Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

"From what I heard, I thought this would be a awsome game but It wasn't all that..."

Holy crap! Forget The Clone Wars and all of the hype about that new movie and it's game(which is a Clone of the movie). Get Jedi Outcast.

This game came out the same time around when Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones came out in theaters. Everyone was rushing to go see it. After they enjoyed it, some of the people noticed a video game in stores called the Clone Wars. They bought this game and wasted their money because they thought the movie was great, so the game had to be good as well. Let me tell you, that game wasn't good at all. Instead many people turned to another Star Wars game that had come out around the same time. This was Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast. This game is better in almost every way. Instead of following the hype of the new movie, this game takes you back before the movies. This was a good change in plot.

Gameplay

Ok, this game has great controls and many different options on changing the controls. The controls you start out with are kind of confusing and hard to use. I almost immediately changed the controls to something I was more comfortable with. These controls are very similar to most other first person shooters. I find the controls to be very responsive. In fact they are too sensitive. It will take a little bit of time to get used to the sensitivity of the controls.

This game is one of the tough Star Wars games. This isn't just a "shoot-um-up while you follow the path" game. Sure, you will be killing a lot of storm troopers, don't worry. But this game also has it's challenges. There are many places where you can get stuck and have to really think and explore to move on. There are also some good hard boss fights that may take you a few tries to complete.

Another great aspect of the gameplay is the variety of different high tech future weapons you can get. The best one and the main weapon in this game is the lightsaber. Since you are a Jedi, you do get to use a lightsaber. This can be very fun once you have your attacks and force powers upgraded. You basically won't even need your guns once you acquire this weapon.

Since you are a Jedi, you will get to use different Force Powers. These include powers like Push, or Grip, or Jump. These are very important for beating certain levels and of course, some tougher enemies. This really adds to the "fun level" of this game.

Story

This story takes place before the new movies, right after The Return of the Jedi. A great change in this plot is that you are not one of the main characters from the movies. You are a Jedi Knight called Kyle Katarn. You have probably never heard of this guy. He and his partner Jan have helped Luke Skywalker and the New Republic many times with various missions. On one mission Jan gets kidnapped and taken far away. Your mission is to find her as well as find out what the Remnant Imperial forces are up to.

Graphics/Sound

The graphics are very good on the GameCube version of this game. They are not quite as good and detailed as some of the exclusive Nintendo games, but they are fairly good. There are many things that you can interact with, but there are many things that you can't do anything with. A big quality with these graphics is that when you touch the wall with your lightsaber, it will carve a small hole in the wall. This is a big step up for the Star Wars games. I hope future games will contain details like this. The sound is OK, but not great. You will get the usual music from the movies as well as most of the same sounds. But hey, if you can't get enough of it from the movie, then this game is for you.

Playing Time/Replayability

This game is long, very long. There are 27 levels and each one of the is HUGE. This game will take you quite a bit of time to complete. Out of all of the games I've written a FAQ for, this game has the longest FAQ written by me. This game took me about a month. But I didn't play it too often. I'm guessing it will take most people about 2-3 weeks to beat it on there first try. This game is great for replaying because the difficulties get harder and it is a challenge to beat the game up on a higher difficulty.

Final Word

This game is defiantly worth buying. It is the best of the Star Wars games. If you rent it, you probably won't have enough time to beat it. This game is great, but there are a few flaws with the graphics and sounds, as well as the difficulty of this game that only makes this game a 7/10. A lot of people told me this game was one of the best, but I didn't think it was that good. It was good, but not one of the best games. It is still worth buying though.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/04