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

"A great sequel to a great game"

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." These words have always been words that excite people and get them ready for something great, most of the time, anyway. And this game delivers that great. It is a sequel to the first Knights of the Old Republic, and is nearly just as good, in my opinion. The game has a good plot, and is overall very enjoyable. I love games with the "good or evil" decisions. And having more than one ending is always great. You get a reasonable amount of different looking players and stat modifiers to choose from, plus three very diverse classes.

The plot, basically, takes place thousands of years before the movies take place, and five years after the first Knights of the Old Republic. This plot seems quite a bit darker from the first Knights of the Old Republic, although, they each have some bad stuff going on here and there. You get some of the original characters as your party members. The most notable are the droids. There are a lot of twists and turns with the plot, and I couldn't help but get a “rushed ending” kind of feeling, although, you can tell its building up something great. Still it is a good plot. It is harder to understand it if you compare it to the first Knights of the Old Republic game, though. One of the most enjoyable parts, for me, to this game is the way you progress how so much of the plot moves on and how you get to know the history of your party members. The game is reasonably long with good environments to explore, most of them well known in the Star Wars universe. And there are a lot of side quests that you get to do, making it all the longer. I highly doubt that people who play this game will be able to go through the main plot without doing a sidequest. They are very enjoyable and usually reward you with a good amount of money (especially when you're evil) or useful items or weapons. The game is, however, a little shaky in the end, with a somewhat bad ending (either way you go), and easy enemies to kill, but, still enjoyable. That is, in my mind, the worst part of the game and it isn't even all that bad.

The gameplay is very much the same from the first Knights of the Old Republic. It's a real-time battle system where you choose to attack, use items, or use special powers, such as the force or stat increasers. You can pause the battle at any time and plan you and your party's next move. This game also has a few puzzles, which are either enjoyable or frustrating, but hey, that's what puzzles are for. You always have to mindful to your surroundings in this game. You don't want to miss any chances for new quests, items, or useful plot tools. There is a very nice variety of items, like special powerful blasters, armor, and some slightly different lightsabers. And, of course, grenades are fun. Another thing that make the combat fun is all the powers. Force Storm is insanely fun to use. Not all powers, however, are made for combat. The force power I always get right away is force persuade, which gives you extra options that usually work (unless your dealing with those annoying force resistance creatures) and add some more fun to the game. Other powers you get may not be ones you choose when you level up, but some may be gained automatically, depending on your class, or there are others taught to you by the annoying, cryptic, and old Jedi you get as a party member in the beginning of this game. One of the new things in this game are the fighting “styles', if you wish to call them that. I, for one, never really changed these, so I don't know how useful they are, but sure, give them a try, there probably useful.

This game has great music. It has all the good old (and new, if you have to be that way) music from all the movies and past games. It has great sound effects, too. I just gain a great sense of satisfaction whenever a lightsaber is turned on.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 comes with all sorts of diversity in the environments. There are loads of enemies to beat up, especially the special enemy bosses the have no standing at all in the main adventure and are very difficult to beat (the tougher the boss, the better the award, am I right?). Although, this game has more secret stuff than the first Knights of the Old Republic (and I love RPGs with secret stuff), but, everything is much darker (although that isn't really bad for most gamers, and hardly an issue with me) and there is a little bit less variety in everything. That isn't a problem, though. It is rather difficult to continue a good series, but they still pulled it off just fine.

Overall, this game is great, and the only minor flaw is the rushed ending (some will think this as a major downer, for this game's plot is its life), although it doesn't prevent me from giving this game a perfect score. It had all the great RPG elements, and its combat was well done. It had good puzzles, too. A little darker then the first Knights of the Old Republic, and it has a little more complicated plot, but it is still, overall, an enjoyable game filled with enjoyable characters, diverse environments, and plenty of sith lord butt to kick. The best part of this game, the part that earned its place as one of my favorites, the thing that gives it a perfect score, is plot modifiers, such as dark side and light side choices. I just love all the different choices you have when you talk to other people. And that is why this game is so great.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/06