Star Wars Galaxies was released in June 2003 to a public hungry for a MMORPG based in that galaxy far, far, away. To say it received a mixed reception is a Jabba-sized understatement. While many critics praised its ambition, the overriding sentiment was that Galaxies was clearly an incomplete product. Over the next year, LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment would respond to those critics by releasing creature mounts and vehicles, player cities, advanced dungeons, and Jedi, along with a slew of profession revamps and combat fixes. But you still couldn't fly a spaceship. That is, until last month's release of the Jump to Lightspeed expansion pack.

A full-featured space expansion in the vein of Wing Commander, and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Jump to Lightspeed is Sony Online Entertainment's "New Hope"—they hope it will bring new players who were fans of those classic games, and bring back veteran players who've abandoned Galaxies altogether.

It took me a week and half to finish this expansion pack, and by "finish" I mean attain the Master Pilot rank and all the goodies that come with it. This feature will recount my Jump to Lightspeed experience from start to finish.

Does Jump to Lightspeed "fix" Galaxies?

Well, this presupposes that you feel Galaxies is a bad game, which as a 14-month veteran I do not. Still, Galaxies has taken a lot of heat for being boring and lacking in content, and there is some truth in that. My pleasure in the game now comes from interacting with the community, helping new guildies, and occasionally grinding combat experience to unlock my Jedi powers (which, at the rate I'm going, will take months).

So a lot of gamers were holding out hope that the "Space Expansion" would be Galaxies' savior; that it would provide fresh content and excitement and put the "star" back in Star Wars. And certainly it does that. But it's critical to understand that Jump to Lightspeed is virtually a separate game from Galaxies proper. It doesn't "fix" or "enhance" anything in the ground game, beyond adding two new species and a "Shipwright" profession.

Bounty Hunter players can't track bounties in space. Smuggler players can't smuggle goods in space. Other than money, friends, and familiarity with the interface, there is no advantage that I had loading up the space expansion over a newbie to the game. That's good news for new players—they can be flying missions within minutes of logging in—but veterans or returning players looking for a more complete experience may be let down.

So how does Jump to Lightspeed compare to classic LucasArts space sims like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter?

I'd say it's comparable to those older games. It does feel a bit slower paced, in that none of the dogfights will leave you sweaty and out of breath, but the combat is still exciting and challenging.

The graphics and sound in Jump to Lightspeed put the older games to shame, of course. Everything in space is three-dimensional. Nebulas in particular are nothing short of breathtaking, with lightning effects that will make you jump out of your seat. Planets are appropriately enormous, and have layers of rotating cloud covers. And with all these gorgeous effects, there's absolutely no lag whatsoever, even in the more populated space zones. It's a refreshing change from the often lag-ridden cities on the ground.

But where the game takes a massive leap forward from the old LucasArts games is in the area of ship customization. It's initially daunting, quite frankly, but ultimately rich and rewarding; number crunchers and stat freaks will go nuts with all the options. More on this later.