Star Wars – Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Ok Ok! I’ll get to the review! Jedi Academy is the sequel to the 2002 hit Jedi Outcast. The story follows Jaden Or, a who is either a male or female of sever different Star Wars species depending on the player’s choice, a Jedi hopeful on his or her way to Luke’s Academy. One thing sets you appart from all the other Jedi hopefulls, you built your own lightsaber, without any previous Jedi training. As the shuttle you are on with a friend you made on the ride approaches the academy, something causes it to crash land, and you and your friend Rosh make your way to the academy. Things are not right though, and a mysterious blast leaves you unconscious. After you come to, Master Skywalker and the others determine that it is likely a cult based on an ancient Sith lord. You and Rosh are assigned to Kyle Katarn, and work with him performing missions and training as you learn more about the cult, and what it’s intentions are.

This game is the sequal to Jedi Outcast, and it is very obvious that they took the best elements of that and refined them for this game. One of the biggest things is that you are a Jedi from the very start, you have your lightsaber, and after you make it to the academy and begin training you get Force powers. You will also get the full arsenal of weapons you had in Jedi Outcast to use besides your lightsaber. The shooting mechanics in the game are solid, nothing spectacular, but this game is no slouch as a shooter. Again, as with Jedi Outcast, what sets this game apart is its lightsaber combat. While in Jedi Outcast you had three different saber styles and could pull off some neat moves when you experimented, this game greatly deepens this feature. You not only have the three styles for a single saber, later in the game you gain the ability to wield a dual-bladed saber, or two sabers, each with its own unique moves. I personally love using the dual-bladed saber, I can’t really get into the dual sabers. In addition to the deep combat system the game also has a very deep acrobatics system. You can pull off all kinds of acrobatics, from backflips to sideflips to wall-running. Several of the moves that are crucial to learn how to do are the recoveries from on the ground. You can be knocked down by the enemy’s kicks, and force powers, and there is a saber move that they will perform(that you can also do) that is like an execution move, you leap onto the enemy on the ground and run them through with your saber. That’s why it is important to know how to do these moves, ranging from simply rolling out of the way, backflipping up off the ground, to doing a force kick maneuver where you can turn the tables on the enemy who is in front of you.

Graphically, this game is old, but it does not look to terrible for it’s age. It seems to hold up better than Jedi Outcast, the movement of your character looks pretty nice, with all the different moves you can perform. And I did not have a whole lot of trouble finding switches and buttons like I did with Outcast. I found the levels to be better laid out, not nearly as confusing as some of the the levels in Outcast. The game also has a mission based structure, where you have five or so missions per section of the game, so you can tackle them in the order you want, and you don’t need to do every one to progress if you don’t want to.

As far as content, this is a game with lightsabers, so there are arms, etc, being cut off. There is not any blood in the game, and about the worst language you will hear in the game is the phrase “Sith spit”.

I have not played any multiplayer with other people, but I have played it against the bots. It is much faster and more hectic than the singleplayer, and I found it harder to use the moves and such due to the speed. I expect it simply takes more practice to get used to it.

Overall, this is a very good game, and if you have a chance to check it out I would highly recommend it.

Overall (4/5)
Good story, great mechanics, nice mission based structure.

Graphics (2.5/5)
Still look half-decent, holds up ok.

Content/Language (0.5/5)
Pretty clean overall.