After a really exciting November, December feels like a real bummer. There were no new videogames worth writing about last week. This week would be the same if not for one of the biggest MMO launches in quite some time.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)

People are really excited about this one. Hell, I am too. It’s a ‘Star Wars’ game without the word Lego in the title and it’s actually good. It’s been some time. Even more exciting is that the game kicks the crap out of the absolutely dreadful ‘Star Wars Galaxies’, the last MMO to bear the good name of the holy trilogy.

I’ve been playing in the Beta and now in the early-bird trial, or whatever they’re calling the “You paid us earlier so you get to play sooner” phase. The game is impressive and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve only reached level 12 since I’ve been going through a few different classes to find what I like, but it feels a lot like ‘Knights of the Old Republic’.

That’s a good thing and a bad thing, of course. It’s great because I’m able to play it on my own and have a lot of fun. It’s less great because I’m in a guild with my friends and I just end up turning off the chat. Guilds seem unnecessary at this point in the game and just distract from what’s actually a pretty strong and interesting story.

As a guy who has played every major MMO since ‘EverQuest’ and some of the minors to boot, I’m happy to recommend ‘Old Republic’. Is it going to be a ‘World of Warcraft’ killer? Not at all, don’t be silly. But I think that it stands a really good chance of surviving without having to go free-to-play like most MMOs end up doing after a year or so.