Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"This game is a must play"

From the moment I started playing this game, I knew there was a good chance I'd be disappointed. It was based on one helluva license. When games based on Star Wars come out. They are critiqued by gamers with a powerful microscope. The thing is: this game passed the test. It more than lived up to the hype and really delivered.

Graphics: [9.5]

The graphics in this game are great. When waiting for this game, I had read alot of previews and some had said that this was not the most impressive use of the Quake 3 engine and that when it came out it would be a tad behind the times. I must admit, looking at screenshots, I thought this was correct. However, seeing right here in front of me, I must say it looks great. There are some minor problems with the volumetric shadows causing some funkiness but overall, this game looks great.

The animations are top notch. The characters look very natural in how they move. Just wait till you see a light saber battle. man, they are sweet. Also, the facial animations and lipsincing, while not perfect, are definately better than any other game I have seen thus far. Moreover, there are multiple death animations depending on the area struck. One can lop off arms and whatnot with the lightsaber as well. (Hint: there are mods out there that allow you to take this even further and sever other limbs and even decapitate, I have not tested this however)

Sound [10]

This game is not only easy on the eyes but a boon for the ears as well. All the weapon and action sounds are great. If you have a sub woofer and 4 speakers you will be loving this game all the more. The voice acting is also great. Not just the main characters either. Every character voice down to the lowliest storm trooper is awesome. From a voice acting standpoint, this is sure to be my fave. (Hint: while I find the dueling music to be great, there is a mod out there that allows you to use the duel of fates anthem during duels. I have not tested this)

Story [10]

Behind the sights and sounds, a great story drives this game. I mean, it may not be what great literary classics are made of but it definately delivers. It certainly is, in my opinion, top notch for a computer game. In fact, I was quite suprised to find such an excellent story in an action game. Truthfully, though I love all the factors that make this a great game, it was the story that kept me up till 4 am last night

Gameplay

Single Player [9.5]
This is the most fun Ive had in single player in a long long time. You get a plethora of weapons. All of them get primary and secondary functions (A-la Unreal). The cool thing is, they are all cool and you will use them all. Even the lowliest peeshooter of a gun you gun is fairly useful to snipe with if your disrupter gun is running low. The most fun weapon, however, is the lightsaber. A player properly proficient in the use of force powers and a lightsaber can reek serious havoc on armies of stormtroopers. What the devs did was, instead of making you suck and fight a few baddies at a time, is they made you a god and you fight many many baddies at a time. The stormtroopers numbers will be huge. They send waves and waves of em at you.

Though many of the stormtroopers are at a decided disadvantage (you can very easily repel blaster fire with your lightsaber) they are smart enough to try to flank you. Moreover, there are many encounters where simply repelling blasting fire is not an option because too many of the enemy use disrupters (think lasers, cant be parried) or grenade like weapons. Also, they may throw in turrets or robots into the mix. In these cases, it is sometimes best to turn off your lightsaber and switch to more conventional weapondry.

Beyond weapons, there are also a myriad of useful Jedi Powers at your disposal. As the game progress your character slowly advances. At the end of nearly every sub-mission, your character improves his skill in a force power. You get skills like heal, force jump, lightning (like the Emperor uses), and others. The most fun of these powers is force speed. Basically, this hastes you and slows down everyone else. This is very similar to the ''bullet time'' in Max Payne. You will find that lightsaber and gun battles both benefit from the use of these powers and there are many moments in the game where use of these powers is necessary for advancement.

Why not a perfect you ask? Well, some of the puzzles were a bit tedious and unintuitive. This is evident when one visits a message board about this game and sees the plethora of posts from those who get stuck here and there. Even I got stuck once and, though I dont like to brag, I hardly ever get stuck. This is not true of all the puzzles however. Many are quite fair, most are very enjoyable, and all are very Star Wars.

One aspect that I find excellent but others may not is the games diffculty. Though your character becomes quite powerful, some situations the game puts you through will most likely require a few reloads (some maybe even quite a few). I like this game enough that this doesnt actually bother me and after playing games like Final Fantasy (which are so damn easy) it is a welcome change.

Multiplayer [..]
Why no score? Well, I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I hate playing multi-anything. Just not my cup of tea. I did play some just to try it out. The lightsaber battles did not seem as cool animation wise (not sure why that is). Also, the gameplay here seemed fairly one sided. Players tended to primarily use force powers to simply push others off ledges and watch them plummet to thier death. Also, force lighting seemed fairly effective as well when used correctly. Overall, however, this did not seem to be this games strong point. I refrain from giving it a rank because I dislike multiplayer gaming in general.

Overall (not an average) [10]

Get it now. Now, stop reading! GO dude (or dudette) GO!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/02, Updated 03/29/02