Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
- February 11, 2005 16:50 PM PST
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Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords will thrill fans of the first game. Despite its erratic frame rate, it's easily a top PC RPG.
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Light and Shadow
Taking place several years after the first KOTOR, your character--a fallen Jedi--awakens in a mysterious mining facility. As you progress through the plot, you can sweet talk, manipulate and browbeat allies in order to gain influence and get your way. This intricate conversation system is one of KOTOR II's greatest triumphs. And in a huge improvement over the first game, your actions (particularly your choice between the Light or Dark side) greatly influence the personalities of your fellow party members. By carefully selecting your actions and dialogue, you can sink deeper into the Dark side and watch your teammates grow increasingly corrupt, made ghoulishly fun thanks to the smart, witty writing and some enthusiastic voice actors.
A Hard Day's Knight
Aside from some new combat feats, the fighting in KOTOR II is the same blend of real-time maneuvering and turn-based strategy you remember from the first game. The PC port makes good use of the mouse and keyboard controls, but the menus are needlessly complex. KOTOR II boasts a few small visual enhancements, such as cleaner textures and new weather effects. But the performance is disappointing; the frame rate frequently sputtered even on a high-end test PC equipped with a 3.4 GHz processor, 2 gigs of RAM and a cutting-edge Radeon X800 XT. And there are some sloppy signs that the developers rushed to finish the title; in one scene, a character types while sitting at a blatantly missing computer console. Ultimately, however, KOTOR II rises above these oversights to become a standout title for the PC. Just buy it already.
