Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"Great game, but something is missing"

Jedi Knight II : Jedi Outcast is the 3rd game of the Dark Forces. You are still Kyle Katarn and, with the help of Jan Ors, you have to re-learn how to use The Force, and then... destroy hordes of Stormtroopers!!!

Gameplay : 8

This game is one of the best Star Wars game you can have. Your goal for the first levels is to kill Stormies with a blaster... That's the worst part. When you get the Lightsabre and The Force... it's a new game! Lightsabre combat cannot be better! The game is pretty difficult to beat at higher levels. In fact, I had some trouble in Normal and it gets really challenging in hard, until you get your lightsabre.

Apart from the great lightsabre techniques and the various blasters, you can also get thermal detonators and 2 types of mines. You can actually pull off some interesting strategies, such as strategically place a mine and lure the enemies in. However, running in the mob with your blade generally does the same thing, and it's faster too.

I give the gameplay a 8 because of one reason : if it wasn't because of the force powers and the lightsabre, the game would be a traditional shooter, with very few innovative features, if there are any. For a Star Wars fan though, this the best simulation so far of lightsabre combat.

Story : 8

The first levels are a little bit boring, since there is no real story. The story starts on the 3rd level, and it's pretty good... But it would have be better if it was the movie's story... Of course you can't really have such game with the movie's story in mind, but it would have been cool to see more movie stuff, such as a Star Destroyer (which is replaced by a quite horrible re-design).

Here's the main plot : an evil guy named Desann, and his apprentice Tavion, are creating an army of Jedi, using the power of the valley of the Jedi (as seen in the original Jedi Knight). Kyle needs to recover his Lightsaber and The Force to make his way through those Reborn Jedi and to fight Tavion and Desann. Note that Luke, Lando and Mon Mothma are in the game (and these small "cameo" were great for a nostalgic original trilogy fan).

Audio : 10

Music and Effects are awesome. The sabres' sound is like in the movies. The voices are great too. Most of the enemies sometime say something, like ''hey you there!'' or ''Rebel scum!'' (why the heck do they call you rebel? We're 10 years after the fall of the empire, so you're an agent of the New Republic). When you kill a stormtrooper and he falls down an edge, or when you cut his arm out, he will scream.

Video : 9

Graphics are excellent, but the cinematics have the same. Back in Jedi Knight, the cinematics were interpreted by actors...

Even though they are getting dated, I think the graphics are great. Newer games are probably more impressive, but, as far as I know, you don't get a lightsabre and force powers in the other shooters, and that's what this game is all about.

Replay Value : 7

Once you have finish the single player, you might want to play exclusively multiplayer. It's true, the missions are getting repetitive sometimes, and you might want to take a break.

Multiplayer is quite good. In my opinion though, it's only great if you have friends to play with you. The game uses the horrible The Zone system, which makes finding an appropriate game quite hard. I must say that some multiplayer maps are awesome. There's even a Death Star map, and you can really see the similarities with the movies.

However, I never enjoyed multiplayer a much as single player. Others might say the contrary, but this is just my opinion. The missions can be replayed after some time has passed, and they're still fun.

I still give a 7 here, because I've seen more addictive games out there. And since I liked single player a lot better, I would have liked to see something like a cooperative SP mode. That would have been great, since, in my opinion, it combines the two best part of the game : nice SP missions, and wielding a lightsabre along with a friend at your side.

Buy or Rent?
Buy. The game is awesome. Even if you play it only for a moth, it's still worth it.

Overall : 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/02, Updated 08/21/04