Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - Sith Lords (PC)

The graphics engine appears to be very similar to the previous KOTOR game, which is adequate for the game, but certainly not jaw dropping in any way.

The same excellent gameplay is there, with a few new tweaks (more workbench options, a combat stance mode, a few extra force powers, etc...) all of which add to the game, and are introduced slowly so as not to swamp the user with too many new things.

The plot is long and just as full of as many twists and turns as the first one - which is great. It will help to have played the first game, as there are many references back to it.

My only gripe and the reason for not giving it 5 stars is that is just doesn't feel finished. It has crashed to desktop once, the cut scenes sometimes finish before they are completed, and conversation takes place sometimes with the person facing the wrong way, or hands typing on a computer that is not there. Some of the voice acting has a bit of a "first take" about it, where a second or third may have been needed to get it 100% right.

So great game - wait for the patch! (or play the original if you have not already done so)

Anyway, I think that this game is an excellent one. The voice acting is great, the plot is deep, and the mysteries of your past are extremely driving, possibly because the original would fill in the gaps. Anyway, you see the return of some of the old characters from the original, which is a nice touch. The combat system is fine, not perfect, although there is the tendency that characters take a while to execute the moves, and a bit of standing there doing nothing between the moves (like in the original), but that's fine.

The game forces you to not only make choices about your skills and attributes, but your relationship with others and the force. Your skills and attributes can affect what happens in the game (possibly bypassing a bunch of enemies by handily opening a low security door), or maybe you can use these to discover a merchant is lying to you about a droid's price, and you can save med packs and also credits with these skills! Also your relationship with others can affect whether you can train them as Jedi and they will become more inclined to your side of the force, and your actions will also affect some people. The bonuses given by your increased influence is huge. Also, your actions will affect your alignment with the force and therefore affect your companions and the outcome of the game.

The graphics are on par and the lightsabre fights are always a joy to watch. I mean, who can resist some nice flashy lightsabre combat? Also the sparking swords are fun. The AI is fine, and the music is good. The juice lies not in the combat, but your relationships.

The game includes lightsabre stances, all with their advantages and some without disadvantages. However, they simply didn't make it obvious enough what is the best against what by making it really terrible against it, so you CAN leave it on one, but I find it just makes my life a tiny bit easier.

Possibly, the most tedious, but for me the most fun bit is upgrading your weapons. The possibilities are huge, with your skills affecting the upgrades you can create, and the amount you can breakdown and then recreate items. The items make your weapons more effective and you can feel proud when your weapons deal in excess of fifty damage: you've come a long way.

I feel, however, that too much time had been spent on side-quests rather than the juicier main plot which is unfortunately too short for a game this long. The ratio just isn't right.

The original is great, but I've played it waaaay too much.

Overall: 92%

Warning: There might be a complaint form the game when it says you don't have a graphics card capable of handling OpenGL 1.4 or higher, or you simply don't have it. I solved the problem when I downloaded the latest update from NVIDIA.

Initial gameplay expectations were somewhat blunted. Whilst the plot expanded itself in the typical RPG-fashion (stepped encounters, whilst gameplay is explained and the player familiarizes themselves with aspects of fighting and other interactions), I felt it was somewhat lacking in depth compared to the first chapter.

There was littler intra-planet interactions, with each planet seemingly encompassing its own discrete Universe, unlike the first, where several quests could only be completed across two or three planets.

This had the added bonus of making for more challenging gameplay, as well as enabling the storytellers to incorporate changes in your environment, ostensibly based on your gameplay, but skillfully carried out, nonetheless.

The graphics were somewhat more simplistic than the first - if you recall the breathtaking views on the mysterious "Unnamed" world - and seemed altogether less smooth, especially during combat, and when turning corners, or running. Game sprites "skipped" round corners, or sometimes, ended up in a totally different area in a corridor, when simply running straight down the centre of it!

Combat itsef was mostly unchanged. Although mysterious new "lightsaber forms" are added, I have completed the game and still fail to see their true usefulness when weighed against a good belt of "force lightening". Considering you do not get them until later, you cannot really even see any benefits from them when your characters are weaker, and such techniques might count for more.

More mature players will enjoy the possibilities opened by such additions as the Workbench and Labstation - facilities enabling a player to manufacture and upgrade armour, and recycle unwanted items, or duplicates, with each individual character outperforming others at certain abilities, thus opening new or advanced items for creation. Ultimately, though, such features are not truly required to complete the game.

Then, the finale. After thoroughly playing the build-up to these events, I was anticipating an earth-shattering finale with amazing spangly graphics as a reward for taking on half the Sith, single-handedly (a minor disappointed, too, having spent the whole game building up my comrades). Your allies play virtually no part in this endgame, and you only know of the events thereafter from questioning your nemesis prior to their ultimate defeat.

No spangly graphics. No amazingness in pixels. No closing shots or conversations afterwards, with allies. Just a few short sentences describing the immediate (in most cases) hereafter before your nemesis croaks it.

There were even inaccessible places on the map where it was obvious the developers had sliced great chunks out of the plot, as well as the disjointing occuring with the final activation of the shadow drive mission, with the Droid. SO disappointing.

After having taken so long to build up the storyline, I felt short-changed at such a meagre ending and would have spent my time differently, throughout the game, had I known. Additionally, the introduction in the game of various characters from the first installment, hinted at far better end-scenes to conclude the multi-layered plot. There was, however, no end scene to speak of, other than a three second (yes, seriously) cut scene, followed by the credits.

The first KOTOR displayed that the development team could produce gold. The second KOTOR displayed what happens when idiots take over the time-line, instead of listening to the people who understand gameplay. I would have happily waited another year, if I had to, to play a second installment with a sculpted, polished ending, as opposed to one so obviously spun out in the last minute, that payed little heed to the efforts of the game player and ultimately provided little in the way of a sense of accomplishment (remember defeating the final boss in KOTOR?? That guy just wouldn't die...), let alone answers to dangling issues left by other characters.

Lastly, I had hoped that this installment would draw upon the saved game of the old installment - at least basic elements, such as Revan's gender for instance. Instead one must manually set such aspects and the game does not incorporate this easily (Revan is referred to as both genders in one sentance, at a certain point in the game!). I feel sure that such a thing would be emminently possible, with a fall-back plotline provided where no existing saved games were found. I would even tollerate physically pointing the game at whichever old installment save that I wished to use, if it would have meant a more complete game play experience.

Final words on this, then: Great gameplay, good plot efforts (at least at first), lousy finale (- the downfall of so many promising RPGs).