Flashback: Star Wars: KotOR 2 - The Sith Lords
Posted by Steve McHugh on 08.30.2007
Not quite Empire Strikes Back.
After the massively successful Knights of the Old Republic game it wasn't too difficult to guess that there would be a sequel coming along and sure enough in 2004/2005 (depending where you were) that sequel came out.
After the fantastic job Bioware did with the original the fact that they weren't doing the sequel worried people. In fact the developer in this case was Obsidian Entertainment and this was their first game under that name. The good news was that Obsidian was made from the remains of Black Isle studios. If you've never heard of them they were responsible for classic PC games Planescape Torment and Icewind Dale so the pedigree was there to make Kotor 2 just as good as the original had been.
The game takes place 5 years after the original, and after choosing your sex and class, you start your new adventure. To begin with you can play a short introduction level as a droid on the Ebon Hawk who's trying to fix the ship whilst you lay unconscious in the ships medical centre. It's a pretty good introduction that does the job of letting you know how everything works and how to play the game without seeming like it's holding your hand too much. In fact you can skip this whole sequence if you feel like which is something more games need to do with training levels.
I have no idea what's happening but it looks very exciting.
The first thing you'll immediately notice is how much it looks like the original, in fact it's looks almost identical apart from a few nice touches. The one thing you will notice is that occasionally the frame rate does dip and you'll get some slowdown. It doesn't happen too often and it doesn't spoil the gameplay, but when it does happen it's very noticeable.
But as I said fortunately it doesn't impact the gameplay, which like the original is superb and has a few noticeable additions. The ability to dismantle anything from weapons to armour to get the components so you can make computer spikes or some other useful tool is a very good idea and it works very well. The real new aspect is the ability to influence your companions to a greater degree than the original.
The woman wearing that dress would be just begging to be mocked if she weren't holding a lightsaber.
If you're a Sith, for example, then they'll all start learning towards the dark side too and eventually you'll be able to turn them into either Jedi or Sith depending on your alignment. It's a wonderful addition that works very well indeed, and being able to influence your companions means that you'll have to spend time going through their stories and talking to them. During these conversations you'll need to decide what the best responses are for the characters and if you get it right or wrong you either gain or lose influence.
This also works in the field when you're given choices to make. Go one path and some characters will be influenced more, go another, and they could take influence away. It's probably the best new part of the game and it makes it much more complex than the original in terms of character relationships. Each character also has a back story that taking the time to go through will help gain influence over them. Some of these are less interesting then others but its worth going through them all to see what happens. The characters are all fleshed out with some excellent voice acting and although some are better then others (Kreia is excellent and HK-47 is a welcome addition).
Turning to the Dark or light side is a lot more fun too, as the conversations give you more options so its not quite as clear-cut as the original and its much more subtle. There are still the events that will determine which route you go down, and these are still as fun as they were in the first game. Will you help the small town defend against the mercenaries or will you disable the defences and help the mercenaries attack the town?
Now that's just cool.
This sort of freedom of choice almost guarantees that you'll want to play through more then once just to see what sort of havoc you can create as a Sith and then see how you can save everyone as a Jedi.
One problem with the original that is retained in this game is its ease. By the end of the game you'll be an absolute badass and although wave after wave of enemies is thrown at you (and you're alone) not once should you be troubled. Even the bosses, for the most part, are easy and it would have been nice to see the level of difficulty raise as you level up. However that's not to say it's so easy you'll breeze through it as at least 2 sections will take a lot of patience to get through unscathed. You don't even get a lightsaber until about 17 hours into it and before you get that sabre you'll need to be more careful about how you go about things.
It's actually a nice touch that you don't get a lightsaber until so late in the game, as it adds a nice level of tension, and when you finally get one you will feel like you've earned it.
Like the original, as you level up you gain points to use on different powers and feats but another new feature is the ability to swap battle forms with your lightsaber. Some forms work best with multiple enemies and some when you fight against ranged weapons. It works very well and is easy to switch between forms when ever you like.
The game itself is about 40 hours long and the story, whilst not quite as good as the original, is much darker and in many ways has more interesting characters. The twist isn't quite as unexpected but when it comes its still a nice touch.
Unfortunately the main problem with this game is that the developer was only given 18 months to finish it and that just wasn't long enough to get all the bugs out. This means that there are more then there should be, especially late in the game. Some of the story doesn't make sense too which is a real downside to the rest of the game. Apparently they had to cut out a lot of stuff to get it shipped on time which is a real shame.
If they'd been given the time they deserved to be given, this would have surpassed the original in nearly all ways but those faults that remain knock down the whole game. Little things like the load times that do get in the way when you've got to keep going from one area to the next. The first one had long load times but for this one that should have been shortened.
Should I buy this?
Oh without a doubt this is a must-buy game as the plusses far outweigh any negatives but those negatives keep it from becoming as amazing as it certainly seemed to be turning into.
On another note the ending is a huge cliffhanger so where the hell is no 3? I would have thought that Lucasarts would want to continue the series but no one seems to be aware of if or when it's ever coming out. If anyone is working on it they've certainly kept it quiet and it would be nice if someone could at least say if Lucasarts even have plans to make a 3rd game.
Other stuff
- Bioshock is out and all reports say it's a GotY candidate. Hopefully my copy will have turned up by the time you read this.
- Will be reviewing Blue Dragon and Sonic (XBLA). Sonic should be on the site soon and Blue Dragon in a few days as soon as I've gotten further into it. But so far it's a pretty enjoyable game.
- David Cameron (Tory leader and an all round craptastic one at that) decided today that he would ban violent videogames in a measure to combat crime. The man is an idiot and I'd rather vote for a loaf of bread than him but to come up with as stupid a policy as that one really does take some effort. The crime in the UK isn't caused by violent videogames, that's one of the stupidest things i've ever heard. It's caused by social and political problems that aren't being resolved. Gangs, immigration problems, unemployment and a youth that are becoming less educated then needed. Alongside a lack of parenting skills and interaction with parental figures. The man's a bloody idiot and just jumping on the bandwagon that Jack Thompson helped start and really should have died off by now.
- Manhunt 2 is coming out in the US. I personally couldn't care less as I wasn't that interested in the game in the first place but it's good to see that the people who wanted to get hold of the game will have the opportunity to do so. I'm interested in seeing what cuts have to be made though.
- TNA…..I don't care anymore. I can suffer through a lot but I officially couldn't give a crap what they do. They need a new writing team and to get rid of the awful WWE talent. VKM, Dustin and a few others all need to be shown the door. They don't get people to buy anything and they suck up screen time that would be better served to be used for people with actual talent.
- Just started reading the Song of Fire and Ice series and am now on book 3. So far it's been amazing and some of the best fantasy writing I've ever read. Oh and Jon Snow is going to become an utter badass. I can feel it.
Come back in a few weeks when I take a look at Jade Empire before I take a break for a while for my wedding anniversary and daughter's birthday.
