Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

It has been 8 long years since the destruction of the second Death Star and consequently, the fall of Palpatine's evil Empire. In those 8 years Han & Leia got married and had kids, Boba Fett returned and Luke set up the Jedi Academy. Also within those years our hero, Kyle Katarn (Dark Forces I & II, Mysteries of Sith) has hung up his light-saber and returned to his mercenary ways, weary of the rigid duality of the force and seeking a more simple life of blasting and spying.

The game begins with Kyle and his longtime partner Jan infiltrating a supposedly abandoned Imperial outpost. It is here where the player gets to grips with the main aspects of the game, a training ground for controls, combat and puzzles, however light-saber wielding does not come until a few levels later. Let it be known that if you aren't into paying attention while playing games or puzzle solving, then you will likely not get very far with Jedi Outcast. The puzzles in this game require a keen eye and a little imagination, something I found to be quite refreshing and rewarding considering that a lot of other action games require little more than back tracking for keys. Basically... you may either scratch your head or feel like throwing your controller against the wall, but in the end it was probably really obvious and you were overlooking it. Later puzzles will require clever use of force powers, such as push, speed and mind trick. Richard had given up by then.

The combat: from space pirates to storm troopers, the shoot 'em up action is worthy of merit by itself, even if it only represents about half the game. The enemy A.I. is such that if a unit is failing against you then you may see soldiers running off to get help while the others try and pin you down with blaster fire. Also, when you are confronted by a Dark Jedi, the troops will hang back for fear of being sliced into ribbons by either saber wielding Jedi mofo. While it isn't perfect, the A.I. represents a formidable challenge, but mainly because of the teamwork and overwhelming odds. Then there are those damn Walkers...

The best part? You're a Jedi! And with that, comes amazing light-saber duels and force powers. Really, there is nothing quite like flipping over peoples heads and slashing them or running off of walls or throwing lightning at people. Or walking into a room full of troopers and deflecting all the blaster fire back at them. I was surprised at the level of depth the saber battles have, there and the force powers truly add a new dimension to traditional action games... Where else can you force push a Rocket back at someone?

And let's not forget the multiplayer, capture the flag, free for all, team free for all, Jedi master and duel, all with 10 bots optional and a friend playing alongside you. Plenty of options to tweak for your own personalized Jedi death match.

Outcast is not without it's flaws however. As this is a port of a PC game, it is expected that the consoles would lose something. First off, the fluidity of the controls have been lost, it is now required for the player to move in order to dictate where the light-saber is going, plus scrolling for force powers or weapons in the heat of the battle can be a real drag. Also, the cut scene graphics suffer a murky, almost pixilated effect. The graphics in general also look dated in contrast to recent games like Halo and Metroid Prime.

But at the end of the day, the game-play is what counts and Jedi Outcast has it in spades. Whether you choose PC, GC, or X-Box, Jedi Outcast is a worthy addition to any action-game fan's collection and a must for Star Wars junkies like myself. Easily one of the best Star Wars games produced.