Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a sequel to the very popular single player RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic which came out for PC and Xbox in 2003. Like the original, the game is set in the Star Wars universe, many years before any of the movies. KotOR II takes place about 5 years after the end of the original KotOR, and features a completely new storyline, with some of the old characters and locations returning. In KotOR II, the players will become a former Jedi, who lost his Force powers after fighting in the Jedi Civil War. Over the course of the game, this ex-Jedi will discover why he lost his force powers, and why suddenly the Sith are looking for him again. The storyline of the game is quite complicated, and contains several twists, which makes it easy to sometimes get lost in it, but in the end it all becomes much clearer. In his journey, the exile will visit many planets from the Star Wars universe, and meet several characters that will be able to join him in his adventures. Some parts of the game are very linear, however most of the time it allows the player to go wherever he wants, and do whatever he wants to do. Sometimes, the player will be forced to fight his way out of a small map, other times he will be able to roam through cities, plains and jungles more freely. The maps in KotOR II are divided into several small zones, however they're usually packed with contents such as friendly characters or hostile NPCs that the player must fight with Throughout the game, the player can either become evil, and fall to the dark side of Force, or be good and lean towards the light side. Almost any situation that the game throws at you can be solved either peacefully, or violently. When faced with robbers attacking a defenseless civilian, you can either assist them with their exploits, or attempt to convince them to peacefully walk away. The player's choices will affect how the NPCs in the game react to him, and the player's alignment affect how the storyline plays out. This adds some replayablilty to the game, since after finishing the game as a character who helps everyone, you can play it again, and just cut down anyone who stands in your way. The game is somewhat long, by todays standards, and can take over 30 hours to finish, if the player tries to complete every little side quest they encounter. Throughout the 30 hours, the game alternates between fighting, exploring, making difficult decisions, and solving problems enough to keep you entertained. Although some of the parts of the game might feel a little bit boring, the storyline will make you want to get through them to find out what happens next. The graphics are certainly a weak point of the game. KotOR II uses the same engine that the first KotOR used, and although it doesn't look terrible, it certainly looks dated. The animations of characters look good, but everything else isn't as impressive. However, the graphics do not take much away from the game itself, and while they could be better, the game is good with the graphics that is has. The game's sounds are the usual sounds that you'll find in a Star Wars game. While they fit, and are good for a Star Wars game, they aren't amazing. voice overs, however, sound great. Any character that speaks English (or whatever it's called in the Star Wars universe) is fully voiced over, and generally the voices match the characters very well. Some aliens do not speak English, though, and for them, the game reuses a couple of sound clips of alien talk, which soon get annoyingly repetitive. Fortunately, the player isn't forced to listed to the same alien talk over and over again, and he can instead just read the “translation” in the subtitles, and skip the alien talk. The music is also similar to what you can find in other Star Wars games and movies, and it can help set the mood, but again, it's just good, and not great. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II is certainly one of the best single player RPGs that recently came out. While every other developer studio is jumping on the MMORPG bandwagon, Obsidian made a SP RPG that includes all the elements that make SP RPGs good. If you are looking for a good SP RPG, or played the first game, you may want to pick KotOR II up. If you are a Star Wars fan, this is one of the best Star Wars games that you can buy. While KotOR II has some shortcomings, they do not stop it from being a good RPG.
Other Helpful Reviews for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
The original KotOR earned its many awards. It was the best game of 2004. And from the start, this game took everything that was great about the original and improved it. The combat system was upgraded with new functio... Read Full Review
The main reason I played Kotor 2 is not because I am a big Starwars fan or a devoted RPG gamer. I played this game mainly because, being a girl, I prefer playing games with a female lead and there are not all that much ... Read Full Review
