Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

"A lordly game, but sadly a sequel"

Introduction

Having played the first KOTOR, I expected great things from the sequel, KOTOR II: The Sith Lords. While this game doesn't live up to my high expectations, it is still a highly enjoyable game, although the original is still better.

Gameplay: 8/10

The same gameplay as the original is back, and is almost exactly the same. This is the safe route taken when designing a game, ensuring no one will hate the new game if they liked the first, but almost inevitably dooming the game to be known as a worse game than the first KOTOR. KOTOR II's gameplay revolves around exploring several planets, fighting enemies including monsters and various species of intelligent life. The battle system is unique, and although it appears to be an action game to an observer, it is actually more turn-based than anything. The action can be paused at any time, and you can queue up different moves or fighting abilities for each character in your party. You can then sit back and watch your party slaughter the enemy. The combat is fun, however the difficulty level is not very high, and thus the battles take little strategy and devolve into mindless button clicking. Even the hardest bosses can be bested by repeatedly using your strongest moves. This leads to a sense of pointlessness, which in a game that tries to be as engaging as this one, isn't good at all. The out of battle game in KOTOR II is almost, if not more, fun than the battles. You can be either a dark or light Jedi, which is influenced by the conversations and actions you make with everyone around you. New in KOTOR II is the influence system, where party members that witness you doing something they approve of will become more closely aligned with you, allowing you to learn more about them, and in some cases granting other bonuses. All of this is fun, and in my opinion better than the fighting. Through crafty conversation choices you can avoid confrontation, extort money, or even kill innocents if the dark side is more your style. The gameplay is great, but you can't help but feeling that it was all more fun the first time in the first KOTOR. If you haven't played the first KOTOR, then you will probably rate the gameplay a nine or even a ten, but because this is a sequel, it loses points for not changing the formula much at all.

Story: 8/10

Because of the in-depth conversations in this game, story is an important factor. The story flows well between the planets you visit, with sidequests sometimes affecting the story hours later in a different planet. The story involves you, the Jedi exile, and your journey through the Star Wars galaxy running and fighting against the Sith, and trying to find out about your past. Playing the first KOTOR isn't a requirement, although there are numerous references to the first game including characters and even the main mode of transportation throughout the entire game. However, without spoiling too much, the story falls apart near the end, clearly showing that the developers were rushed when finishing the game. The main problems in the story become apparent then, and the lack of closure, the apparent pointlessness of your actions, and the randomness of some later plot points bring this score down a bit.

Controls: 8/10

There is nothing inherently wrong with the controls of this game, but there isn't much to get exciting over. Almost a carbon copy of the first game's, the controls work well, although it might have been nicer to have more hotkeys, and the ability to queue up more moves during battle. Other small annoyances include accidentally canceling an action by moving during battle (though this can be changed in the options menu,) some characters lagging behind in your party, and easier access to the map.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics in this game are, again, very similar to the first game's. The character models are passable, and some of the effects are pretty flashy and cool in battle. My main complaint about the graphics is with the smoke effects. My computer runs the game very smoothly at a high frame rate until I come upon any sort of smoke or fog, at which time my frame rate drops to only a few frames per second. This may seem like a minor problem, but when added with the passable models and the amount of smoke or fog there seems to be in this game, it becomes very annoying.

Sound: 10/10

The sound in KOTOR II is great, with perfect blaster and lightsaber sounds, and good background music as well. The ambient sounds and small sound effects add to the atmosphere too. The voice acting is also top notch, and thus overall the sound is stupendous.

Replay Value: 9/10

Replay value is one way in which this game shines very brightly. There are an incredible number of sidequests and different actions during the game, leading to a different experience every time you play. Each playthrough you can use a different party, focus on different weapon specialties, and a lot more. The replay value in this game keeps it from falling into a lower rating, and helps give this game its high final rating.

Overall: 8/10

KOTOR II would have been one of the top games of the year, if only it had been an original title. Because it is a sequel, it loses some of the fresh and new factor from the first title. Still, it is a quality game, and worthy of purchase for any PC gamer.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06