When the geeks inherit the earth, filmmaker George Lucas will be one of the first bootlicking lackeys of the old regime to be shoved against the wall and shot. This is as it should be, since he's proved unable to understand the genius of his own creation. In his place there will stand a monument to all things Star Wars, a tower raised up to the heavens made entirely of Knights of the Old Republic Xbox games.

These games are nirvana for nerds. They drop-kick the movies entirely, taking place in the historical past of Star Wars thousands of years before Anakin was a leaden, awkward little moppet with no more acting prospects. They incorporate grand galactic adventure, thrilling battles, and a glorious sense of grandeur. The music, sounds, and the sci-fi are all 100 percent Star Wars, without any of the embarrassing plot revisions and clumsy dialogue that have been the hallmark of the recent films.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 goes even further to revenge the nerds. It's a role-playing game, which in videogame speak means your character has a raft of twiddly statistics extracted piecemeal from the flailing corpus of Dungeons & Dragons. You can load up on all kinds of weapons, armor, grenades, medpacs, stimulants, cybernetic implants (remember the bald guy with the headband?), and gear until you are a walking department store, and then unleash all that crap on your enemies. Combat is deliberately paced, which is a nice way of saying "kind of slow," but it means you get to think and make tactical decisions which are not available in fast-paced action games. It isn't for the novice, but it sure is fun.

This sequel to the original was developed by a different company, to the trepidation of fans. But it's clear that the developers loved the first game and understood what was good about it. Some nerdtacular highlights: There are more combat styles for your characters, and you can change them during a fight with the combat toolbar instead of digging through menus; that massive department store full of crap you acquire can be converted into a couple of raw materials which you can then transform into useful items; you start the game as a Jedi instead of screwing around as a fry cook for the first 10 hours; there are way more force powers, so you can demonstrate the power of your fully operational badass; and you can lead your teammates down the path of good or evil by cleverly manipulating them through conversation into trusting your decisions.

The result is a deep and satisfying Star Wars experience, perfect for a Saturday afternoon in your Underoos with a bowl of Boo Berry. The game is fun, the writing is solid, the voice acting is great, and the story is a blast. Pull down that statue of Big George--this modern mythology is in good hands.