GAME PLAY
The next
installment of the Jedi Knight series provides a memorable
experience with its vastly improved combat system. The game starts
with a cut-scene of Kyle Katarn and his partner in the cockpit of a
ship. A hologram of Mon Mothma appears, informing you about an
intercepted imperial transmission; it turns out the remnant is
investigating the valley of the Jedi, and something known as
"Reborn." She asks you to investigate an old imperial outpost on
Kejim; after landing, you assume control of Kyle for the rest of the
single player game. The first level mainly serves as a tutorial
area, teaching you what kind of things to keep an eye open for to
solve puzzles later in the game, mainly buttons, exploding barrels
and grates covering ventilation ducts.
The events that take place on Kejim lead
Kyle to continue investigating what the remnant is up to, and
eventually return to the Valley of the Jedi to gain force powers
once more. Your adventure will take you through a variety of
environments, unfortunately most of them involve imperial
architecture, which can get old after a while. The areas you will
visit include a mining facility, Nar Shaddaa, the swamps of Yavin
IV, the Massassi Temple, a capital ship, and more. Throughout these
levels you will find an impressive amount of weaponry to use against
your foes. A few of the weapons you can use are the Imperial E-11
blaster rifle, a sniper rifle, a Wookiee Bowcaster, a shotgun,
Thermal Detonators, and trip mines to name a few. It's nice having
so many options, but it goes to waste once you get your lightsaber
back; excluding the sniper rifle, every weapon becomes obsolete.
The early portion of Jedi Outcast are
a bit dull, being an average FPS. But it's worth playing through (or
bypassing with a cheat), because after acquiring your lightsaber the
game turns into an amazing third person hack and slash frenzy;
becoming even more fun when the realistic dismemberment cheat is
activated. Before you were limited to chopping off heads and arms,
now you're able to slice off legs, hands and cleave your foes in
two. The brutal action doesn’t stop there either, you’re given a
number of force powers to protect yourself, navigate levels and
crush those who stand in your way. Force push, pull, grip,
lightning, heal, jump, speed, mind trick as well as the ability to
throw your lightsaber are all at your disposal, helping to even the
odds against an overwhelming amount of soldiers. The combat system
works perfectly, it will keep you coming back for more in
multiplayer.
DIFFICULTY
Jedi Outcast can be a very challenging game; its combat will test
your reflexes and the puzzles will keep you stumped if you’re not
observant of your surroundings. Although it can be difficult at
times, the learning curve is fairly gentle, but it's still a good
idea to save often. The game starts off with a small number of
sluggish enemies so you can get comfortable with the controls. As
you get more weapons the enemies become more abundant as well as
more intelligent. When you get your trusty lightsaber the difficulty
gets toned down a bit, allowing you to get familiar with the weapon
you’ll be using almost exclusively for the rest of the game.
Afterwards, the AI improves again, getting progressively more
difficult as the game continues, until you're swimming in storm
troopers in some parts. Also, when you receive a new force power the
next part of the level will feature a situation that power is meant
to be used in, so you can test it out. For example, you just got
rank 3 force grip, so the next area will have a bottomless pit and a
few nearby enemies for you to practice tossing in. Overall the
puzzles aren’t that difficult. Most of the time the solution is
obvious, but will continue to elude you because it seems too simple
to work. Other times the solution is hidden in plain sight, such as
disguised buttons on a wall. The puzzles aren't very imaginative,
and seem to just slow down the game at times; the majority of
puzzles involve pushing every button you come across, and searching
for officers to take door keys from.
AUDIO
The sound effects are close to perfect, from the hum of your
lightsaber to the beeping of an R5 droid. The only thing I found
lacking are the explosions, which are very quiet in comparison to a
blaster shot. The dialogue is excellent as well, the voice actors
really bring the characters to life; Lando Calrissian's lines are
even read by Billy Dee Williams, the man who portrayed him in the
films.
GRAPHICS
When it was released in 2002, Jedi Outcast was towards the higher
end of the graphical spectrum. There aren't many noticeable jagged
edges, the textures look great and for the most part, facial
expressions are well done too. On occasion, characters will get a
sagging lower lip, leaving their teeth exposed during cut scenes.
Most fairly new computers will be able to run the game on the
maximum settings with ease, so anyone can enjoy the visuals which
even today, still look fantastic. The level designers also did an
amazing job, the environments are laid out well and the architecture
styles fit in perfectly. They did such a great job that you may even
start to feel a bit uneasy and claustrophobic running around in the
corridors of an imperial outpost.
FINAL
THOUGHTS
Easily one of the best Star Wars games of all time.
|
THE GOOD |
- realistically
laid out environments
- nearly perfect controls
- large array of weapons |
|
THE BAD |
- controls can
be "slippery" when jumping near objects
- forced stealth mission |
|
THE RAD |
- fun combat
system makes you feel like a Jedi
- lightsaber dismemberment |
SCREENSHOTS
Click on the thumbnail
images below to see a larger version of them.
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