Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"Bet your Bantha hide, this is a great Star Wars game!"

The original Jedi Knight in my opinion was one of the best Star Wars games ever. So I had high expectations for the next installment in the series, Jedi Outcast. Raven Software has done a great job on the sequel which is easily one of the best Star Wars games in recent times.
The game is set eight years after Return of the Jedi. Kyle Katarn the mercenary from the first two games has given up on the force, and put away his lightsaber. I won’t spoil the story, but the plot involves a dark Jedi attempting to raise an army of Jedi. Kyle Katarn must take up his lightsaber and battle the forces of evil once again.
The game has excellent graphics, as it runs on the Quake III engine. The games levels have many of the huge chasms from the original Jedi Knight. The enemies especially the stormtroopers look very nice, and move fluidly. The sound is your basic Star Wars: blasters, light saber sounds, and other noises from the movie. Music is also straight from the films, containing a selection of pieces from the original trilogy.
During the course of the game, you will come in contact with many familiar faces. The use of the Star Wars license is put to good use in this game. Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissan, and Mon Motham all make appearances in the game. Levels include an imperal outpost, the streets of Nar Shardaa, and Cloud City among others.
One thing about the games levels is the fact that there are many puzzles built into the action, it is nice to have a puzzle once in a while but often they just slow the game down and frustrate the player.
At first JKII seems like a very mediocre game. The first few levels felt like a cramped dungeon crawl from a Doom game. Enemy AI is okay, and your arsenal of weapons is a little underwhelming.
The game really begins to shine when you obtain the lightsaber, and begin to get force powers. Having force powers puts a unique and exciting twist on combat. You can leap stories high with force jump, send stormtroopers flying of catwalks with force push, and fry your enemies with force lighting. I found myself using force powers a lot more than in the original game. You will also use the lightsaber most of the time after you obtain it. One section of the game has you facing an entire army of troops in one room. With strategic use of force powers you can decimate the entire room with just your saber like a true Jedi. You much learn to master the force to win, and each player will play a little differently. Do use dark powers to kill those troops, or use a jedi mind trick to sneak by? Its situations like these that make the game great.

Summary
Good Points Bad Points
Makes you feel like a true jedi Puzzles can get in the way of the action
Good use of SW licensce Weaponry selection is not great
Excellent Graphics Can not customize force powers in single
player


I would say this game is well worth it for fans of the action genre, and Star Wars fans, despite a few minor flaws it is an excellent game that I enjoyed very much. I hope this review has been helpful to you!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/02, Updated 04/06/02