Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

I wish the new star wars movies had a story and writing this good. They took the star wars ip and added more adult themes, they added choices which werent just either black or white ( Kotor 1), they expanded on the story by exploring the force and adding philosophy to it. They also found the perfect balance. the conversations dont bore me like the later games of obsidian, talking about pillars of eternity which was a total letdown story wise for me. So much meaningless text which became a chore to read each time i talked to someone. Kotor 2 doesnt have that, 90% of the time, expecially with kreia, i listen like i would listen to some intellectual celebrity (neil degrasse tyson or carl sagan come to mind). When she talks about the force i feel like i listen to carl sagan talking about the universe. A little more time and a higher budget would have made this game legendary.

It's hard to try and live up to a game that's been voted "Best Game of the Year" by at least 6 different groups. But this game almost does it. Enhanced interaction and influence with highly developed party members, more upgrades for your weapons, and a fascinating plot leave few weaknesses. If you've been reading the IMDb threads about this game or Xbox magazine, you know this already: the bosses are just not as menacing as Darth Malak was in the first game. Even so, I was playing this for hours at a time, whenever I could muster it in my schedule, and it became dangerous how much emotion I poured into that game. If you've played KOTOR 1, definitely play KOTOR 2.

I'm not actually a gamer, but once in a while I can play something which I think is worth it. Well, let me tell you, dear readers, that game, along with the original KOTOR, was a stunning experience! The beauty of the far-away worlds, the masterpiece soundtrack from Jeremy Soule and Mark Griskey and the fantastic story will catch your mind for long days to come. Bioware (the developers of Knights of Old Republic) and Obsidian Entertainment (the sequel) truly did an outstanding job in creating the worlds that one will never forget having once "visited" them. In case you haven't played it yet, whether you like Star Wars or not, type Amazon in browser or get yourselves to the nearest store and get the game. You will not be disappointed.

This game is a must-play primarily for the dialogue and voicework of Kreia, played by Sara Kestelman. This powerful, matronly role is extremely memorable and worth going through several times just to hear every bit of it. The game itself is very entertaining as well, allowing many routes to many paths, and all are not so obvious, which is a good thing. Majority of the voicework other than Kestelman's is excellent as well, in that it is very immersive. Very rarely will bad voice acting put you out of the game, save for the lackluster performance of Bao-Dur. It may have been a design decision to give him such a boring voice, but if this is the case, it was a poor decision indeed. On the whole though, this is definitely worth your while.

KotOR II, eh? I'm sure most fans of the series were a tad surprised when they heard a sequel would be coming out so soon after the first. We've all heard the horror stories about the "expensive expansion pack" kinds of sequels. KotOR II does NOT fit into that category.

KotOR II's storyline is set 5 years after the event of the original KotOR. While you do not play the same character as the first game, you play a new one that is just as (or maybe even more) interesting. The plot itself can be viewed many ways. While the dialogue is rich and very well written, the plot itself doesn't have much structure (though that's more or less intentional).

Your party characters interact much more, and this time they don't just stand there and do nothing. However, their stories can't be fleshed out as much as the first game, and you may find yourself loosing interest in some of them later on in the game.

Overall this is a fantastic game. Its smartly written, and carries a really groovy "fantasy-esque" feel the changes the star wars experience (for the better). The game starts out magnificent, but towards the end you will start really seeing the holes (the game's development schedule was far too ambitious). Really, the only way to form a fair opinion of this game is to play it yourself.