The Fourth of July, 2005. A time of family, food, and fireworks. But this year, that morning held another memorable moment - Knights of the Old Republic II is history!

So, on to my thoughts. First, this Knights was everything I could have hoped for after playing the first one. Great battles, interesting characters, and (above all) an amazing story. Suiting up in the Ebon Hawk for the second time never felt so good.

There were a few weak points. On Malchor V, when Hanharr come back to fight Mira, I had to roll my eyes a little. How did that all happen? Did Kira bring him? Why was Mira just wondering around the planet? And then, after the fight, I just let him walk away (light side)? Kind of lame.

Another weak story point also had to do with the final planet. You see your ship fall to its death down the cracks of Malchor V. As a matter of fact, the cut scene is called, "The Death of the Ebon Hawk." Yet, when my character needs to leave the planet, the ship just floats up and takes him away. And what about the other characters? Darth Traya (Kira) tells you what happens to everyone, but then you fly away from the planet without dropping anyone off. Where did they go? How did they get to the future that Kira saw for them?

I guess I had problems with the story because, to me, that was the best part of the game. And with that said, that still was the best part of the game. When you went back to Dantoonie to meet the three Jedi Masters who you spend the entire game up to that point searching for and they simply try to sever your connection with the force again, I couldn't believe it. I really thought, based on the dialog from at least two of the Masters, that they had learned from the mistakes that they admitted they made when judging me before. Yet, as I stood there, they told me what a danger I was and how I had to be stopped.

And then Kira comes in and kills them! That blew me away! I thought she has just used the force to simply to hurt them, but when I walked up to their bodies they were dead! Now what? Ah, onto Malachor V. The whole sequence of going through the ancient temple, fighting Darth Sion, and finally facing Kira (Darth Traya) was fantastic. (Facing the other Sith Lord was also sweet. Landing on the Ravager, placing the bombs, then the long walk up to his bridge to finally face him. . . very dramatic - loved it.) So she was a Sith - even though she didn't want power. She wanted the death of the Force - and sacrificed herself for my character to try and accomplish it. The connection with Revan and my character, that he left to fight the true Sith in their empire and that I might also have a similar destiny, gave the two games a nice continuity.

The final scene of the Ebon Hawk sailing out into open space after the destruction of Malchor V was nothing short of cinematic. The music added the final touch to truly send off a great game.

One of the greatest compliments you can give a game is to want more, and I can't wait for Knights of the Old Republic III.