BioWare tease “super secret space project” for Star Wars: The Old Republic

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If there’s one problem with The Old Republic – sorry, let me start that again – if there are 99 problems with The Old Republic, one of them is that compelling spaceflight is something that largely happens in cutscenes, to other people. More often than not, you’ll teleport up to the mothership and back down to another planet without once glancing out the window to take in the great black beyond. That’s probably not quite right.

BioWare Austin might just be doing something about it. Their “super secret space project” looks like a major rethink of the game’s limited interstellar combat.

SWTOR’s space combat missions have to date been exclusively on-rails affairs, allowing players barely enough room to barrel roll within the constraints of their screen. Bit rubbish, really. If the brief bit of new footage released to fans at a recent Seattle community event is anything to go by, however, some form of mouse-free combat is due to be implemented:

What’s more, a diligent miner has uncovered a host of exciting words in SWTOR’s data strings. One of the most frequently reoccuring is ‘PvP’, and some seem to relate to new ships across three classes: Heavy, Medium and Light.

We’re drifting into speculation-sec space now, of course. I’m convinced all BioWare need do is give players an excuse to fly a little too close to the hull of a big grey ship to the splat-splat accompaniment of laser fire. And unless I’m mistaken, exactly that happens at about 0:38.

The original KOTOR’s space sequences were rubbish too, you’ll remember. Does this sound a little better?