"Not worth the hype..."

==NOTE: I'd like to point out that the MP in Jedi Outcast ROCKS, but that this is my review of the SINGLE PLAYER game. Thank you.==

Remember the intensity and innovation of the original Jedi Knight? Remember the stunning atmospheric world of Half-Life? Remember the great stories behind games like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex? Jedi Outcast has none of the above, and yet it somehow seems to garner unanimous praise everywhere. Well, folks, I don't agree - not one bit.

GAMEPLAY & FLOW
In general, Jedi Outcast is a merely average game. This is due to many different things, and gameplay is a major factor. From the annoying ''find-the-magic-button-to-unlock-the-next-door-so-you-can-find-the-next-magic-button...'' gameplay, to the ''old school'' jump-puzzling, to the ''find the three keys'' levels... Jedi Outcast is a pain more than a pleasure. Also, there's a **TON** of ''messenger boy'' bs that you'll have to endure to get anywhere in almost any level.
As for the flow... it sucks. I remember one level, the Nar Shadda streets, I was scaling the buildings, looking for some garbage-thingies. Now, I figure, the winding path just keeps going up and up, so that must be where i go, Right? WRONG. Turns out, I missed the real path about three floors down, and the ''path'' was a barely noticable Force-puzzle that i wasn't even aware was there!

AI
AI? What AI? In one level, you take out an army of Stormtroopers one by one, and none will notice their buddies falling dead, screaming right beside them. In the next level, you'll stealthily kill a single, lonely Stormtrooper, and a brigade will march in from all sides of the level. Not only doesn't it make sense, it's plain dumb and inconsistant.

STORY
While there is indeed a story in Jedi Outcast, it's pretty predictable. Not as blatantly bad as some other aspects of the game, it takes some decent twists and turns throughout, provided you have enough patience to play that long.

ATMOSPHERE
Sadly, the atmosphere of this game is pretty bad, and many levels are without any sense of feeling. More often than not, levels seem like exactly that - just levels, with bad guys placed in different spots. It's not llke there's anything creative done here, it's just the same baddies, with the same tactics, over and over, only in different locales. No fancy scripted sequences, sorry.

So what's Jedi Outcast's saving grace?
Well, first off, it's not ALL bad. The first few levels are stinking piles, but as you progress, the game slowly gets more and more fun. The lightsaber battles are the only real highlight of the SP game, and only begin about halfway through the game. Also, the soundtrack and sound effects are top-notch, they provide brilliant Star Wars taste to what might have been a great game. And of course, the Multiplayer is rocking Jedi fun... had I been writing this review on the MP aspect, I might give it an 8... but I'm not, and it's really too bad that the SP game couldn't stand up to it's potential. You might like it, just like many others, but for me, I need something more than a mediocre game to tickle my fancy.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/02, Updated 04/20/02