Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast

I pre-ordered this game in January this year and got my copy 2 days before the official release date, and i wasn't disappointed.

I can't credit John Williams and CO enough for the superb sound and music, you really feel like you're in the middle of a Star Wars film, blasting Stormtoopers or Saber Fighting a Sith Lord.

The story is a bit predicable, but if you're a Star Wars fan, you won't care!

The saber fighting is superb in single player mode, fast paced and very Episode I and II like! The force powers are well done, divided into 3 levels, level 1 a basic version of that force power and level 3 the most powerful version of that force power.

You can also live your Darth Vader dream and grip an opponent and throw him off an edge or just crush'em!

The movie cut scenes are a bit blocky but they're well enough done to get jist of it.

Multiplayer Saber physics are changed in the multiplayer mode, the saber fights are slowed down considerably due to the lag factor, you'll find out what I mean when you play it.

But all in all a fantastic game, one which any Star Wars fan should have! It should also appeal to Star Trek Elite Force fans too, with the same game engine and the nice guns you get in the game.

Rating 9 out of 10

I was crazy for this game in 2002, when it came out. I enjoyed with my friends playing the multiplayer. Than I got the game and I tried singleplayer. And I was blown away. It's an excellent story, good characters, very nice plot, very well written. For 2002, graphics were pleasurable, the sound effects also cool, good old from the films. You are Kyle Katarn, a former jedi who becomes jedi again in order to save his partner Jan Ors and stop the plans of evil sith Desann. If you never had a chance to play this game, it's never too late. If you are a Star Wars fan, and you still haven't play this game, do it. You won't regret it.

It's like you're in the movie, and I am just waiting for Hollywood to make a movie adaption. Because story goes somewhere after "Return of the Jedi". Don't take me too seriously, the movie adaption would be dumb, but, who knows.

The Quake 3 engine is used to excellent effect here by Raven. The game plays excellently, the first levels play nicely, presenting a nicely challenging first person shooter. Once you acquire the lightsabre about a third of the way through the game you begin to increase your force powers and the game, unfortunately, becomes laughably easy. The lightsabre deflects just about every single weapon blast, and simply standing in a corner will often clear a room for you. It's not until the later levels with the appearance of more lightsabre equipped enemies that it becomes more challenging again.

However in Multiplayer the game really begins to shine, it has the standard Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and some specific and unusual game modes. But essentially it's Quake 3 with lightsabres. There is a true 'honour' community amongst players, bowing to each other, not attacking when a guys sabre is deactivated (means I wish to talk) and other such courtesy. I've never had so much fun when fragging.

Following up to the first Jedi Knight was not going to be easy. It had it all, and it was all very accomplished. This does an amazing job, even if it doesn't reach it all the way(what could?). The plot is pretty good, if perhaps not the *most* original ever, and it features something of an inconsistency(another reviewer comments on this, too) with Star Wars canon. There are many different areas in the SW universe, all rather nicely done. Level design/LOD are great, if not quite as expertly done as that of the first, but there are definitely some marvelous things to be found... these include switches and such that you activate with your Force Powers, a vehicle or two(not spoiling the surprise in this review), and more. Difficulty settings are fairly well-done, if parts of the game seem overly challenging regardless of which you play on. The boss enemies are fun, for one immediately obvious reason, but the explanation behind them(and thus, how compelling a presence they are) just doesn't measure up to that of the first... even if there are far, far more of them. Graphics(the engine is a modified version of that of Quake III) are absolutely *gorgeous*. Blaster fire, the levels, the *Lightsabers*... oh my. This helps make the fact that the cut-scenes are now(as opposed to the live-action of the first) almost entirely engine-based(supplemented with a handful of CGI-sequences) easier to accept, as does the reasonable cinematography and range of animations, and the flawless programming of both. AI is magnificent, enemies behave realistically throughout, if the range could have been better. Sound and music are excellent, throughout, wide range of both and the quality is top-notch all the way. The game-play is entertaining, and that is an(but not the only one) aspect where this really lives up to the first(and at times surpasses it... although there are parts of this that are surpassed by the first). Both as a straight FPS and as third-person-action, the game is an *enormously* fun time in the SW galaxy. The Single Player portion is of adequate length, and is of high quality throughout, nothing seems tacked on. Almost everything in the game is fully developed. The Lightsaber is almost perfect. The power of it, the deflection... in this game, their appearance closer resemble those of the new trilogy of films, at least in part due to the release of the first of them having been to the theaters when they were making it. The swings are also far more effective and fast(again, with the release of Episode 1). I'm still not a fan of the throwing(and it gets to be downright common, here), but they kind of had to have it, after it appeared in Mysteries of the Sith. This time around(in Single Player), more of the game passes before you get your saber, and, well, let's just say, it wasn't by accident the demo(which is very much worth playing, by the way, and not just to see if you'll like the full game, either) had you starting out with it(although the level where you get it is... worth fighting your way to). The saber duelling... that's a tough one. Allow me to make a deduction, based on what I've seen of it in games(which, admittedly, is not that much, but maybe there just isn't all that much of it)... fencing, sword-fighting, in games that aren't exclusively dedicated to it, has to somewhat decide between which it's going to be more of... freedom, fun and swift movements, or strategy, effectiveness and, to a degree, realism. The latter group is, for example, the first two Prince of Persia games, and both this and the third game(where the focus still laid largely laid in the second of the two categories) of that series attempt for a mix... in the case of both, the result is that you can hack and slash away effortlessly and, more by chance than anything else, take out boss enemies and other players. In this game, there is still an unmistakable requirement of skill, if nothing or nowhere else, then when you face multi-player foes that are superior, and possibly a boss enemy or two, as well. But it won't look like those scenes in the films. In every other case, the Lightsaber, and just about everything in the entire game, does look right, however. One or two things don't look exactly right, but that's it. The weapons are another success story. Unlike that of the first, where it was more or less of a sporadic nature which did and which didn't, here, *every* weapon has an alternate fire mode. Said secondary fire tends to be remarkably useful, too. Not all from the first game return, but I'm not sure there's a single FPS armory need that isn't covered. Nothing gets phoned in this. Multiplayer is... what can I say? 'Addictive' may be the word(and bot supported). In addition to the main ones(FFA, Team FFA and CTF), there are some interesting(and entertaining!) playing modes... Duel, Holocron FFA and Jedi Master. The first one is self-explanatory... saber fights, one on one, in kind of a tournament. The second is FFA, Free For All, but with all the Force Powers in Holocrons(cubes you can pick up) in the level, and every player starts without any. Last, but by no means least... Jedi Master. There's a Lightsaber at one point in the level. Pick it up, and you're Jedi Master. Full level of every Force Power, and the saber as your only weapon. Only the Master can earn points, and killing him releases the Jedi weapon of choice for other players to pick up. The Force Powers really rival said blade in joy-bringing... they're awesome, well-done, well-rounded, with little to no exception. They get more powerful as the game progresses, in set order and pace, but this works well. You also get to use both sides, in SP. I recommend this to fans of Star Wars, action games and FPS. 7/10

I honestly think that the gameplay is the best I've seen in years. What sucks is how when I first got it, I apparently didn't have the right video card. When I got a new one. It worked like a charm, although my Half-Life still freezes the computer. Anyway, I loved the gameplay period. The cutscenes, well, they should be done better. The things I complain about with the scenes is that the characters' lips move like a Japanese game and their noses are pretty 2-D. The plot is pretty basic, and I think that Kyle should have gotten his saber back another way instead of asking a Jedi who normally should have said no. What I can't get is how in 1st person view, the weapons look so well animated, while in 3rd person view, they look pretty crappy, except the saber. If you are at least a fan of action games, get this. 8/10