Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

Review by: Leo Cai
Developer: LucasArts Entertainment

     Hehe, surely Bobo and Mandy might not like these kind of games, but they need more reviews! =P

     The Force is With You – Jedi Knight II is an incredibly realistic game. It binds a great combat system and a steady storyline that will bring you in harmony with the force. Kyle is an outcast brought back to the Valley of the Jedi from the prequel. There he regains much force power and slowly regains strength in the wielding of the lightsaber. Although this is a good thing, his enemies will try to block their path to the force and will do anything to stop him.

     The characters are all finely tuned and detailed. Ranging from a thousand to four thousand something polygons, each model is richly detailed and the movements are fabulous! The graphics are also great. Since my comp isn’t the coolest thing in the world, Jedi Knight II doesn’t work too well on it; but at least I can still enjoy the gameplay.

     The storyline is phenomenal including many NPCs (non-playable characters) that you encounter on your mission. Many of these characters include the all-famous Luke Skywalker and furious dark jedi such as Desann and his deadly apprentice, Tavion.

     The voices are not all that great, but they work. All the voices are very clear and realistic, especially Luke’s. There isn’t much talking during gameplay, just in the cutscenes which is great. When you kill an NPC, say like a lowly stormtrooper, they scream and wail out in pain, but it doesn’t sound THAT realistic. Hmm…maybe I’m just being a little too picky…=S

     The animations, yes, the beautiful animations. Every game must draw the players attention by means of an eye-catcher and in JKII? It is definitely the animations. They are so real and lifelike, especially when you chop a character’s arm off during a saberduel. The part that is most appealing to some players (not me though), is how you can input a script so that when you fight, ANY part of their body could be sliced and chopped off. When you chop off an imperial’s hand, he just kneels there and shouts, holding his molten hand as he slowly plunges to the ground and dies.

     JKII’s combat system is somewhat a chore to the player. Some people might consider it to be outstanding; but me? I find it lacking the fundamentals, especially in the saberduels. When jedi fight in the movies, they block and attack, leap and stride. In JKII, however, all jedi do to keep them alive is jump around and push and pull their enemies. Their saber stances are not remarkable and neither are their movements. There should be a bit more blocking with the saber instead of a powerful jedi just saying ‘Ahhh’ and ‘Oohhh’ all the time until they die.

     Gameplay is very good. It is addicting and fun and brings you deep into the Rancor Pit of the Star Wars Universe. You should try it!

     Overall, it is a good game. There are shortings in certain areas of the game, but those could be fixed with the latest patches. Best of all! You don’t need a CD KEY to play online! =D

I give this game four stars out of five!