Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast WII PAL NGC-SUNSHiNE
English | Platform: Wii | Release: 3 January, 2012 | Publisher: LucasArts | Developer: Raven Software | 1.25 GB
Genre: FPS

For those of you who are just joining us (or like Dan arejust a bit slow), Jedi Outcast is the latest in a series of action gamesfocusing on Kyle Katarn, an ex-jedi turned mercenary. Kyle gave up onthe whole Force thing after he was tempted by the Dark Side in the lastgame. Youll lead Kyle back to the jedi path through dozens of missionsin his quest for...well, that gives too much away. Lets just say thatwhat begins as a simple mission for Mon Mothma soon turns into anintergalactic tale of love and revenge that involves the future of thejedi. While that would be a bold claim for any game, Jedi Outcast pullsit off wonderfully.

Everything is tied together with a tightlywritten, mature plot. Kyles motivations and the progression of thestory are all handled with a touch that is at once both subtle andunrelenting. Each section of the story is set off by some reallyfantastic cutscenes. Theres a nice balance and sense of pace here. Toomany cutscenes in games are either unnecessary or overly long. While thecutscenes in Jedi Knight II are pretty beefy, theres always enoughaction going on to keep you interested.

The games actuallyprompted a few discussions around the office about the use of licenseswithin games. Without going in to too much detail, Ill just say thatthe game uses a lot of the conventions ( clichA©s if youre on the otherside of the argument) of the movies. I tend to think youre sort ofexpected to know that going in. I mean, whats a Star Wars game without agarbage masher level Beyond that, youll fight in a bar filled withdozens of space gangster aliens, lock sabers with your enemies on anarrow causeway teetering high above a yawning void and have aheart-to-heart with the jedi master about how to best use your rage forrevenge.

Graphically, Jedi Outcast is fantastic. The items in thegame that come from the movies are pleasantly accurate and the itemsnot from the movies are conceived and rendered in a style thatsperfectly in keeping with the overall design. Fighting off wave afterwave of stormtroopers as you explore the interior of Cloud City isremarkably compelling, not only as a consequence of the superb modelsbut also as a consequence of the animations. Each enemy spins andcrumples according to context. You may shoot one guy and see him gospinning up into the air (and down a flight of stairs if you time itright). Other enemies may just collapse in place when youve sniped themin the head.

The enemies themselves arent too terribly brightbut thats in keeping with the license I suppose. Some enemies are quitesmart. Theyll try to get around behind you even if it means passingthrough a few other rooms. Other enemies will just walk back and forthalong a single path until you kill them. Theres a wide variety ofenemies here -- from a new class of evil jedi to the rank and filestormtroopers to the mercenary Rodians.

While exploring thelevels of Jedi Knight II I was really struck not only with howfaithfully the world of Star Wars was recreated, but also with theintelligence behind most of the level design. The scale here is thefirst strength of the levels. Everythings really big and theres astaggering sense of height on some of the levels. The size of the levelsis aided by the surprisingly lack of zones or load barriers. Coolsecret areas are scattered throughout the game to reward players whohave a mind to go exploring.

I also loved the sounds in the game.Almost all of the effects will be instantly recognizable to anyonewhos seen the movies. Appropriately, the lightsabers, doors, guns andships all make convincing vwings, shhps, fahtows ands chughghs. Itsalso nice that the team was able to get Billy Dee Williams to record thelines for Lando. Billy Dees getting kind of old but he still managesto deliver. Whats most surprising is that Raven couldnt get Mark IllDo Your Voiceovers for Free Hammill. In any case, the actor deliveringLukes lines is pretty good. In fact, all of the voice acting is topnotch -- even the throwaway lines and little conversations within themissions are delivered well.

If theres one area in which thegame could stand a bit of a tweak, its the puzzles. Dont get me wrong;I loved every crate shoving, dark maze exploring, platform jumping,button pushing minute of it, but most of the puzzles in the game are alittle too hard and a lot too ridiculous. Some of them are of the typethats so obvious once you figure it out that you want to kill yourselffor not seeing it an hour earlier; others make you question the enemyslogic in putting the button that sends power to the communication arrayin a tiny room floating high above an abyss thats only accessible by asequence of catlike jumps.

At least the game has a quick save option.

Ifthere was a second thing that needed to be improved, it would be thelightsaber interface. Overall, its quite good but it requires asubstantial warm-up period. At first it seems way more clumsy and/orrandom than a blaster could ever be, but after I got the hang of it, itwas my weapon of choice throughout the rest of the game. The hardestthing to get used to is that your choice of attack is controlled withthe movement keys. If you want to swing to the right, youve got tostrafe left, for instance. This is ameliorated somewhat if yourewalking instead of running but its still a bit of a pain, especially sogiven that the game places so many lightsaber battles on the edges ofcanyons, chasms, gorges, rifts and otherwise bottomless abysses. Havingeach attack be tied to a move is a real pain in the ass.

Whatmakes the lightsaber truly effective are the Force powers. In the handsof someone whos played the game for a few days, the Force powers andlightsabers make a deadly combination. You can push your enemies upagainst a wall or snatch the weapons right out of their hands. At laterlevels you can control the minds of your enemies, blast them with boltsof electricity or choke them from across the room. The default interfacefor this is a bit inconvenient but with some inventive hotkeying youcan set things up for maximum efficiency. Its too bad that you cantpick your own Force powers here like you could in the previous game butthe game increases your skills according to a script. This not onlypromotes good play balance but also ensures that youll have the rightskills for the puzzles ahead.

And while you cant pick your ownForce powers, I was happy to see that (with a few exceptions) the gamelets you use them the way that you want. Ive come to the realization ofsomething that Dan and Ivan probably already knew -- Id be a prettyevil jedi. From the first moment I could disarm my opponents and renderthem absolutely helpless, my journey down the road to the Dark Sidebegan. Id lop off arms, push people down elevator shafts or just throatchoke em a bit before flinging them against a wall and then droppingthem down the elevator shaft. I see why the Dark Side is so attractive.

Butas free as you are to use the Force powers in as evil or benign amethod as youd like, your progression through the missions is prettystraightforward. I found a few instances where the story branched off abit but these diversions quickly rejoined the main trunk. Thankfully,your own approach to completing these levels is pretty open. Forinstance, I couldnt beat the so-called stealth level to save my life.Thankfully, if youre on the ball, you can go in with guns blazing orlightsaber swinging and still manage to take care of business.
Thedirect approach is also rewarded in the games awesome multiplayergames. The standard deathmatch and capture the flag modes (in solo andteam mode) are included but theres more to be experienced here. Theduel mode, in which only two players fight at any time, is intense buttheres far too much downtime for the other players between matches.Capture the Ysalamiri is another interesting idea. Each player tries tocapture the Ysalamiri, a small lizard that dampens the use of Forcepowers. You get a chance to buy Force powers before the multiplayermatch starts and there are a whole range of new, multiplayer-only Forcepowers.

The option to add bots for any or all of the opponents isgood. The fact that each of the bots has unique preferences and tacticsmakes it even better. Unfortunately, like Elite Force, the game has twoseparate executables for the single player and multiplayer portions ofthe game so youll have to quit one to start the other. Even so, themultiplayer side of Jedi Knight II will ensure the title stays freshlong after youve saved the galaxy from extinction.

Did I mention that one of the levels takes place on the Death Star

CLOSING COMMENTS
Ilike Jedi Knight way more now than I did in the first few days ofplaying it. I think this is as much my not getting it as it is that thegame starts too slowly. Normally I rail against games that dont grab myattention quickly enough but the investment in Jedi Knight II has morethan paid off with hours and hours of pure, unashamed enjoyment (andmore than a few minutes of rage and frustration at a few poorlyconceived puzzles).
Ravens to be commended for their fantasticdont call it a comeback with the recent trilogy of shooters --Soldier of Fortune, Elite Force and now Jedi Outcast. Each one comeswith enough substance and style to fill up three or four lesser games.When it comes down to it, I played this game far too much, putting offall other obligations and interests until it was done.

Not onlyis this one of the greatest Star Wars games Ive ever played, its oneof the best action games period. Get it, Play it, Love it.



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