber-medic-monk would wear, and, at worst, would be a great present for Brazilian carnaval dancers.
A lot of monsters look really boring and forgetable, I did all "raids", and I was doing "OPS" (8 to 16 players missions), but the only thing I remember when it comes to enemies (of Republiqwans) is that gargantuan many-legged spider-looking droids are a wet dream of someone from design team.
The levels (raids and ops) are OK, a lot of times with puzzles and always unique ways of beating them too, but when it really is time for PrintScreen button, it definitely planets. Nar Shadda with golden hutt statue in a hat and almost BladeRunneresque scrapers with neon lights and twi-lek girls marketing some stuff afar is unforgetable, Tatooine is.. well, Tatooine, Hoth is icy and blue and coldier then what is behind my window, Alderaan is something I would like to live at, and even toxic wastes, while maybe not "fun" to run around, do not fail at making right impression. Too bad that a lot of beautiful sceneries crawl with bland and uninteresting enemies.
So, the last thing I did't speak about seems the "strongest of Bioware". How's the plot? Well I think there are 10 plots which can be generalized: 8 class plots, a planetary plots and an overall, "war" arc plot.
The most effort certanly got into class plots. Some of them are snoozzing fests, some of them are a lot of fun, but and overarching thing that binds quality of them together is, imo, that you always get what you expect from them. The jedi knight is a story of Luke, the consular is a watching-paint-dry diplomat, soldier blows shit up (though there is a lot more to a soldier, actually, and gals get their female Shepard by playing female commando voiced by, lala, JenniferMajesticHail), smuggler is being.. smuggler (a total ass, yes), sith inquisitor is about rising to power through dark and forbidden means... there is quality to it. A lot of it, of course, comes from the idea that the one who playes them would wet his/her pants just by listening to "classy" lines, but there is also some smart stuff here and there.
Now, the Planetary plots are of mixed quality, from intrigue and choices to just killing a baddy or completely absurd "ancient evil rising", I guess they are the most fun when you do them together with someone.
Oh, yeah, and there are filler quests, all "voiced". A total waste of resources and constantly reused "standard" phrases from your character.. which you start to hate really fast. Waste, total waste of "acting" moneys.
I think the overarching plot is the weakest. For those who ran Esseles and got their hopes high.. don't. Esseles, the lowest raid ("flashpoint", how they're called), has *the most* dialogue and choices, as well as intrigue intricated in it... and is by oneself is a bit mediocre. And for Bioware, "mediocre", yeah, means that other "missions" are so standart and bland you would't really remember them much. I should comment for main Villain of Republicans, though, Darth Malgus. He is an interesting character, more of that then you would think of a dolly whos main reason being born is to be thrown in a shaft and spawn loot chest. He is that kind "progressive" sith lord who does't care a shit for Emperor and tries to communicate with Republic to give Empire better position. Interesting, but completely undone by one "raid".
So, here you are, my honest opinion about 8 single player games in one with a grain of "socializing" with people. Overall I am having a lot of fun with it, though I am not sure it would last longer than 8 character plots. I will point as a conclusion, once again, that everything was written from Republic-side player (mostly), as from what I've played and seen, Empire actually has more effort put in it, both from visual point of view and plotwise, too. Also, while I don't have anything against asians, I do bear a grudge against their MMO's, as I really think there is *enough* of "hardcore" "free" grindfests in "wonderful asian fairytales" populated but big-eyes dollies with skirts long as my belt, so a "west" kind of oriented game where you can make a tough bearded fatso in leather jacket, going around shooting people with sawed-off goodness, and you can actually play well enough with items you get by yourself, really appeals to me more than anything moon-made, even if the latter doesn't have as much rough edges as the first.