The Frinklin and Fred Show

Just about a week away...

From Knights of the Old Republic II that is. The first review is out. Well, it's sort of out. It comes from the Official X-Box UK Magazine. Nice enough fellows to have a website, but nothing is actually available from it; you have to be a subscriber to the print mag. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either. Anyway, one of the posters from StarWarsKnights.com was nice enough to transcribe some of it. Check below if you'd like to know. There are some minor spoilers. The short of it: This sequel is an Empire Strikes Back , with better stories and better characters.

Yee-Ha...

KOTOR II :The Sith Lords = 9.3 (Original scored 9.5)

"Incredible. It takes all the good from KOTOR, places it in a far more oppressive place then throws you in to deal with it" Game of the Month

"...but it's the story thats the clincher. It doesn't have the spectacle or rip-roaring adventure of KOTOR, but what it lacks in dazzling planets and invention is more then compensated by the UNDENIABLY superior story"

For a sequel to such a classic title, it was almost expected for it to 'do' an Empire Strikes Back. Well it not so much 'does' an Empire Strikes Back, as 'outdoes' it.

If you want dark side fury and hopelessness for all that is good in the Galaxy, KOTOR II's got it in spades"

"For the first few hours of play (four or five without sub-quests, touching doublefigures with) there is nothing to do but run. The hunt is on and you'll find yourself making desperate, frantic dashes across many worlds to escape the Siths clutches."

"You will be worn, beaten and humiliated by the time the pursuit eases a little. You'll resent the game for making you suffer hours of relentless, seemingly hopeless fleeing, but trust us you'll appreciate it

Obsideons decision to make you defenseless for so long was a risk, but the moment you cobble together your first makeshift 'sabre it's like rediscovering what made KOTOR so great in the first place. And from then on in, you're armed almost well enough to start investigationg this most devious and delicious of stories. "I am your father" doesn't even come close"

First bounty hunter you meet who wants to give you to the Sith is.....A WOOKIE. Wookies can be so bad this time around

And apparantly the Twist in KOTOR is nothing compared to the ones in TSL

The Party

"Each has an agenda and seems to be helping you because it suits them, not because they are particularly beheld to you. This causes friction within the group, which, naturally you're left to resolve.

The implementation of potentially volitile 'side taking' within the party is just the first of many new interwoven elements of KOTOR II"

"Depending on how long you listen to someone, or how often you heed their advice, their opinion of you will rise or fall, as will their force alignment.

Others in your party who disagree with your actions (light or dark) will then cease to offer help, so there is potential for your team, the people you'll rely on to save your life, to implode from within"

"....but as Kreia, the Obi-Wan of the peice points out, simply doing the right thing is no longer adequate. Through the new force bond you can see, via Kreia's telepathy the consequences of your actions.

You may give a begger credits, but then to witness him murdered for them, makes you question and second guess everything you're asked to do"

"There are a few sub missions in KOTOR II that require you to take control of other characters. One of these is a dark side C-3P0 who pursuades his dark side companion (a dark side R2, naturally) to go on a killing spree"

"With the entire crew of the Ebon Hawk apparantly dead, it comes as a bit of a surprise when you open the cargo hold to discover the fizzing HK-47 droid from the first game. The psychotic droid seems to have been irreparibly damaged following the mysterious disappearance fo the crew

With newer HK-50 and HK-51 droids being used to hunt you by the Sith, HK-47 might hold a few clues as to why the original crew are missing. If you want to repair him this becomes one of KOTOR II'S ongoing mini-games. Every planet you visit has a part that will mend him. The question is though, will you want to hear what he has to say?"

"As the mystery of KOTOR II slowly unravels, so does the galaxy. Eventually the free roaming planet hoppin gof KOTOR comes back into play, but don;t think for one minute we're going to tell you why. Suffice to say, it's something far graver then peicing together parts of a star map"