Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II — The Sith Lords
Forget The Last Jedi. Here you’re, um, the last Jedi
$14.99 From Obsidian Entertainment/Aspyr Media, apple.com/app-store Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 10.0 or later
Infamously unfinished, as Obsidian Entertainment struggled to hit LucasArts’ deadline to have the game on sale at the end of 2004, KOTOR II is still a milestone moment in Star Wars RPGs and survives the transition to iOS without losing anything more.
That said, you’re still playing a 17–year– old game, and it looks it. The plot and characters, however, are a world away from anything we saw in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. Painting a universe of contrasting light and dark in shades of grey, the game explores darker themes than the first. Set 4,000 years before The Phantom Menace there are, as you’d expect, villainous Sith Lords, but also criminals, smugglers, handmaidens, and morally ambiguous droids.
Touchscreen movement means dragging your finger about, taps select targets and move conversations on, while combat moves can be stacked with a few taps while paused before you watch them play out.
If you haven’t played the first KOTOR, try that instead, but as a second dose of the Old Republic universe, and some of the best RPG writing on iOS, you should have a good feeling about this.
THE BOTTOM LINE. A welcome new lease of life for one of the very best Star Wars RPGs. IAN EVENDEN
EXCELLENT