Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Mysteries of the Sith

Yes Jedi Knight offered FPS action in a complete star wars environment, introduced a whole new level of gameplay but Mysteries of the Sith, the continuation takes it to yet another level with authentic sounds, graphics and vehicles. Although the full cinematic cutscenes have been replaced by in-game cutscenes with no lip syncing, the story is still very well narrated. This game is also very very difficult and becomes amazingly difficult towards the end, providing a good challenge. The level design is utterly brilliant and spans very different environments which are also huge. Even though there are intelligent puzzles to solve, there is also a lot of frantic shooting action thrown in. Do not miss this at any cost.

After playing Jedi Knight, I wanted more. And I got it. This expansion pack was a blessing. It not only featured Kyle Katarn and more of his adventures; it also featured Mara Jade of the Timothy Zahn Thrawn novels. And some of those exact same creatures and characters from those books. Of all the games featuring Mara Jade, this was the only one I got to play (and enjoyed).

The new weapons, Force powers, and tools in this game were similar to Duke Nukem 3D, especially the remote-trigger mines, the freeze gun, and the projection ability. But unlike Duke Nukem 3D, this was less Doom-styled graphics and more Jedi Knight. Plus, we get fourteen more levels to play in addition to the twenty-something from Jedi Knight. Oh, and the voice acting was pretty good too. We get Terrence McGovern (from the old Ducktales and Darkwing Duck) and Rino Romano (who would later star in Curious George and Godzilla: The Series).

My only beef with Mysteries of the Sith was that some of the puzzles were a little too hard and could be frustrating. Some of them I passed with a cheat code or two, though I prefer to save those for when I'm severely taxed. Anyway, that's not the point. Just try it if you liked Jedi Knight and want more of the same. It's worth your while, even with the dated graphics.

This is an add-on for Star Wars: Jedi Knight, and I've read that it was released a mere four months after the game. That's... not very long, and it sadly shows. Little of the game doesn't come across as rushed. Where the levels were complex, but nicely done, throughout both single player and multi-player of the original game, the level design here comes off as confused, and confusing, for the most part. On the plus side, there are far more levels for multi-player(though some of them work for more than one mode of playing, making it appear like there are more than there are), and a few of them are recreations of well-known scenes(and ones enjoyed by many, many viewers) from the original three Star Wars films, and, well... they just plain rock. Think the endings of last two movies. There are fewer bosses, and they have much less of an impact. Force Powers are essentially the same, Pull is tweaked some, and there are four or five new ones(Chain Lightning could be called basically the same as Lightning, though it can now "chain" between enemies... apparently... as far as I understand, it isn't particularly efficient). The new ones are Push(which really isn't that helpful, in my experience), Projection(which, while it sounds cool... creating an illusion of you, to draw enemy fire... really doesn't work, game-play wise), Lightsaber Throw(which wasn't quite perfected at this point, but it does work... personally, I'm not a fan, OK, one character did it, in one movie, once(I won't reveal who or when, in case anyone who hasn't watched all of the original trilogy is reading this review), but that's it) and Far Sight(which is a potentially interesting idea, but it just isn't that good... it allows you to fly around, outside of your character's body, and you can, well, look around, without moving). What may be the biggest issue connected to the Force Power is that this removes the distinction between the Dark and Light sides... and as if that, in itself, wasn't bad enough, a major point of the first, the choosing of a side, through how you play(evil or good), goes straight with it(obviously). Apart from the Force Powers, there's also something called Defence, which you can choose instead of Force Powers(well, each star you assign to that will take away from which Force Powers you can choose), and which will (help) protect you against Force Powers. Defence is only available in multi-player. The multi-player adds something new... class-based characters. You can choose between the original's system, regular, and this new class-based one. The classes get certain, determined Force Powers and/or Defense settings, as well as starting weapons. The playing modes are Kill the Fool with the Ysalimiri(which awards points to whoever is holding the Ysalimiri, and Force Powers can't be used against or by the person who is), Sith Multiplayer Duel(allow me to translate: Deathmatch) and Sith Lightsaber Training(made for fighting with Lightsabers, and this one isn't compatible with any other character classes than Jedi). Capture the Flag is gone. The single player portion in no way reaches the same level of quality as the original... there is hardly any overall story, or if there is, it doesn't really start until just before the end of the game. "Companion missions" fits, perhaps too well. The levels are seldom connected any more than it being the same character you play as... except for that you play as Kyle for the first small portion of the game, for reasons I do not know(what fun is there in starting over in building up weapons, and, much more so, Force Powers, just when you've gotten started? This just serves to make the first part after you start as the new character feel even more anti-climactic, after completing the original). You play as Mara Jade for the majority of the game... I gather that she is connected to a well-known character in the Star Wars universe(I won't reveal who, or in what way, partially because it could be considered a spoiler, and partially because I've heard conflicting reports(make up your minds, people!)), and that she appears in the expanded universe(right...?), but she, as a character, has so close to literally *nothing* to do here, so I'm not sure if there was any purpose for choosing her, other than putting in a familiar face("look at who we got!"). The main game, well, honestly, it just isn't anywhere near as fun as the original, in fact, at points, it's barely any fun at all. What main plot there is(about the only thing having to do with Katarn(who is the only thing connecting this to the series, apart from one other character, who wasn't too bad an addition, though he/she's almost nothing more than a reference to where else she appears), is of terribly little interest, and explores nothing new. The acting is thoroughly unimpressive, and while the original may not have featured stellar acting, it certainly surpassed this, by far(and I'm talking about all of the acting... including in-game voices of characters), though I guess the absolutely *awful* acting is rare. By acting, I do, unfortunately, mean voice acting, only, as there is no live-action footage in this, nada. The masterfully done cut-scenes of the original are replaced by in-game ones, which again is a let-down. The sound is, literally, not of as high quality, the high-resolution sounds are gone. The add-on, all in all, is honestly just underdeveloped(which is not to say that there is nothing good to be found). Some minor glitches. There are various minor changes... enemies may now go at you with their fists if you Pull their weapon, for a quick example. Some are good, some not. Really, this would seem much better if it didn't directly follow such a great game. This does have some to offer, and if you can get a good deal on both the original and this... go for it. I recommend this to fans of the first. 7/10

I would like to comment on the multiplayer part. It has some great locations from the original Star Wars movies, such as the death star throne room and the carbon freeze chamber in cloud city.

These things make up for the minor defects that the single player campaign had. But it's still a good game.

I have spent many enjoyable hours with friends playing this game. I suggest you do the same, and may the force be with you :)

First of all, let me say that this game is not nearly as good as Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, but it is still very fun with great settings and characters, especially for a shoot-em-up game. However, most of the dialog between the main characters like Kyle Katarn and Mara Jade is very annoying, especially considering Kyle's great performance in the previous game and Mara Jade's excellent performance in Timothy Zahn's books. The storylines themselves aren't so great either. Giant asteroids attacking a rebel base? And I found the whole Kyle-going-to-the-dark-side thing a little annoying. It's still a cool game, but I'd recommend getting Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight instead.