Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff got his hands on the playable Star Wars: The Old Republic demo at PAX East. He was the tank in the 4-player Taral V Flashpoint instance. How did it go? Read on to find out!

Following a few minutes of cutscenes and travel, we landed on Taral V. We all performed our buffing abilities and headed into battle. We saw some beasts up ahead, so as the tank I targeted one and decided to lead off with the Full Auto ability that Dickinson mentioned in the tutorial. It unloaded a lengthy round of shots into the monster, which definitely drew its attention. The two Jedi players attacked the enemy with their lightsabers while the Smuggler stayed in the background, shooting and healing at the same time.

As we continued to fight our way through the instance, I tried a variety of my damage-dealing attacks. Most of them involved the rifle, but I also had a couple of grenades at my disposal. One was an exploding sticky grenade, while the other allowed me to freeze an enemy in place as a form of crowd control. I never seemed to have a problem managing my ammo, which fills back up over time. However, I could always use Recharge and Reload out of combat to restore my health and ammo when necessary.

The fights varied between small and large groups of enemies. In the large groups, I tried to take advantage of a couple of my damaging AoE abilities. One of them could stun multiple enemies around me, which was definitely helpful. I also kept an eye out for interactive boxes that exploded when activated. They allowed us to take out large packs of mobs with ease.

As far as taunting was concerned, I used Sonic Round and Neural Jolt to get enemies off my party members. It could just be because I was so focused on combat, but the cooldown on the taunts seemed a little lengthy. They definitely appear to require some timing on the part of the tank, so I saved them until I absolutely needed them.

We made our way to the Imperial base and fought Captain Shivanek, a boss that releases a huge, angry pet named Ripper. We were quickly annihilated and respawned back at the starting point. After a long run back, we decided to try a different tactic. A staff member at the booth hinted that one of the enemies would become enraged if the other dies, so we should attempt to keep their health at about the same level.

We decided to go with the tank/off-tank battle plan. I focused on the Ripper while our Jedi Knight taunted the captain. We honestly came close to victory, but wiped again as our time ran out. The boss is certainly difficult, but I think a group of players familiar with their characters won't have too much trouble taking him down.

So what are my thoughts on the demo? It felt like Star Wars. The combat and storytelling all tied together perfectly with the franchise. The gameplay in Taral V is similar to dungeon runs in other triple-A MMOs, which players may view as a blessing or a curse. As a Star Wars fan, I enjoyed my brief time as a Trooper and am looking forward to getting in some more playtime in the future.

If you'd like to take your own look at the demo, BioWare has released a developer walkthrough video of the Taral V demo that I played at PAX East. Take a look and then leave your comments below!

Darryl Gangloff, Editor-in-Chief