Solid sequel that feels rushed.
User Rating: 7.8 | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords XBOX
Let's start with a disclaimer: if you haven't played through the first Knights of the Old Republic game, or if you didn't like it... this is not the game for you. This game makes numerous references to the first game, and while having played it is not strictly necessary to comprehend the plot, you will be missing quite a bit of nuance. Moreover, the gameplay is essentially identical and the story development is very similar, so if the first didn't appeal to you, this one certainly won't. Now, to business. Knights of the Old Republic 2 (KOTOR2) is set several years after the events of the first game. The Republic, weakened by the apocalyptic Jedi/Sith power struggle, is teetering on the verge of collapse. To make matters worse, all of the Jedis seem to have died or vanished. You play as "the exile" a former Jedi with a troubled past. One of the prime criticisms of the first game was the tedious period at the start of the game before the main character gained force powers. Thankfully, you have almost immediate access to The Force this time around, though you won't see your all-powerful lightsaber for some time. The game plays, start-to-finish, very similarly to the first. Starting out in a linear fashion before presenting the player with a variety of planets to visit and explore in any order. The two most noticable changes to the gameplay come in the form of influence over your party members' alignment and an enhanced item modification system. The influence system is an interesting, if occasionally confusing, addition that adds considerable depth to the leader/follower dynamic in your group. If the player takes actions or says things in conversations that a party member agrees with, the player will gain influence with that party member. Think of it as a measure of that character's respect for you. Good (light-side) party members respond favorably when you aid the weak and oppressed, whereas evil (dark-side) party members revel in carnage and a general "the weak exist to serve the strong" attitude. If you gain enough influence or respect with a party member, they will generally receive some kind of bonus or improvement. It is also possible to convince heavily influenced, non-robotic party members to become Jedi (light or dark, depending on your alignment), greatly improving their overall effectiveness in combat. The item modification system of the first game received a significant overhaul as well. There are now many more upgrade items to fuse with your weapons and armor this time around, yielding much greater diversity in the equipment at your disposal. Additionally, the player can actually create their own upgrade items, based on their proficiency at the various skills (computer use, demolitions, etc.). Likewise, unneeded items can either be sold for credits or broken down into raw components for construction into more beneficial upgrade items. Players who keep their equipment up-to-date with the most powerful upgrade items they can create will have a significant advantage in combat situations. Speaking of powerful items, the game's developers are quite a bit more generous this time around. You'll be finding items by the game's half-way point that dwarf the best that the first KOTOR had to offer. This leads to combat being somewhat easier than the first game, which wasn't terribly challenging to begin with. While it's definitely fun to be a whirlwind of destruction, you're so powerful that very little of the combat seems particularly dangerous and so there is very little of the satisfaction that comes from defeating a difficult foe. Graphically, this game is... well... dated. The first KOTOR was nothing to write home about, and this game looks nearly identical two years later. Characters all run with a stiff gait (though combat looks very nice) and the various worlds are all quite sparse and drab. Individual areas tend to be fairly small, and there is a hefty load time (sometimes over 30s) when you travel between them. When compared to recent to games like Halo 2 or Ninja Gaiden, it's obviously time for the developer to retire this engine. The sound is quite good, with a stirring orchestral score and voice acting that is generally excellent. I only had two issues with the sound. First, it was inexplicably very quiet, even with the sliders at maximum. Players will have to turn their television or stereo up quite a bit to make out what the characters are saying without reading the sub-titles. This mostly becomes an problem when you switch to some non-KOTOR2 form of entertainment and get blasted off your couch because you forgot to turn your sound down to normal levels again. The second issue, and this one is really nit-picky, is that the non-important characters seem to have much less to say in this game. In a single area of the game, you'd be lucky to hear more than 2-3 ambient conversations. It's a minor problem that is symptomatic of the larger, overall problem this game suffers from. Knights of the Old Republic 2 feels rushed; there's no other way to put it. Numerous quests or force powers don't work quite as advertised. The game will occasionally freeze, forcing you to reboot the Xbox and costing you any progress made since your last save. There are numerous infinite experience/money/etc. exploits to be found. Generally, this game feels like it needed another month or two in testing, but got rushed out the door for the holiday buying season. Granted, this is an incredibly complex game that keeps track of a mind-boggling assortment of variables, but still... with no method of patching bugs like PCs have, obvious mistakes become a good deal less forgivable. Overall, this is a game that will greatly appeal to those looking for more of what they loved in the first KOTOR. Just don't expect much more than that. 
