Star Wars Jedi Knight 2 Jedi Outcast

Overview

Released in May of the year(2002), the PC version of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast impressed our PC team enough to earn an editors' choice award, and the Xbox port is garnering similar accolades from our friends over at IGN Xbox.

Sadly, the game didn't transition as well to GameCube. While the Star Wars look and feel as well as many of the game's great gameplay elements remain intact, the game falls graphically well below the other versions and lacks the fine-tuned controls of the PC original.

The Facts

• First-person and third-person gameplay
• Expanded and enhanced use of the lightsaber features a slew of attack and defense moves
• Tap into the powers of the Force including Jump, Push, Jedi Mind Tricks and more
• Employ combat or stealth, depending on the situation
• Battle with an arsenal of weapons: stun baton, Bryar blast pistol, blaster rifle and more
• Explore authentic Star Wars locales -- Cloud City, the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Nar Shaddaa, the smugglers' moon, plus never-before-seen locations
• Two-player multiplayer modes include Jedi training and team-based play
• Developed in conjunction with the critically acclaimed Raven Software using Quake III engine Gameplay

The main story puts players in the role of Kyle Katarn, the sometimes Jedi Knight who has to get reacquainted in the ways of The Force if you're going to see him through this latest adventure. This part of the game has you blasting your way through new and familiar locales throughout the classic Star Wars Universe that everybody likes and even has you running into icons like Lando Calrissian and some Skywalker guy. Jedi Knight's main appeal lies in the assortment of weapons and force abilities you'll acquire from mission to mission. As Kyle, you're developing into a Jedi with all sorts of skills and abilities at your disposal that you will need as the game presses on.

What works for a third-person viewpoint doesn't necessarily work for first-person shooting. Once you get the lightsaber, the controls work out much better.

The game takes off when you finally get your hands on your lightsaber (on Yavin IV, say about 35% through the game). Before that you're merely playing a first-person shooter. Granted it's an FPS with Imperial stormtroopers, blaster rifles and thermal detonators, but taking hold of a Jedi's weapon of peace and justice literally changes everything about Jedi Knight II. Developer Raven's greatest accomplishment with this engine is the seamless transitions it makes between first-person and third-person perspectives just to accommodate the lightsaber combat system. The lightsaber control mechanism itself can take some getting used to since you simply use the same buttons for primary and secondary attacks just like you do every other weapon and unleashing automated saber swings like this doesn't feel natural initially.