Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

" Rpg elements combined with Lightsaber dueling mixed with first person shooter sum up this masterpiece"

Rpg elements combined with Light saber dueling mixed with first person shooter sum up this masterpiece

Before this, there was the original Dark Forces. Dark Forces was fun, but, nonetheless, it was just a doom clone put in the Star Wars universe. It wasn't that good. It's sequel however, Jedi Knight, was a PC masterpiece and remains on my top 5 PC games of all time.

Graphics: 10/10
When this baby came out, these graphics were the best you could find. Beautifully designed 3d models with awesome explosions and special effects. Everything about them looked so amazing when they came out. At the time they almost looked real. The game ran very smoothly with the wonderfully animated models running around. The skins were all very bright and very real looking. Also, the backgrounds looked very interesting and the AT-ST looked amazing. Not to mention the well done cut scenes with real actors. I must give my compliments to the make-up director, because Maw looks awesome in those cut scenes.

Story: 10/10
Basically, the story goes as follows. You are Kyle Katarn, a young jedi, when your father dies and your teacher is murdered. You find out the killer is Jerec, an evil dark jedi who wants to gain the power from the energy in the mystical Valley of the Jedi. Kyle runs off with his partner to try to stop Jerec and his other Jedi apprentices. Throughout the game Kyle learns new force moves and fights different Jedi adversaries. Halfway through the game depending on if you were nice to people and droids or killed them, Katarn becomes a light jedi or a dark jedi. Depending on which one you choose the ending and following cut scenes will be different. For instance, if you chose the light side, Jerec gets mad at you and stars firing at you. If you chose the dark, however, you kill your partner and try to take the power of the valley of the jedi for yourself.

Gameplay: 10/10
The ultimate gaming experience resides within this games gameplay. By itself, it is just a standard shooter. The weapons range from blaster to bazooka. It's not too interesting. What makes the gameplay so awesome is the RPG elements and the lightsaber. In the game the more of it you explore and the better you do you get more force points. Those points can be put into your force power to make you a stronger jedi. As you get stronger you go on to higher levels and more power force powers become available. You have 3 types of force powers. You have neutral force powers, which anyone can use. They include force jump, to let you jump higher, force speed, to let you zoom through the levels, force seeing, which will let you see a light jedi who made himself invisible, and other neutral powers. You then have light side powers, which range from healing yourself, to absorbing other peoples force powers, to making yourself invisible. Then, there's everyone's favorite side, the dark side. It ranges from chocking someone with force grip, to zapping them with force lightning (like emperor paulpatine), to firing a huge ball of dark energy at someone. The force powers hold the game together when your not dueling with lightsabers. And now I'll go on to that. The lightsaber is one of your weapons in this game. Once you get it, a whole new aspect of the game opens up. The second that laser comes out of the sword it is no longer a first person shooter. It turns into a sword fighting game. An entire world opens up to battle in. The lightsaber is the coolest weapon anyone could ever dream of using in a video game. It will kill soldiers with one hit. It will damage huge monsters and destroy panels easily. It can even deflect laser shots from guards and fire them right back at them! But that alone isn't enough. The best is yet to come. The game has many battles where you go one on one with trained Jedi duelists! You can take out your lightsabers and start fighting just like in the movies. It's all there. You can do a regular swing, or a double swing, as you can do with most weapons. Depending on how you run/walk or where you hit the slash will be different. You can use your lightsaber to cut the other person down, or go on the defensive side and block his with yours. In the duels you can also use your force powers to blind them or shock them, as they will do with you. Depending on the path you take in the game you will fight different Jedi’s, and all are worth playing through the game over and over again just so you can fight them. But of course if you had this option in a game you know a multiplayer has got to be available and kick butt.
I cannot tell you the fun I have experienced from the multiplayer of Jedi Knight. Fighting with other people or on a team is just so incredible you have to try it out for yourself. It ranges from fighting in the desert oasis to the jungle canopy to the battleground of the jedi. Players can sometimes fight simultaneously with 3 other players in an all-round jedi battle royal. The satisfaction of playing one of these and being the one who killed all 3 other jedis is the greatest feeling in all of videogaming. Or the sheer coolness of jumping to a deserted platform where one jedi waits for you then dueling him to the death it so incredibly fun you dream about it at night. Just the feeling melts your soul and makes you have to keep playing it. When you duel you make your own characters using different skins and put them on different levels. You can make them all jedi lords and engage in a force fight or make them have no force powers at all and just let them duel with their lightsabers. The experience is one you tell you grandchildren about when you get old.

Control: 10/10
Don't believe what other people tell you when they give credit to half-life or Unreal Tournament for inventing the secondary fire. The real innovator is right here. Jedi knight allows each weapon to have a secondary fire. All of them range from making explosives timed, to firing a 5 round burst, to making a bazooka into a railgun. The control runs very smoothly whether it is completely on the keyboard or where you aim with the mouse. Either way it's perfect no matter how you set it up. The introduction of the secondary fire allows you to add a whole new dimension to the combat. Whether it be guns or lightsaber, it’s definitely a nice little feature. As for the control itself, it's not let down. Jumping, crouching, and firing is no difficult task, and it is very easy to activate items or control powers. Playing this for 5 minutes will give you all you need to play the multiplayer and beat the game. It is exceedingly easy to catch on to.

Level Design: 10/10
To sum this up in one word, these levels are HUGE! Every level is extremely large and very detailed. All of them have wide-open area for you to explore and find secrets to. Each and every area has their own secrets which will give you more force points, and even uncharted secrets like a hidden pipe in the water level or a closed area in your own house! Each area has it's own civilians and puzzles to solve to get through the area. In other words, every level will have a repairman fixing something or a woman with her little droid standing there. All of the levels have little twist and turns with imperial stations you must investigate to progress through. With the awesome graphics of this game, the level design slaps you in the face and screams exploration.
Now, on to the multiplayer levels. They are nothing short of greatness. All of them can be used for equal purposes and all can be used as a jedi dueling ground or a force war. They all have a main purpose but are very flexible so anything can be played there. For instance, the Desert Oasis is obviously an assault Quake level because guns are stored everywhere. However, it's so huge it makes a great capture the flag or force war place because players can hide and fire atop hills or duel with lightsabers at the peak at the top where health packs are. Then there are levels like Battleground Jedi made solely for Saber dueling. This is the best level in the game because of its design and terrain. It is very small at the opening, so you can duel freely. But then there are force surges so you can have a force war. There is also a peak, which you can only get if you jump to, but it is the best place in the game to fight. All in all, without the levels, you can't enjoy the battle system, so it's no surprise that the levels are excellent since the gameplay is so great.

Sound/Music: 10/10
Full stereo sound surrounds this game and keeps you in the star wars universe. The sounds feel like they are taken right from the movie down to the vwing of the lightsaber. The voice actors sound just like the storm troopers from Star Wars and everything sounds so realistic you could swear that you are there. The music is taken directly from the Star Wars soundtrack, so you know it's gotta be good. No matter where you are the music follows you and matches the scene perfectly. If you are in a cave the small eerie music will be there while you are exploring. If you are in a bar the bar music will be their while you talk with the bartender. If you are in a lightsaber duel with a dark jedi the Imperial March will be there in full stereo quality. All more I can say is the music is excellent.

Overall: 10/10
This is the kind of game you dreamed about when Star Wars games first starting coming out. A totally original game set in the futuristic Star Wars universe with the coolest graphics at the time and an unforgettable gameplay exist in Jedi Knight. Lucas Arts has achieved their peak with this gem and gone beyond anyone expectations of a PC game. This was a revolutionary masterpiece, which remains one of my favorite PC games of all time. To anyone who is a Star Wars fan, this will send you to heaven and back with the experience to play it again and again. To ones not a Star Wars fan this will make you become one from the moment you grasp that lightsaber. An excellent singleplayer combines with an awesome multiplayer here which will make you wish the sequel will be as good. No matter what your standards are this game will meet them and blow you away.

Pros:
Great Graphics
Great Music
The best Gameplay ever

Cons:
I can't think of any

To Buy or Not To Buy:

Need I even tell you? BUY BUY BUY! It will probably be $10 at Wal-Mart so live the experience and Buy it!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/02, Updated 01/27/02