The original Knights of the Old Republic was a superb game, one of the best I'd played in quite some time. So naturally I was very excited when I heard that a sequel was on the way. Now that I've played through it a couple of times (once each for the light side and the dark side), here are my thoughts:

The first thing that struck me about the game was how similar it is to its predecessor. The gameplay has been tweaked here and there with a few new variables thrown into the mix, but for the most part it plays just like the first game. The graphics may have been slightly improved in a couple of areas, but for the most part the look of this game is indistinguishable from that of the first. This is fine, though. I was hoping to see some better visuals this time around, but the graphics suffice, and the gameplay was solid to begin with, so why make any drastic changes?

One area in which this game falls short, however, is in the story. I do like the characters, the dialogue is well written, and there are certainly some interesting events to be discovered, but the overarching story was often vague and uninteresting. I sometimes found myself getting impatient in long exposition scenes because I couldn't bring myself to care overly much about what was happening. That never occurred in the first KOTOR. The ending of the game was especially disappointing in this regard. I kept waiting for the point to come where the plot would reach a level commensurate with the level of tension and anticipation that the developers were obviously trying to create, but it never came. The last couple hours of the game were sadly anticlimactic.

My other complaint is in regards to the game's difficulty, or more appropriately, its lack thereof. Even if you turn the difficulty setting to High, a decent player will find that there's not one point in the game that presents any real challenge. Your main character will have no trouble annihilating everything that crosses his path. The first KOTOR was too easy as well, in my opinion, but the problem is more pronounced in the sequel.

Don't get me wrong; it's still fun, and I certainly recommend it. After the brilliant Knights of the Old Republic was released to such wide acclaim, the expectations placed upon this game were very high, and the fact that it fell short doesn't mean it's not worth your time. It's a good game. It just could have been better than it is.
The original Knights of the Old Republic was a superb game, one of the best I'd played in quite some time. So naturally I was very excited when I heard that a sequel was on the way. Now that I've played through it a couple of times (once each for the light side and the dark side), here are my thoughts:

The first thing that struck me about the game was how similar it is to its predecessor. The gameplay has been tweaked here and there with a few new variables thrown into the mix, but for the most part it plays just like the first game. The graphics may have been slightly improved in a couple of areas, but for the most part the look of this game is indistinguishable from that of the first. This is fine, though. I was hoping to see some better visuals this time around, but the graphics suffice, and the gameplay was solid to begin with, so why make any drastic changes? One area in which this game falls short, however, is in the story. I do like the characters, the dialogue is well written, and there are certainly some interesting events to be discovered, but the overarching story was often vague and uninteresting. I sometimes found myself getting impatient in long exposition scenes because I couldn't bring myself to care overly much about what was happening. That never occurred in the first KOTOR. The ending of the game was especially disappointing in this regard. I kept waiting for the point to come where the plot would reach a level commensurate with the level of tension and anticipation that the developers were obviously trying to create, but it never came. The last couple hours of the game were sadly anticlimactic. My other complaint is in regards to the game's difficulty, or more appropriately, its lack thereof. Even if you turn the difficulty setting to High, a decent player will find that there's not one point in the game that presents any real challenge. Your main character will have no trouble annihilating everything that crosses his path. The first KOTOR was too easy as well, in my opinion, but the problem is more pronounced in the sequel. Don't get me wrong; it's still fun, and I certainly recommend it. After the brilliant Knights of the Old Republic was released to such wide acclaim, the expectations placed upon this game were very high, and the fact that it fell short doesn't mean it's not worth your time. It's a good game. It just could have been better than it is.