ic-games Review - Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2) - Xbox Review - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2) - Xbox Review - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2)

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2) - Xbox Review

Information
Reviewer: Casey
Developer: Obsidian
Publisher: LucasArts
Reviewed: Xbox
Genre: Action Adventure
UK Release: 05th Feb 2005
Article Date: 24th Dec 2004
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £39.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 88%

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Pros

It’s still fun;

Near perfect rpg combat engine;

Another great Star Wars story

Cons

It’s just not quite as good as that first one.

Screenshots

25 of 50

There are a few questions that have plagued mankind since its humble beginnings. Among them: What’s the meaning of life? Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Can a brand new developer make a worthy sequel to Bioware’s fantastic Star Wars rpg, Knights of the Old Republic? In 2004, we have finally discovered the answer to one of these questions. To find out which one, you’re going to have to keep reading.

I’ll admit, I was a big fan of the first Knights game. Because it was really good. I came into KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords thinking that Obsidian had some pretty big shoes to fill. They were making the sequel to one of the best RPG’s in recent memory, and surely the best for the Xbox. They were also filling the developer’s chair left vacant by one of the industry’s finest: Bioware. And with such a daunting task set ahead of them, Obsidian decided to go with what was probably the safest route: just make what amounts to a really good expansion pack for the first game.

I don’t mean that as a bad thing. The Sith Lords emulates the original in nearly every way, from graphics and sound all the way to the structure of the game itself. If the original had been bad, this would be a huge disappointment. Luckily for all involved, the original was a damn fine game. The first couple hours of The Sith Lords I spent thinking, ‘couldn’t they have done anything to improve on the original?’ And then thirty hours later I was thinking, ‘well, that was a pretty good game, too.’

The game still features you as a young and powerful Jedi, racing across the galaxy and completing tasks all with the final goal of tracking down some dark Jedi and destroying him. One big thing that makes this game (and its predecessor) more interesting than your average RPG is that you choose whether you want to be a Light side Jedi or Dark side. In addition to the cosmetic changes to dialogue and your character himself, it influences how you play the game. For example, if you are Dark side you can make people kill themselves and extort money from everyone and then shoot lightening at them. If you are Light side you can……heal people quicker, I think. At least you feel better about yourself playing Light.

The graphics are pretty much the same here as they were in the original. On the technical side, they are not going to blow anyone away. On the art side of things, they look pretty nice. The battles are essentially turn-based, but they play out on screen like they are real time, and the visual result is often quite nice to watch. The graphics feel more dated here than they did in the original (perhaps because they are) and several times I found myself thinking that I had been much more impressed by the original’s graphics. You often find graphical glitches – sprites running through walls and whatnot – but nothing too detrimental. On the whole, it all still looks pretty nice.

The sound is high quality here, and if I hadn’t played the original, I’d say the sound was amazing. The score is, of course, top notch. You tend to forget how overall excellent the score is simply because it’s a Star Wars game and you would expect nothing less. The sound effects are still the same old Star Wars sound effects that get the job done, if nothing else. The voice acting is pretty good here, too, although not near as across-the-board outstanding as it was in the first game. Some of the actors really drop the ball and sound like you would expect a video game character to sound. Others turn in some excellent performances. The alien voices here are quite a step below what they were in the first game, as in the Sith Lords they just repeat the same six syllables over and over. It’s very noticeable, and something that should have been easily fixed. But, like I said, the sound is only a disappointment when you are comparing it to the original KOTOR. Comparing it to the expectations for videogames as a whole, The Sith Lords hits way above the mark.

The gameplay uses the same combat engine as in the original, which is by far a plus. This may be the perfect combat engine for an RPG, as it allows the turn-based strategy needed for a real RPG, but provides action-prone gamers a brilliant light show to keep their interest. The only concern I have is that I really only had to struggle to win maybe three times in the whole game. Once you find your lightsaber, pretty much everyone dies really quickly. If you are playing Dark side, eventually you’ll have “force lightning,” which can take out a room of 10 soldiers before they fire a single shot. It feels pretty rewarding to be able to do that, and it even makes sense when you are playing as the most powerful Jedi in the universe. But, if you have what is arguably the best combat system ever created for an RPG, it’d be nice if combat mattered. The rest of the gameplay involves dialogue, exploration, and side games. For dialogue, you choose which response you want your little Jedi to say. Some give you dark points, some give you light points, and some give you influence with the character who is conversing with you. Influence is new to The Sith Lords, and it sways the alignment of some of your characters and also makes them want to talk to you more often. It’s not all that different than it was in the first one, but at least here it ends up tying into the storyline very well. Exploration is all about you running your character around the map screen. It gets a little old, as some of the maps are quite large. Missions where you have to take a package from one side of the map to another are an RPG standard, but are not in any way fun. The side games are Pazaak – a card game like blackjack, and swoop racing – a dumbed down but still fairly fun racing diversion.

So really the only thing different from the first game is the story. The Sith Lords has you tracking down the remaining Jedi in preparation for a final battle with a couple of Sith baddies. The intro of the game is not good at all. Even if you skip (please do) the prologue, you still have a good hour or so before the story takes off. Don’t let this first part scare you off – the game does in fact get good. The second act of the game (going from planet to planet in search of the Jedi masters) is great stuff. Some of the missions and situations are really fun. You have political power struggles, crime syndicate wars, a battle against your own memory, and a Seven Samurai style defense of a small town.

"The Sith Lords had me, at one point, feeling really sad for a little spherical floating droid that speaks in beeps – and that’s pretty impressive."

The characters are for the most part pretty interesting, too. They often pose actually interesting philosophical arguments for you (the player) to ponder right alongside you (the character.) It would seem that no game could top the final act of the original KOTOR, and The Sith Lords is no exception. While you can’t really classify The Sith Lords ending as a letdown – because it is better than most every other videogame out there - the ending of the original KOTOR was so damn good you can’t help but feel a little disappointed. In The Sith Lords there are also a lot of loose ends I wish had been tied up, and a few story choices that don’t seem to make any sense. The game often shows a cutscene of something not entirely related right in the middle of some important event. All in all, though, the story is very impressive. If not for such an instant comparison to the original KOTOR, I would be singing its praises. The Sith Lords had me, at one point, feeling really sad for a little spherical floating droid that speaks in beeps – and that’s pretty impressive.

Overall, Obsidian did a great job of jumping in right where Bioware left off. I look forward to great things from these guys in the future. Hell, we have a great thing from them right now. It’s only real flaw is having to compete with one of the best RPG’s of the last five years. If your neighbor Bill had to fill in for Jesus Christ for a week and got everything right except for the walking on water thing, you’d think Bill had done a really awesome job. Still, though, the walking on water thing was pretty great. But you don’t have to worry, Jade Empire comes out in just a few months. The Sith Lords is more than enough to satisfy you until then.

Well, now it’s to answer the question. But, in actuality, I lied earlier when I said we’ve discovered the answer to one of the questions. In 2004, the ic-games staff, in an historic display, was actually able to discover the answer to all three questions. So here goes:

Which came first? The chicken.
What’s the meaning of life? Be the best you can.
Can a new developer make a worthy sequel to KOTOR? Pretty much.

So there you have it. Makind’s top three questions answered. And don’t forget where you heard it first.

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