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

"Outstanding game with a very deep story"

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, sequel to the award winning KOTOR I, continues off of the story and opening up whole new dimensions of the Star Wars universe. Picking up where the first one left off, you find that Revan has left and his/her whereabouts are currently unknown. The Jedi have began to vanquish, as the Sith have been hunting them down and destroying them. You play as a former Jedi member, who was exiled for going to war with Revan during the Mandalorian wars against the wishes of the other masters. You wake up, with having lost your connection to the force. Among your party, you meet an old and wise woman of great mystery who assumes the role of mentoring you. Kreia and the Exile form a bond, and with it, she is able to aid you with your recovery back to the force.

After leaving the first planet, you begin to slowly recover to the force and gain more powers and become powerful. As you visit all of the planets, you interact with so many and actually influence the outcome of those worlds. Through your actions, whether you want to be evil or fight the good fight, you will influence all those around you. And on each planet, you will inevitable run into many who will join you. Each companion adds to the story and learning about their history, gets even more personal and really throws you into the story and you can feel their pain. As time goes, depending on your influence with each of them, they take on the same alignment (good, bad or neutral) as you.

Throughout the game, you will run into many who are trying to kill you: Bounty hunters, the Sith, among others and while trying to survive, you must also learn why you were exiled and throughout the game, you learn what has happened to you that no other Jedi could go through. And on top of that, you struggle to understand why you did the things you did during the war and try to figure out who you are and overcome your past. Playing as either a Jedi or Sith, you can try and save the galaxy by ensuring that the Sith are stopped or you can give in to your hatred and destroy the remaining Jedi Masters and become the unstoppable Sith Lord!

Unique features that are different than the first KOTOR:

Influence System: One of most interesting features is the influence system. Every action that you do, will impact one or more of your characters, either postively or negatively. Having more influence for each character will cause many great things, one of which is turning them into Jedi. You can sometimes get increased skills or more power for having high influence. And the higher the influence, the more they align to whatever side you choose.

Companions as Jedi: Certain companions with a high enough influence, will convert over to Jedi, with the ability to use lightsabers and force powers. Your companions fighting abilities will be greatly enhanced and converting them, is one of the most satisfying things in this game, as you become the teacher and can allow them to become Sith or Jedi!

Randomized items: The game has the randomized items feature, which means that there is no set default at which items you will get, though certain items, such as lightsaber parts or fully made lightsabers are specifically set at certain locations.
Whether in a container or items dropped from dead enemy corpses who had the misfortune to fight you, each item is random and you never know what you might get. Sometimes you might get items that boosts your stats while other times, the more common worthless equipment.

Music: Of course, KOTOR II has the opening music that forever has changed the way we view the first few minutes of movies and games but certain songs within this game triggered at key points adds greater emotion and in some cases, a sense of urgency while other times you will find it soothing and uplifting. The music definitely is amazing.

Graphics: Just as in the first one, KOTOR II has a very visually wonderful environment. Everything from the rain, wind to the dark and morbid surroundings, makes this game appear as real. The finesse of drawing and spinning your lightsaber all the way to the very detail of each character and outfit, really gives meaning to "attention to detail". The graphics are exceptional.

Play time/Replayability: Caution: Once you start to play the first few hours of the game, you will extremely hooked and will want to play hours upon hours. It can become easy to start in the afternoon and play well into the early morning. Among the loading times, once you plunge into the heart and soul of the game, it will increase your desire to finish as soon as possible. And when you have finished one round through, you will be almost certain to want to play again, whether to try and play with a different alignment or make different choices on each planet, it's definitely worth playing more than once and I can say that it's very beneficial to having the story from more than one view. You will play this more than once.

Overall: The story is one of the best and it does pull you in, making this mere game become a reality. Everything from the wonderful music cued at pivotal points in the game, the voices of your companions, along with the story, takes the Star Wars universe to a whole new level and deeply entrenches the player. This game is one of a kind and after so many hours, you will have a hard time wanting to leave your over-heated controller, as this game is very addicting. I love this game and needless to say, this game is one of the best ever!! Excellent graphics, sound, music and development. This is a must get game!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/05