Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"Luke aint got nothin' on you."

Intro
You are a Jedi, or just a guy with a light saber and a couple of questions. You are Kyle Katarn, a Jedi, or just a guy with a light saber and a couple of questions, its really up to you to decide.

Story 8/10
This game follows the Jedi Knight story line. You are Kyle Katarn, and when your ''friend'' gets kid napped, it gets personal. The bud guy is Desann, one of the leaders of the Remnant of the Empire. As you progress through the game you learn that there is much more to this then just trying to find out the location of the valley of the Jedi. Soon you return there and regain your force powers. Damn, now you have to go save a bunch of Jedi's, the action never ends. You meet many people from the Star Wars galaxy including, Luke, Lando and many other interesting but not so well known characters.

Game Play 10/10
This is where JK:JO really shines. There is so much to do in this game. The saber battles are very well done. You can feel the tenseness of it when it's just you, a Reborn Jedi(the evil ones) and two light sabers. You stand there for a few seconds waiting for them to make their move, but they don't, so you do, and then the action begins. There are three settings for the power on your light saber, light, medium, and heavy. There is one small problem though, the AI isnt too bright... You kill a storm trooper and the guy he's patrolling with says ''Stop or I'll shoot.'' Yeah, like you just gonna put down your light saber and say I quit. There is also a very good feature. Being able to save at any time, but each save slot you use takes up 27 memory blocks. The puzzles in this game, while difficult at first become very easy the second time around. That leads me into my next point, there is so much replay value on this game. There are 4 difficulty settings, Padawon, Jedi, Jedi Knight and Jedi Master. Padawon, is laughably easy. But Jedi Master is pain staking hard. There is also a good multiplayer, it has capture the flag/Team CTF, Death Match/Team DeathMatch, Duel which is you and a friend or BOT fight in a empty arena usually with sabers to detrmine who is the best. There are also many characters to choose from, whether you want to be Lando or just a Jedi its up to you. There are many levels to choose from, but you don't get your saber until level 6. They even threw in a stealth mission.

Controls 9/10
The controls for this game really stand out and are fantastic. They are also customizable to a certain degree. Every thing flows smoothly, and it doesnt take very long to adjust to these controls.

Graphics 8/10
The in game graphics for this game are great. The cut scene graphics... Not so great... My cat could have done a better job. But then there are these little things called movies, they look amazing like their just out of well a movie. There's good light and shadow. Electricity also looks very well done. If you have your saber on and can move well enough you can write your name into a wall. When your saber connects with another one there will be a crackle and sparks wich help add to the mood of the fights.

Sound/Music 9/10
The sound and music is very well done. You will hear classic music in there like the Imperial March, Star Wars theme and many others. If you manage to get close enough to a storm trooper with out killing him, you can hear his comm. chatter. They talk about everything from, past events, to how they hate the officers, and even about their guns. The sabers humm when their on. They also make a crackling sound when it touches a wall or another saber.

Outro
Rent or buy? Always rent before you buy. But if you don't have the money to do both, I would recommend that you buy this game. It makes you feel like your in the Star Wars universe.
Over all score
9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/03/03, Updated 07/03/03