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

"Good job, just need to get that exterminator to kill those bugs!"

Lets take a look at good old KotOR I (Knights of the Old Republic, for those of you who have been living in a cave for the last few years). The game of the year 2003, the only real Star Wars game that struck gold in the markets, an impressive storyline, One of the greatest RPG's ever made. Period.

Now lets look at the newly released KotOR II. It takes all the qualities of KotOR I and enhances them to some extent . But as I stated in the title, the bugs really bite! (I'm not even going to start elaborating)

This game is not for the impatient... Quests sometimes take very long times to complete, and you wont even see a lightsaber for a long long time.

The Graphics: Mostly, this hasn't been worked on. The graphics in KotOR II are just the same as in its predecessor, and that isn't a good thing. Modified and whatnot, its just the same silly KotOR with some more problems.
One of the many bugs is, sometimes, when you're watching a hologram of a conversation (star wars style yeah!) If you look at the person you immediately notice that the persons eye balls and his inner mouth organs can be seen. If you have an ATI card, it would be wise not to turn some of the graphic options on. The game cannot function properly with them. The environments need some work. The game still stutters a tiny bit on the best of PC's.

But, hey it's not that bad either. The combat sequences are beautifully done, the character models aren't bad, and the game doesn't need a PC built like a tank to play it decently.

The Sound: This is a Star Wars franchise. Even their crappiest of games have great music. The music in this game, however, is a blend of its own original music and a few drops from the movies. The Environment feel is also great.

The Gameplay: Not much has changed from the first game. In this you start as a slightly amnesiac exiled Jedi bereft of the force. As you play through the game new features such as, the influence meter. But as I stated before, If you've played KotOR I you'll master the game in a few minutes.

Randomness is also implemented in this game. So, if you want something else like a Dual lightsaber instead of a short lightsaber, just reload the area.

The only complain is that, in the beggining the building of a lightsaber. The lightsaber parts were painstakingly hard to find but after you finish every thing, your companion just makes it for you. ANTI-CLIMAX.

The Story: One word, Great. Story progression in this is wonderful. suppose you talk to one of your companions for a while about an enemy in the game, another one will comment that you've been spending time with him/her on the subject. Depending on whether you're light or dark sided the story will be different.

Buy or rent: Of course, if you're not fond of RPG's try to rent this first. But if you're a fan of them or Star wars this is a must buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/05