In late 2003, one game stood out, winning tons of awards and garnering critical praise left and right. The game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, took the franchise and created one of the most memorable and compelling Star Wars stories in recent years as well as adding some truly great RPG gameplay elements. Now, after a strong showing last holiday on the XBox, the sequel is hitting the PC. While the game’s developmental reins were handed off from BioWare to Obsidian (a very capable team made up of established RPG pros), the game still feels pretty much like its predecessor. But, hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. KOTOR 2 succeeds in being a great game that stays true to the original and won’t disappoint fans of the original or newcomers.

KOTOR 2 takes place five years after the events that transpired during the first Knights of the Old Republic. In a similar vein to its predecessor, your character in KOTOR 2 has amnesia and spends most of the game trying to unlock the mysteries of his or her past. You meet up with a variety of different characters that will join your party depending on your moral alignment (more on that later) or may even fight you should you be of a different sense of decency.

For the most part, KOTOR 2 feels a lot like the original game. The controls have been virtually untouched, as has the game’s interface. However, this is hardly a complaint, as the mouse-and-keyboard control scheme in the first game was excellent. The combat system, while it does have a few tweaks like different behaviors for your teammates and some cool new force powers, has been unchanged.

Also present is the original’s deep system of ethics. The missions that you choose to perform, the people that you work with, even the things that you say in casual conversations all can have effects on your force alignment. Essentially, if you do bad things then you will lean towards the dark side of the Force as well as the opposite. However, in practice, things get a little more complicated than this. Sometimes, doing the right thing the wrong way, or doing something that looks like the right thing but really isn’t, can earn you some dark points. In this game, there is such thing as a gray area that exists and the player must try to navigate this in order to keep from earning points that would jeopardize your choice of alignment.

The main change in the game’s overall dynamic is the importance of influence among your party members. When speaking to the members of your party or performing tasks and missions, you can say or do things that would make you fall out of favor with them. This will lower your influence over them, making them disagreeable with you more often. However, if you listen to them and do things that they say then you will gain influence over them. The more influence you have over a certain party member, the more that you will begin to shape their morality and whether or not they have a good or an evil alignment.

Graphically, KOTOR 2 looks all right, but nowhere near where it should be in terms of other new titles on the market. Not much has been changed from the first Knights; the character models look pretty much the same, as do the lighting and special effects. The environments look a little drab and lack much detail, and the choppy framerates are definitely a minus.

The sound fares much better than the graphics, being well up to snuff in terms of what you would expect from a Star Wars game. The sound effects are crisp and very clear, and the many hours of voice acting is very well done. The new music is also very good, branching away from the standard Star Wars themes and featuring a great all-new score.

While it falters a little on the technical front in terms of graphics, KOTOR 2 is a great game that takes the classic gameplay of the original game and expands it with a brand new story and 30 to 40 more hours of gameplay. Even though the game won’t wow you with any originality (it plays basically the same as its predecessor) KOTOR 2 will undoubtedly please fans of the first game.

Gameplay: 9.0
Even though the game was made by a different developer, KOTOR 2 feels extremely similar to the first game, meaning that veterans will feel right at home in this one. There are a few good tweaks, like some cool new force powers and the ability to influence your teammates’ morality with your interactions with them, but nothing too terribly revolutionary. However, this is hardly a complaint, as the first game stands as one of the best RPG experiences out there.

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics almost seem to take a step back from the original and look pretty plain, even on the PC. The character models are basically the same as they were in the first game, the environments are somewhat lacking in detail, and the framerates are terribly choppy even on a very good PC.

Sound: 9.5
Star Wars games have never been shabby when it comes to the sound department, and KOTOR 2 is certainly no exception to the rule. The sound effects are sharp, the hours and hours of voice acting is superb (although some of the alien-speak can get a little repetitious), and the new score sounds great and rivals anything you’d hear in the films.

Difficulty: Medium
 

Concept: 9.0 
Given that it has barely been a year since the first game came out, it is amazing that they managed to hammer out a story that is just as compelling for the sequel. While the ending may seem a little anti-climactic, the story that gets you there is filled with some great plot-twists and arcs.

Overall: 8.9

KOTOR 2 is a great game that lives up to its lofty predecessor. However, the game isn’t revolutionary and sticks very closely to the original in terms of gameplay, meaning that if for one reason or another you weren’t a fan of the first Knights of the Old Republic, then you probably won’t care much for the second one. This is unlikely, though, as the first game was a masterpiece.