by:	January 28, 2005

Canadian-based developer BioWare Corp. has carved a place among the best developers in the game industry by bringing some of the greatest RPGs ever to the PC. Following the success of the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate series and 2002’s Neverwinter Nights, BioWare surprised everyone by moving away from the more familiar fantasy setting and their preferred platform and developing a licensed Star Wars game for the Microsoft Xbox. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was an extraordinary story of good vs. evil, and offered a close look at the popular Star Wars universe through the eyes of an honorable Jedi or malicious Sith. By taking an open-ended approach to nearly every aspect of the game, BioWare ensured that every player’s journey would be unique, and therefore more memorable than most videogame experiences. Oddly enough, though, BioWare chose to abandon the obvious sequel in favor of a new, original project, and handed the reigns to fledgling studio Obsidian Entertainment. Now, nearly a year and a half after the first KOTOR landed on the Xbox and just in time for the holidays, the sequel has arrived on store shelves, and it appears that fears about the change in developers were unfounded. The Sith Lords is a worthy follow-up to BioWare’s smash hit, offering all the things that made the first game so popular while bringing some new, welcome additions to the table, as well. And yet, though it’s still an excellent game and one of the best RPGs you’ll find on the Xbox, its inherent similarities with the first game as well as an assortment of technical issues will probably keep you from becoming as captivated by it as you may have been by the original.

Obsidian decided to create a true sequel to KOTOR with The Sith Lords, setting the game just five years after the events of the original game. The jedi civil war between the forces of Malak and Revan has taken its toll on the worlds of the Outer Rim, leaving them in political disarray. The jedi order has been all but dismantled following the destruction of the jedi council on Dantooine. Those jedi that survived the war against the sith began to question their teachings after the fall of Revan, resulting in many jedi abandoning their order or even falling to the dark side. The sith armies, despite suffering many of the same setbacks, have since been united under three powerful lords, who’ve jumped on the opportunity to wipe out the jedi once and for all. They’ve tracked down the person they believe to be the last living jedi – a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars and former general under Revan, who sat peacefully out of the jedi civil war and lost touch with the force while in seclusion. You’ll take control of this exiled cliché who’s conveniently afflicted with temporary amnesia and attempt to discover why you’re suddenly being hunted, and what to do about it. Like KOTOR, The Sith Lords is set about 4,000 years before the events in the Star Wars films, so don’t expect to run into Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker during your travels.

Of course, before you can begin your epic journey, you’ll need to create your character. The process of character creation will be very familiar to anyone who’s played the original KOTOR, or any other game built around the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rule set, for that matter. While there are thousands of possible outcomes in building your character’s skills, powers and abilities, unfortunately there’s only a small selection of physical appearances to choose from, so hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to find one that you like. Unlike in the original, The Sith Lords puts you in the role of a jedi from the start, albeit one who’s affinity for the force has dwindled and who no longer wields a lightsaber. You’ll be able to choose from one of three jedi archetypes to start – the combat-focused guardian, force wielding consular or well-balanced sentinel, and you’ll be able to branch off into a more specific “prestige class” later in the game based on your starting class and moral path you’ve chosen. As you progress through the game, you’ll earn experience points by completing quests and defeating enemies in combat, and gaining experience levels grants you additional points to improve your stats, abilities and special force powers, of which there are significantly more to choose from than in the first game. The experience you gain is also gained by each of your companions, so you’ll never have to worry about certain characters falling behind if they go unused for awhile. You’ll have total control over the progression of you and your companions, or you can choose the “auto-level” feature, which automatically distributes your points among the attributes deemed most important for your class. It’s usually more effective to build your characters yourself, though, so you can be sure that everybody progresses exactly how you want them to. It’s this refreshing display of personality that makes The Sith Lords stand out among other RPGs.