Commentary: There are plenty of meatbags to eviscerate, but the story's vibroblade shows some wear, Master.
Just about everything that was said of the original Knights of the Old Republic is true here excluding a few minor things that drop the score in our eyes.
Perhaps as a credit to the cinematic nature of the KOTOR series Sith Lords exemplifies the time honored tradition in film of not quite stacking up to the original. Sith Lords definitely has a mild case of sequelitis. It's a testament to the original that Sith Lords had enough to work with in filling out an entire game.
The story just isn't going to be as good, so the sooner you accept it the sooner you can get on enjoying the game. It's not a bad story per se, it's just sort of scattershot. The main premise seems a little on the weak side, the revelation is something of a let down, and the eventual resolution comes across as lack luster. The Sith Lords of the title just aren't that interesting adversaries. There's enough tie ins to the original to keep truckin', but it's a little disappointing if you were expecting bigger and better.
Gameplay is a little more complex, which could be argued as either good or bad. The first game was fairly simplistic when it came to powerplaying, many of the skills were unimportant, many of the feats and attributes were too. Some of that holds true for Sith Lords. The influence system is a novel mechanic that allows players to shift the alignment of party members with their own in addition to juggling alignment. It's nice, but to getting the most out of it is tough.
Some of the improvements from the previous are just with added equipment. The jedi robes look like jedi robes now. Still a little disappointed with the way most of the equipment either looks goofy or is just a re-skin from the last game. No clue why randomizing loot was thought to be a good idea, just makes it all that more of a nightmare to find something. Excessively long one-way levels make the fetch missions tedious.
There's enough in this game to keep you satisfied if you wanted to know what comes next. It's not a Caddyshack 2 of sequels, but it's no Godfather II either.