Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"Curse the critics, Jedi Outcast is "force-a-riffic!""

Okay, so ''force-a-riffic'' doesn't make any sense. Who cares?

I waited months to get Jedi Outcast for GameCube, considering my PC can hardly be called such a thing and I won't have anything to do with an Xbox, and a few days ago when I finally got enough cash, after totally searching around town to find no one had a single copy, I dejectedly went to bed and arose the next morning to find my mother had gotten it for me. Aren't mothers grand? Anyway, I basically ended up playing it the entire day, and most of the next day. It's that good, despite a few very minor problems. Let's start off with the most important part of a game...

GAMEPLAY- 10/10
Here's where the gold lies in Jedi Outcast. If you're reading this review, you've more than likely heard about how it has lightsaber dueling. Well, it does, and the lightsabers in this game KICK ASS, to be frank. I could go on for a good long while about how much the lightsabers kick butt in this game, but since I really don't want to be here at this computer writing this review for five hours, I'll keep it short. Let's face it, one of the only reasons alot of people picked up this game is for the lightsaber action. It's true. Without our favorite glow-sticks, Jedi Outcast, despite holding the Star Wars license and having the coolness of Force powers, would just be another first-person shooter. Thankfully, it's not. In multiplayer, you can choose one of 28 (less than that if you haven't beaten the Single Player game) player skins and go at it with your friends, or go up against up to ten computer-controlled bots. Game modes include Free For All, Team Battle (red Imperial team versus blue Alliance team), Holocron FFA, Duel, Jedi Master, and Capture the Flag. You can fiddle with the game modes even more by choosing whether or not you want only lightsabers to be the weapons in the battle, no lightsabers at all, no force powers, etc. Doesn't that sound like fun? Of course it does. Don't even get me started on the L337ness of Force powers. I'll just say ''they totally own''. That should suffice nicely. As for Single Player mode, it'll keep you going for a long time, but some of the puzzles and levels are HARD. Mind-bogglingly HARD, even on Padawan (easy) mode. Good thing we have GameFAQs. However, one of the Single Player game's little pleasures is finally completing that level you just can't stand. Another little pleasure of the game, this one a little mean, is throwing Ughnauts to their doom off of catwalks with Force Push or Force Grip. Such a guilty little pleasure. Muhuwaha! Okay, that's enough of THAT, I've babbled on enough about how great Gameplay is. Now for...

GRAPHICS- 8.5/10
This seems to be the biggest issue with the game: its graphics and framerate. I must admit, I was a bit worried at first when I was putting the game into my GCN for the first time, but I soon discovered that all the criticism is a bunch of Ughnautwash. Or whatever. While the graphics aren't perfect and the framerate may seem a bit choppy at times, it's hardly noticable. The gameplay more than makes up for this factor. However, one terribly noticable thing to bicker about is the cutscenes. As another reviewer stated, they do indeed look like they've been splashed with marmalade. Luckily, cutscenes don't detract from gameplay. On to the pleasant sounds of Jedi Outcast with the review of...

AUDIO- 9.5/10
It's a Star Wars game. You were expecting anything less than great? Everything sounds fabulous, whether it's the sound of lightsabers clashing, the cold ambience of Nar Shaddaa, or the fantastic John Williams music filling up what's left of the background sounds. There is a very slight problem with music during multiplayer when the songs have to restart again when they're done playing, as they quip a bit before starting over, but who cares about that? No one, that's who.

CONTROLS- 8.5/10
The game's controls are another bag of tricky tricks (?). I'd imagine that on the PC, Jedi Outcast was damn near perfect, control-wise. Somehow, this didn't end up being the case with the GCN version. At times, aiming can be incredibly difficult. Not only that, but you can't turn in mid-air after you jump, considering the A button is used for jumping and the yellow control stick is used for turning/aiming. Well, maybe you can't do that even if the controls were right. This ain't Mario, I guess. Still, at times, the controls make things more difficult than they should be (Nar Shaddaa comes to mind, where you take one wrong step and you're falling 200 MPH towards the ground, wherever it is). Now then, let's head to another important factor in gaming...

REPLAYABILITY- 10/10
Let's make this one short, since there's not much that needs to be said. If you're a Star Wars fan and you like video games, you'll play this thing until the day you or it dies.

TO BUY OR RENT- N/A
To be honest, if you're still skeptical, rent it. However, if this review has gone and hyped you up more than you can possibly imagine, get your car keys and haul ass to the nearest game store and fork over fifty smackers for this thing as fast as you can, because it is really, really worth it and you'll be sitting in front of your TV all day swinging 'sabers.

OVERALL SCORE- 9/10
While some have called it a ''sloppy port'' and criticised it over ''crap graphics'', they're all wrong. I suppose it just depends on how you look at it. Really, someone else's opinion shouldn't mean anything to you, even though that's a fairly hypocritical thing of me to say right now. It's you who decides how good a game is, not some ''professional critic reviewer'' yahoo. Go out and play the game and write your own review when you do. Go on, scoot!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/03, Updated 01/06/03