EA Is Giving Away BioWare Martial Arts RPG Jade Empire Free Of Charge

 EA’s got a new On the House game once more, in an effort to win over a few strays who haven’t installed Origin yet. Hot on the heels of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, it’s the Jade Empire: Special Edition which you can now add to your account free of charge.

BioWare’s criminally overlooked martial arts RPG was all kinds of awesome back in 2005, but I’m not sure how well it’s aged.

It was BioWare’s last game before Mass Effect, and it’s lack of commercial success is probably why we saw Dragon Age: Origins launched in 2009. Don’t let its obscurity fool you though, Jade Empire was a BioWare game through and through. It has you playing as an orphan in a village, under the care of Master Li. He teaches you all about the martial arts, before danger threatens your homeland and you embark on a pretty epic quest to be the kung fu master and fend off the impending evil. As you'd expect from a martial arts game, combat's quite action focus, although cool-down timers prevent you from spamming the deadlier attacks. Jade Empire was a sort of halfway house between old-school RPGs and the modern console-oriented ones we see today. 

As you'd expect from a martial arts game, combat's quite action focus, although cool-down timers prevent you from spamming the deadlier attacks. Jade Empire was a sort of halfway house between old-school RPGs and the modern console-oriented ones we see today.