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

"A lackluster sequel and over-all bad game."

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 The Sith Lords for the Microsoft Xbox.

The Review

When the first Knights of the Old Republic game was released in the summer of 2003 it was hailed as the best in both RPG and Star Wars gaming. Featuring a huge, detailed role playing experience that spanned 7 unique worlds KOTOR went on to when nearly ever major publications and organizations Game of the Year award. It was and still remains one of the finest titles to have come out in for next-gen hardware. Now less then 18 months later we have a sequel in the form of KOTOR 2 The Sith Lords. This franchise has switched developers since last we saw it. Was it improved upon or just more of the same? Sadly the answer is no to both. Let's review.

The Graphics

The Sith Lords graphics, while good, fail to impress on the powerful Xbox. Character models are generic in appearance. Nothing like seeing dozens of the same person walking the city streets to take you out of the story and is made a huge downfall when you take into account how often you have to talk to the characters. It really makes it hard to remember what to do when everyone looks the same. Character animation both in and out of combat is well done. This time around as your skill level goes up your character performs his actions in more impressive ways which is neat and give it that extra Star Wars feel which unfortunately is made a hindrance but the horrible frame rate problems you will encounter. NPC animation is adequate but becomes stale ad you interact with them. Citizens in the cities for the most part just stand around or tinker in one spot. It would have been nice to see more interaction between the NPC's to really bring the environments to life. On top of all this are horrendous clipping errors. You will see your character go through the environments more then you will like

Speaking of which the environments, while adequate in appearance, have a strong deja-vu feeling to them. The first time you are treated to a huge never-ending city it is breath taking. Second time you begin to wish for more variety. As if this were not enough the game recycles two whole planets from the original game, Dantooine and Korriban. On the plus side beside the aforementioned planets the rest are all planets we have never seen but have heard about in the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. It's a real treat to finally put a face to Telos; the home planet of Carth Onasi from the original. Over all while some locations are re-used they are faithfully reproduced and have a strong Star Wars vibe and do introduce some new weather effects but they come of looking pretty fake.

All these small problems add up to one unsatisfying game in the visual department and warrant a less then average score for The Sith Lords. This just wasn't what we have come to expect on the big green box especially considering how well the original did.

Score: 4/10

Sound

If you have read any of my other Star Wars related reviews then you will know that I'm a huge fan of both John Williams and the Star Wars universe of memorable sounds and tunes. If it's one department you can count on in a Star Wars game it the sound and once again we aren't disappointed. Everything here is faithfully reproduced to its exact state found in the films. The unique sound of lasers whizzing bye or the hum of a lightsaber is unforgettable and enough to get the fans riled up. The tunes still have their ability to get you into the action even considering that some are more then 20 years old. Very good work here, Lucasarts never disappoints in sound. More impressive is that all the dialogue in the game is spoken to the player along with subtitles. However like the graphics deja-vu once again sets in. Everyone sounds the same, most notably with the non-Basic speaking NPC's. You will clearly hear them use the same sound bite of what is supposed to be alien language used over and over again to mean many different lines of dialogue. You may not think it is that big a deal but trust me it is. An RPG is meant to surround you with the story and while it gets some points for not making us lazy geeks read it falls when you consider how half done the voice work was done. It ends up hurting the immersion factor more then it helps. A phrase comes to mind: Go big or don't go at all. Williams stirring music is not enough to save The Sith Lords from another below average score.

Score: 4/10

Story

The story is by far the weakest element in The Sith Lords. First off like it's predecessor this game runs rampant over the established timeline of Star Wars. It takes liberties, changes things and creates things when they had already been established and accepted. For game that markets itself as a prequel to the films and novels this is un-acceptable.

The story starts with a small prologue where you play as returning character trying to save your vessel as it drifts through space damaged. This can be skipped. Afterward this main story line starts. You play an outcast that fought with Revan and Malak and was exiled from the Jedi Order due to his part in the war. The game does manage to ask not so subtle questions to find out how you finished the first game and this does change the overall story but not enough that you miss anything if you are new to the series. Go ahead and answer truthfully or fill in what you want. It really doesn't matter. Stripped of the force it is up to you weather you decide to make amends in order to reclaim your past or seek revenge and take what is yours. This is the best aspect of the franchise and is done well but the over all scope of the story seems generic in terms of plot twists and developments. With out spoiling anything for you, let's just say you will see the twists coming from a mile away. Star Wars experience is all about the story and if you don't have that you have nothing but another sup-par score.

Score: 4/10

Game-play

Game-play has remained intact from the original with a few much needed improvements. Everything is more streamlined and made to be more accessible. Once again the game is played in a 3rd person view and battle take place in a real-time. You select what each character does then stand back as they do it. Scripts are available so you can concentrate on your main character but taking care of three is no major task. Enemies can been seen and avoided and you are free to run from all battles. Like it's predecessor enemies do not re-spawn which gives you a sense of some accomplishment.

Outside of battles you will find yourself doing side-quests that range from simple fetch missions to more complex crime solving quests. This offer variety and are well scripted although the graphics and sound problems already mention tend to make them a chore to sit through. Also returning are the turret, swoop racing and pazzak mini-games which this time around are 100 percent optional. Pazzak is actually pretty fun, reminiscent of Blackjack. Again not all is well in the galaxy far, far away. This game suffers from some of the worst bugs to be found in any game. More often then not your Xbox will stutter or just give out and crash while playing. In the video game business of today this is not acceptable. This is what bug-testing is for. Also of notice is the fact that this game is criminally short. It will take you on average 25 hours to complete with all quests done.

New game-play aspects have been added but they all feel tacked on, the new lightsaber colors are horrible(BRONZE??) and the added character class comes to late in the game to be much help. Average game-play marred by bugs warrants The Sith Lords in average score.

Score: 5/10

Controls

Controls also remain unchanged for the most part. The left stick moves your party leader while the right moves camera. Triggers cycle through enemies, A is used to make selections both in battle and in quest, B is universal cancel, X is used to queue commands in battle and is not used in quest, Y to remove those in queue and to use your show-off move in quest, White button brings up the pause, black lets you cycle the lead to any of your party, Start brings up the menu and finally Back puts you in solo mode where you control the selected character by themselves. Controls are easy to get used to and solid through out.

Score: 8/10

Overall

Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords just doesn't add up to a purchase worthy title. Fans looking for more innovation like that found in the original will be disappointment while those new to the series will wonder what the fuss is about. There is nothing here that makes you say wow but plenty here to make you say damn in way of glitches and bugs that ruin the experience. Only the die-hard Star Wars fans need even play this game. If you absolutely most play this game then go ahead and rent. You'll be glad you did.

Score: 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 02/08/05