Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"This Game is Insane"

I’ll just get strait to the point: This game is insane.

To you, that statement may or may not be a good thing. But the bottom line is that Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is one insane game, and I’ll explain why.

Jedi Knight II is the sequel to Jedi Knight, which is the sequel to Dark Forces. So I guess they decided to rename the series given the new focus on Jedi powers. Anyways, in this game you once again play as Kyle “The Man” Katarn, a Jedi turned mercenary who can best be described as Han Solo with a lightsaber, even thought in the beginning of the game he doesn’t have one. Taking place around nine years after the previous game and about seven years after Return of the Jedi, the game starts off with Kyle and his long time lady friend Jan Ors doing a freelance mission for the New Republic, given to them by Mon Mothma. Apparently, there have been sightings of Imperial Remnant troops (storm troopers and what not) on a remote planet called Kejim, and Kyle and Jan are sent in to investigate. From here the plot unfolds…I won’t spoil anything, but in laymen’s terms, the story is excellent, if a bit overshadowed by the deep gameplay and enormous levels. You don’t really get any chunks of the story until after a few hours of running around solving puzzles. Another qualm is that you hardly ever see the major villain.

Story and Premise: 8/10

A few of the main problems with this game are the first two missions, which make up a quarter of the game. In these missions, Kyle does not yet have his old lightsaber, which he gets on mission three. This means you’ll be forced to play these mission using only blasters and explosives. THIS IS BORING! These levels are well made and kind of fun but they would be much more so if you had your lightsaber and Force powers from the beginning.

However, once the lightsaber is acquired, this game transforms itself into one of the absolute best shooters around. After you get your lightsaber, you will also automatically acquire Force powers at the end of every level. These include Force push, Force pull, lightening, mind trick (which lets you befriend an enemy, making him open a locked door for you, or you can make a group of enemies attack each other), Force grip, Force speed, Force jump and Force heal. Your ability to attack and defend with your lightsaber also increases from level to level. You will have so much fun when you get some decent Force powers that you’ll forget about your immaginary girlfriend (Star Wars fan + girlfriend = oxymoron). If you’re good, it’s possible to walk into a room full of twenty storm troopers and not take a single point of damage. See a pit? Then use Force push to throw some enemies to their deaths. Are there too many storm troopers with pulse rifles? Then use Force pull to yank the guns from their hands and get slicing! See a single enemy and you want to take him out quietly? Then use force grip to strangle his face off! Is your health running low? Then use Force heal to replenish! Are there too many enemies to kill in that hangar? Then use mind trick to have them do half the job for you. These powers are all easy to use and the lightsaber interface is amazingly user friendly.

The AI is also great. Enemies will try to flank you and will even run away if out numbered. On a negative note, some of the enemies have ridiculously bad aim, even at close range. Also, laser bolts fired from blasters seem to travel at twenty miles an hour, so if you’re using a blaster and an enemy is strafing to the left of you, you have to fire to the left of him to compensate for the slow traveling laser fire. Other than that, the bare bones gameplay is incredible.

Gameplay 9/10

If you’ve ever watched or played a Star Wars film/game then you know what to expect from the sound and music. The dynamic music is quiet when exploring but kicks up when you spot an enemy.

Sound 10/10

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the level design. The levels are good, they’re not too big like they were in the previous title, but the puzzles, while good too, sometimes don’t quite feel right. It’s hard to explain. It’s just that to solve some puzzles, the game makes it feel as if you’re exploiting some flaw in the game’s design. You may have to jump up to some tiny little ledge to hit some obscure button that no one could ever reach. It just doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t really happen that much, most of the puzzles are pretty good. On a few rare instances the levels feel as if they were purposely constructed specifically for a Jedi to trudge through. You might find a storm trooper on some remote ledge in a giant space station that he could never have reached by himself, but it’s no problem for a Jedi to jump to. See what I mean? It’s not usually that bad, however.

The levels are BIG. Like I said before, they’re not as big as in Jedi Knight 1 but they’re still humongous. Sometimes they feel overwhelming, but once you clear the area of enemies, you’ll see that the path is deceptively linear. The levels also never seem to take full advantage of your Force powers. Maybe two times it’ll be necessary for you to use mind trick to open a door. You’ll hardly ever need to use Force speed to solve anything and lightsaber throw is purely a novelty. Force push and pull are useful for taking down large groups of enemies, but they’re still not entirely necessary. The best part about these levels is what they make you do when in large open areas. Fairly early on in the game you’ll find yourself in a huge canyon filled with Eon Cannons, AT-STs, storm troopers, and gun turrets. So I’m thinking: “Okay, I have to run away right?” Wrong! The only way to beat this area and complete the objectives is to completely eliminate every enemy, including the AT-STs. You’ll be thinking: “Holy ****! I can’t believe I actually have to do that!” A word of advice: No matter how ridiculous it may be, your first inclination as to how to solve an area is probably the right one.

Level Design 7/10

The game looks spectacular. It runs on the Quake III engine, which is old but still beautiful. The colors and lighting are all pure “eye candy” (huh huh!). The animations are very well done also. Sometimes however, certain types of textures and enemies break up and become choppy when seen from a distance (at least on MY computer). The game will run well on even a mid to low end system provided you go easy on the video options and keep the resolution down. I ran it at 1024x768 resolution with 85fps almost constantly on a very mid range system.

Graphics 9/10

As to replay value, well, I’m definitely going to play through again. There’s no real reason to, but after beating it you can enter a code that lets you play through from the beginning with your lightsaber and all Force powers at max. And the game is so fun that you’ll be addicted for a while.

Single Player Replayability 6/10

Ah, the multiplayer. Arguably the best part of the entire game. There's a huge list of excellent official and of course custom maps and there are several great modes to play:

Free For All: As the name says, this is wear everyone fights everyone. The best FFA servers however, are the ones with Force powers disabled and the Lightsaber as the only available weapon. This is because there's an honor system, no one attacks anyone with sabers off and everyone is usually courteous to eachother to maintain the tournament-like atmosphere. In fact, most of the fighting on these servers is done in duels (a fight between two players that other people can't interfere with until one of the duelers dies) and anyone not dueling usually just stands around and goofs off. I sometimes join these servers just to hang out and mess around.

Team FFA: Juse like FFA except the Red team fights Blue in an attempt to rack up the most kills. I don't like these servers because it's way too chaotic. But if you're a lamer you'll fit right in.

Capture the Flag: This is my favorite game type. The Blue and Red teams try to capture eachother's flags to get the highest score by round's end. I like to use the Light Side force powers Absorb and mindtrick along with Force See and the usual neutral powers (push and pull, etc.) and sneak up on enemies while mindtricked (invisible) for lots of cheap, easy kills.

Capture the Ysalimari: Just like CTF except when you have the Ysalimari you can't use Force powers but enemies' Force powers don't work on you either.

Duel: Everyone spectates a pair of players dueling in a small arena. When the duel ends the next duel starts. Kinda boring if you ask me, but a lot of people seem to like it.

Multiplayer 10/10

Even though the last mission and the ending both feel rushed, the multiplayer game more then makes up for any and all shortcomings found in this game, making this one of the best games of 2002 by a long shot. If you like Star Wars, get this game. If you like shooters, get this game. If you like videogames, get this game. If you like living on planet Earth….GET THIS GAME!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/02, Updated 07/22/02