As far back as I can remember into my misspent youth, there has been one constant in the world of console video games: the eternal "my game system rules, and yours sucks!" dogfight. I remember in the 3rd grade, arguing the merits of Sonic vs Mario, and while that seems kind of pointless as I look back on it, the echo of such arguments is heard today. Simply listen to any group of 12 or 13 year olds argue over which RPG is the "best ever," and smile in amusement as not one of their nominations predates the original PlayStation.

But I digress. During the last four years, Xbox supporters have used the system's capabilities (as well as the Halo franchise) as supporting evidence for their cause, while the PS2 fans have generally touted the system's more balanced library - particularly as it concerns RPGs - as their sword and shield. 2003 came along, and with it came BioWare's epic masterpiece, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and suddenly that argument wasn't quite as lustrous. Yes, the PlayStation 2 still had several excellent RPG franchises - that didn't change - but KotOR took on the role of "the one that got away," so to speak.

Another year later, and the franchise is back, once more giving RPG fans something to cheer about on Xbox, with Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Good timing, too, because there sure wasn't much to cheer about in the meantime, beginning with the announcement that BioWare had been lifted from the project in favor of Obsidian Entertainment, and following straight through the tepid releases of Sudeki and Fable.

I have to assume that if you're reading this review, you've probably already played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, so I won't bore you too much with backstory. The long and the short of it is that KotOR II picks up where the original left off: following the Jedi Civil War, the Jedi Order is in shambles, verging on extinction for the umpteenth time. All that stands between the Sith and Galactic domination is you, for good or ill. You can save it, or you can destroy it, and there's a good 100 hours of gameplay either way you go, so we'll leave the story there so as not to spoil anything.

Again...ah, hell, I'm just going to treat the rest of this review as though you're already familiar with the first KotOR (and if you're not, why the heck not? It's only $19.99!), and just describe the major differences between old and new. It'll save my wrists and your eyeballs, and you can get to buying (and playing!) the game that much sooner.

KotOR II is, like its predecessor, a turn-based/real-time action/RPG. Which is to say that in the grand tradition of turn-based RPGs, you don't actually DO much of anything in combat, but if you prefer your gaming experiences to be cinematic, you can let everything unfold in real time. You can have up to three characters in your party at any given time, and you can switch between them, both during and before/after battle. If you're a control freak, you can have the game pause after each "turn," and issue new instructions for every character in your party.

If you're more of the hands-off type, though, you'll notice that KotOR II has a couple of new slots on the action bar. The slot to the furthest right gives you the ability to set the profile for characters you don't intend to control. You can set them to be aggressive attackers, or instruct them to carry out support or ranged actions, and let the AI decide how to handle it from there.

You also have the ability to switch weapons on the fly, now, as that option has been added to the 'main' slot on the action bar. That allows you to shift from ranged attacks to melee attacks without having to pause the game, which is really nice, but it also means that on the character equipment screen, you can set two separate weapon profiles for each character, and let the AI switch between them as necessary.

One of the coolest changes to the action bar, though, is the addition of "forms" for Jedi characters. Lightsaber forms are basically modifiers for different combat situations (and there are some Force forms as well - one in particular grants you increased Force Point recovery in combat). As an example, one form will give you increased blaster deflection protection, but perhaps balance that with decreased efficiency against multiple opponents. It's a subtle touch, but it has the effect of making you feel like your Jedi is growing stronger as a warrior as he gains levels, rather than merely gaining new Force powers.

Speaking of both forms and Force powers, it bears noting that while virtually all of the feats and powers from KotOR 1 return, some can only be gained as the result of special events. That might mean something as simple as leveling up, but that could also mean an event that advances a subplot between you and one of your party members.

Speaking of which, one of the few drawbacks of KotOR was that despite the large number of playable characters, you got to a point where the Jedi were so ridiculously powerful that it almost wasn't worth using the "ordinary" characters. There were few scenarios that required a particular expertise, and so most of them just kinda floundered once you had two or three Jedi in the party.

KotOR II balances that a couple of ways. First, and perhaps foremost, the main character isn't the only one who can gain special feats. Virtually all of your additional party members have some kind of special power that makes them useful in one way or another. Atton has the famed Corellian "bad feeling" to warn you when it's time to save, for example. Kreia, on the other hand, shares a powerful Force Bond with you - any beneficial Force effects one character casts, the other shares if both are in the active party.

Additional balance comes in the form of character-specific missions. Along the way, most of your party members will have a task to accomplish that requires using that character exclusively, without any others around to make the job easier. In the prologue, for example, your astromech droid has to repair the Ebon Hawk while the main character hovers on the verge of life and death (that mission is skippable without affecting the plot, incidentally).

Before I move on to the technical values, there are two other aspects of gameplay worth discussing. First, since your character is a former Jedi, you don't start the game as a "scoundrel" or "soldier" the way you did in KotOR. Instead, you begin as either a Jedi Guardian, a Jedi Consular, or a Jedi Sentinel (albeit a Jedi in exile), and you work your way up to the prestige classes, depending upon which path you choose to walk.

On the light side, once you hit level 15, you can become a Jedi Watchman, a Jedi Weapon Master, or a straight-up Jedi Master. On the Sith side, you have the option of becoming a Marauder, an Assassin, or a Dark Lord of the Sith. Each comes with different pros and cons; the Weapon Masters/Marauders are the warriors of their respective alignments. Watchmen/Assassins are the Jacks-of-all-trades, combining weapon efficiency with Force mastery. They do both well, but excel at neither.

The Jedi Masters/Sith Lords, on the other hand, concentrate on mastery of the Force, and as such hold greater sway over their companions. Jedi Masters can use the "Inspire Followers" feat in combat, which gives your allies temporary stat boosts, while the Sith Lord has the "Crush Opposition" feat, which lowers enemy stats for a time. In the way of influence, the Jedi Masters benefit from "Enlightenment" to sway their companions to the light, while Sith Lords make use of "Corruption" to bring their companions to the Dark Side.

The other major gameplay change is the way your character's attributes affect different actions and abilities through the course of the game. Item creation at workbenches is now a possibility, allowing you to create your own upgrades for armor and weapons, as well as miscellaneous items such as implants. If you find a lab station, you can create chemically-based items such as stimulants, grenades, mines, and health packs. You can also break down any such items you find along the way, although the number of components or chemicals gained or required for the creation/breakdown of an item is tied to a particular character's ability in the skill tied to that item.

The thing is, though, creation of any specific item is tied to your skills, and how high they are. Creating a healing item, or an armor upgrade that promotes health regeneration, for example, may require a high "Treat Injury" score. Creating a specific lightsaber crystal may require that your character be skilled in handling explosives, and so forth.

This is particularly important with regards to the lightsaber, since you actually have to build your own this time around - you won't find them lying on 70% of the corpses as you did after gaining your lightsaber in the first KotOR. Fortunately, the skills-based item creation is available to all characters, not just the main character. If you have somebody who's stronger in one particular skill than your main character is, you can use that character to create your desired item, instead. You can still buy items, item upgrades, etc, but you'll find that stuff you create on your own will prove more useful during your journey.

Graphically, much remains the same between KotOR and KotOR II. Many of the character models remain the same for the alien races, with only superficial changes to distinguish one from another. Slowdown during combat is still sadly present, and loading times are still slow, although some levels (notably Telos Station) give you a sort of "transit" ability so that you only have to endure them once, instead of three separate loading zones from one part of the station to another. That said, the new environments are gorgeous, and KotOR II is still easy on the eyes, even if one wishes that Obsidian had taken the time to clean up some of the mess left by BioWare.

The music is classically Star Wars, well-suited to the task at hand, and the voice work is top-notch once again, easily matching (if not flat out surpassing) its predecessor. One of the complaints levelled at KotOR was how dialogue-driven the game was, and while KotOR II is every bit as dialogue-driven, Obsidian did take the considerate measure of shortening the length of the alien speeches. It doesn't reduce conversation lengths by a whole lot, but the perception of shorter speech times is there, and sometimes that counts for more than reality.

The Dark Side is seductive, as Obi-Wan might have said, and easy to fall into. Likewise, when building upon a beloved franchise, it's all too easy for a developer to make the mistake of falling back upon the tried-and-true, and releasing a "safe" sequel. For many, that was the fear when Obsidian took over from BioWare for KotOR II: that it would be basically the same game in a shiny new wrapper.

However, not every change needs to be radically evident to be effective, and this is also borne out in KotOR II. Subtle adjustments to the gameplay mechanics have taken place, and some quirks of the original KotOR (such as the accidental addition of the dexterity modifier to the main character's ATK+STR rolls) are no longer present. Think of KotOR II as a rebuilt classic sports car. Sure, the structure is essentially the same, with a fresh coat of paint for good measure, but the true improvement lies under the hood, away from prying eyes. Likewise, if you make the mistake of playing Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords for only 30 minutes, you'll walk away with a "so what?" impression. Play it for 30 hours - or even just 10 - on the other hand, and the panoply of subtle changes will suck you right back in, as though you had never stopped playing KotOR.

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