Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"Excellent...."

Intro:
I have played FPS(first person shooters) before and the best one I have seen was Goldeneye for N64 and almost everything else I picked up were never as good as the ''Gold.'' I picked this game up, buying it, and it was because I read Lightsaber tactics and acrobatic moves for the PC and it sounded looked good. I was not disappointed AT ALL. I have not played the previous ones before so I don't know how they work out. Well the only thing I will say that will be spoilers is the main character's name and some gameplay occurrences. Even the enemies will be called ''shooters.''So this review we'll be without knowledge of the previous ones.
Graphics:10
Very good for the Gamecube. I say this because of the fluid motion during the battles. The graphics were so good, that the first couple of times I played this game, I felt dizzy after playing for awhile. I have played video games for a long time and this game and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are the only ones that have ever done this to me. Whatever was in the game was worse than VC because it took about four times before I stopped having these problems. With this said, take a break after playing if you feel dizzy because it gets BAD if you don't stop. Well after that's said, the graphics are very good overall for the Gamecube. I say this because the 'Cube cannot handle layers at all. Look at Kyle's beard and then look at Tidus' hair for Final Fantasy X. Notice it is not pressed onto Tidus' body and Kyle's beard is. This game can handle the action of the Saber battles and if some enemies are killed, you get cool Matrix action.
Story:9
It is a Star Wars story and that can be said without a doubt. Two special characters make appearances and they fight by your side for awhile. They can diffentally hold their own in battle! The story is a continuation from the previous ones and they let you in on what happened before just so you aren't completely clueless. Only if you check things out before going to New Game and if not you can catch on quick as you play. This story is not completely stereotypical and did surprise me at the end with a couple occurrences.
Sound:10
Almost everything you have heard in the movies. I did not hear anything new and almost every soundtrack is from each movie. The sound effects are very good. Saber swings and blaster sounds do not disappoint the player.
Gameplay:9.5
See the Synopsis link above? This section is the reason why I gave it that. Excellent, you say, but I didn't give 10? Well the reason why I say that is a personal reason I will give later. First reasons why it is excellent. The puzzles. This game is not for the impatient. You have to look everywhere to solve and progression in the game. If I was a freshman in highschool or I was not on top of checking a lot of things in this game, I would never have completed it. There are things in this game that look like they made no sense if you want to progress. Looks are deceiving, as there will be some ''noodle scratches'' here and there. That plus and the dizziness you get in the first couple of stages make some of the puzzles hard. The puzzles are best I have seen. There is more than touch switch to open up another door. There is jump on weird looking things and hope this takes you to the right place. My friend watched this game while I played, and I heard a lot of ''What the hell?'' The programmers have to be on crack to think of this?'' He says that, but I say they are very creative. The only thing I can say is ''PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING.'' After the puzzles, there are the gun battles and saber battles that are difficult. This is because the AI is Very Good. They will retreat and regroup, so pay attention to what your enemies say. Plus they get the same weapons you do and they know how to use them MUCH better than you. There are no glitches to save you here, but there are weaknesses that you will have to exploit and PAY ATTENTION to your ENVIRONMENT. There can be things that can save you during hard battles, so PAY attention. Well for the saber battles, Whoa! They know how to move much faster than you, or it seems like it. Use everything to your advantage or else you might lose your arm. Now here is the thing that made this section lose its half. The deflection. When someone shoots at you and you have your saber out, you will deflect it automatically. I don't like this because when a large group of shooters decide to have a shootout with you while you have your saber out, they will lose. If they try to get behind you run backwards towards a wall and they will continue shooting and you will deflect at them. They end up killing themselves, except a couple weapons can't be deflected, so the only hard parts after you get your saber is the saber battles. If the automatic deflection is something you really like, so you don't have to manually deflect like a madperson in a large crowded room, just put change the content of the 9 to that of a 10 and you can be happy. I just liked the challenge of the game and suddenly all you have to do is stand up against a wall and leave the room for awhile and come back to see lots of dead shooters around while you are in perfect condition. I know you might say to yourself, just put away your Lightsaber, well remember, to get better at Saber battling you have to practice by keeping it out and doing things with it. Sometimes, I can be running towards my aggressor to take and slash him and he will suicide himself by shooting and me deflecting. I haven't gotten to play multiplayer that much, but it seemed pretty good when I tried it. No one is really willing to play it with me, so I can't really say much, but you do get to give attribute points to ''powers'' in the multiplayer game. You can also play against computer type players, but they are pretty hard and you don't get the advantage of automatic blocking like in the single player game.
Controls:10
Very nice... You have to hit dead on to make a shot count and I like that. You have to do more than shoot into a crowded room to do damage. You have to actually aim and hit your target. There will be times when you have to lead your shot to hit and I haven't completely mastered that. It can get hard, but this is to add to an already good challenge in the game. The C-Stick can get difficult to aim, but press start, go to Advanced Controls, and move how sensitive you want the C-Stick to be.
End:
I brought this game and wasn't disappointed at all. If you would like a challenge and a FPS/Third Person Player, I would like to push this game upon you. I have beaten the game on normal difficulty and I still feel like beating the hard. There will be new things that happen as you progression in the game, so there is some replay value right there. I liked this game for the challenge and was very surprised at the good surprise I got. So you can say I've got a biased for challenges, so take that into mind before taking my review to heart. Enjoy to those that play this great game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/02, Updated 12/08/02