Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

By Jonathan Berohn

With the glut of titles out there, it's hard to know which XBox games are worth a look, let alone must-buys.  When Lucas Arts introduces a follow-up to 2003's Game of the Year, however, that's probably a pretty good place to start.  Sure enough, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords doesn't disappoint.  It has the same great game-play as the original, with enough new features and add-ons to make the sequel even more compelling than the original Knights of the Old Republic (KOR from here on out).

Game Play

The fact that Lucas switched the KOR franchise to a new developer initially gave me some reservations.  I remember when EA Sports farmed out the Sega Genesis version of their NHL franchise.  Disaster would be too kind of a description for that misadventure.  Obsidian, Lucas's choice here, steps in a does a great job.  They know enough to be faithful to the original while realizing that the legion of KOR fans will want more than simply a repackage.

New Features

The first new feature that jumps out is the advanced Jedi classes you now get to choose for your main character.  There are 3 Light and 3 dark side Jedi prestige classes that let you do everything from master melee combat or force powers to becoming full-fledged assassin.  Each of these classes, in addition to inherent strengths and weaknesses, comes with special powers that the other classes can't access-such as advanced combat skills, special force powers, and stealth attack.

Once you've picked a prestige class (at any time actually-but the way the game works it will probably be after), you will find many more options for upgrading your beloved lightsabre.  This time around you can add up to five items to each lightsabre to improve offensive, defensive, and force capabilities.  All in all, you can really tailor your lightsabre to your playing style.

In one of the best changes in KOR2, you can also tailor your party members to your playing style.  By gaining influence with your companions, you can sway them to your alignment, and ultimately train several of them to become fellow Jedi or Sith-depending upon your own path, of course.

Plot

WARNING: this section does include a few spoilers.  I won't give away the store, of course, but I will mention a few scenes and situations that you might not want to read about if you want a completely pure experience.  On the other hand, there are a couple shortcomings in the game that I would have liked to know about before picking it up, so here goes.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Remember what I said about the new stuff? Well, that doesn't hold true for everything.  You revisit 2 of the worlds from the original KOR, even making your way through the same maps (albeit with considerable changes).  I must say I did like interacting with the same world at a later date, but a little variety on those old worlds couldn't have hurt.

New Areas

The variety is there, though with the new worlds and space ships you get to explore.  By my count there are a total of 12 worlds and ships to explore.  Even with the 2 you've already visited in KOR that's quite a lot of exploring to do.  There's no underwater scene in this installment-a great disappointment to my kids-but Obsidian continues the tradition of incorporating some unique environments.

New Characters

One of the most interesting new developments is that you have to play some of the quests with other characters while your main character is either out of commission or otherwise occupied.  Again, KOR veterans will remember one instance of this, but KOR2 really makes these interludes much more organic to the game.

Build up to a Letdown

The only problem I have with KOR2 is the ending.  The last world is pretty mundane, and-for all the trouble you go through to influence and train your party-they don't have much impact on the end game.  The final showdown is also much easier than the original KOR final battle, and the end cut scene is downright disappointing.  All in all though, the adventure of getting to the end makes KOR2 quite an exciting and addicting game.  Be prepared to spend about 30-40 hours to complete the game wth your first character.  And then there are only 5 more to go.