Monday, September 21, 2009

Knights of the Old Republic II

Game: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II

Genre: RPG

Medium: XBox

Year Released: 2005

Plot Synopsis: The last Jedi returns to known space after the Jedi Civil War, he (or she) assembles a group of friends/ followers and attempts to destroy the Sith Lords roaming the galaxy, whilst simultaneously trying to save the future of the republic.

This is easily one of my favourite games on the XBox and possibly of all time. But then again I have a love for Star wars that will never be surpassed and combine that with my love for RPGs and how could you go wrong?! *cough* galaxies *cough*

But otherwise, this is a solid RPG with a powerful compelling plot and characters that you whether just want to hurt or save, which is useful as they’ve given you the choice. Yes as with the first KOTOR they give you choice of being Dark or Light side, or in the middle, or darting between the two or if you really want you can be as nice as you like but still fry people with lightning. Up to you.

The choice between the dark and light side of the force is what makes this game so replayable. different thign happen if you are evil to if you are good and vice versa, also different things happen if you are female as to whether you are male. This is one thing that has got me playing the game over 20 times and everytime I play it, something I’ve never seen before happens, be it a new piece of conversation, a new area or a new box etc.

So yeah when you level up, you can apply points to attributes, points to feats, points to skills and points to powers (if you are a Jedi), of course you don’t get points in every category every time you level up, but as long as you focus on aparticular skill you can quickly get it high enough that you dont need to worry about it for quite a while.

Of course none of you care about that all you want is the powers right? Well they have added more powers since the first game but few of them are worth using. Powers like Battle Meditation and Force Aura are best left on your supporting Jedi characters whilst you fry everyone within a 10 metre radius with Force Storm. But then again, powers like Force Speed or Force Heal are best kept because often you will be left without the help of your compadres and you will need to heal.

At the start of the game you choose Jedi Guardian, Jedi Sentinel or Jedi Consular as your starting class. This determines how many kill, feat and power points you get once you level up. The Jedi Consular for example will occasionally drop you with 2 Force power points when the other classes only get one. This does of course mean that towards the end you have more powers then you ever actually use. At the end few my game I just walk in the middle of my foes and use Force Storm repeatedly until they are dead. Occasionally use Drain if my health is low. Thats about it. But then again, using Force Confusion on a foe so he fights his friend is also mildly entertaining

Your choice of Light or Dark side, male or female, will also affect which followers are attracted to your cause. If you are male you get the Handmaiden because she wants to sex you up. If you are female you get the disciple because hes a know-it-all whiny bitch. If you are dark side you get Hanharr the mighty Wookie. If you are light side you get Mira, whose only redeeming feature is she can become a Jedi. If you can be assed to try.

One of the best things about the followers is how many of them can be trained in the force if you get to know them well enough. Once your entire team is assembled you will have ten followers, 2 of which come force trained, 3 of which are droids so cannot be trained but others it varies. If you are dark side you can train 3 of the 5 to become Jedi (But it is harder to get them to like you if you are evil, oh morals you sneaky bastard) Whereas if you are light side, 4 of the 5 can be trained and are more likely too as well.

OK its not perfect, the graphics may not be up to scratch and there isn’t much of an improvement form the first game in terms of visuals and there may be a few glitches here and there, boxes closing immediately after opening, some slight clipping problems, sometimes the audio does not fit the “voice acting” and occasionally NPCs standing directly in your way and refusing to move. But these are only minor problems and do not detract from the experience.

All in all a bloody good game, I’d play it again and again. Oh wait, I do

82/100

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