Sometimes good, sometimes bad...

Caveat: I liked the first KOTOR ALOT.

As mentioned elsewhere the engine is about the same as for KOTOR, though I think Obsidian tweaked bits of it, since for the most part the humans look more human and some of the aliens look a little better too.

I think I can do a pretty good comparison, since I finished my second run-through of KOTOR (as Dark Jedi) about a week before this one came out. (That was quite fun, BTW. Go figure.)

Weapon upgrades are much more interesting and nuanced.

Well, overall, I give this one about a 9.0 Whoever came up with the story for this one is just a better writer than for the first one. (For the most part)

The one area where this isn't true is that you end up with 12 people total for your party at the end. (No spoiler, there are twelve character slots, I think you can figure it out.) And like the first one, you have little choice on whether people join or not. These crazy people just seem to think chillin' with you is the best thing they could possibly be doing with their worthless lives.

Anyway, I liked the story much better than the first one, much more nuanced, did not matter as much where you went first. (i.e. going to Korriban first in KOTOR was suicide) The main character stories were quite interesting. Downside: Characters either have a story or not. When you get your pet Mandalorian, he doesn't really have anything to say to you. Some banter b/n party members. This may play out differently as a Dark Side guy. I was so light side I squeaked. I'll update when I run through again in a couple of months.

Highly recommended based on gameplay. (Especially if you liked KOTOR but hated Bastilla ^_-)

One note: I have an ATI 9800 Pro and getting KOTOR II to run required that I jump through a bunch of driver hoops so that it would run properly. This may have been fixed in the last three weeks, but if you have a recent ATI card right now, beware.