Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Mysteries of the Sith

The Good
I liked everything!!! The graphics, the sound, the 3D, everything!!! The storyline was really good in this one. It also introduced the only Star Wars character that made the conversion from a book into a video game, Mara Jade.

The Bad
The only thing that pulled Mysteries of the Sith down were the cutscenes. If the quality of the Jedi Knight cutscenes were in this, it would be the ultimate Star Wars 3D shooter!!!

The Bottom Line
Buy it!!! You need Jedi Knight though. If you don't have Jedi Knight, buy that too!!! Mysteries of the Sith would have been better with real actors in the cutscenes, though. I think I saw this for $20 somewhere....

The Good
My biggest complaint about "Jedi Knight" was the lack of seedy, underworld missions and commando-type operations. Playing Mara Jade, you get to go back into the dark belly of the underworld of Star Wars. In addition, MOTS introduced tons of fun new items and enemies, including the fearsome battle with a Rancor itself, complete with the proper music playing at the proper times. Other operations opened up new elements of the Star Wars universe. Kyle Katarn's early mission into the Imperial Asteroid Ships was certainly original, and Mara Jade's journey through the Sith Temple is downright creepy. MOTS also included some graphical enhancements like multi-colored lighting.

The Bad
Mysterious of the Sith was very hard. I don't count that necessarily as a fault, but some people might. Damaging Kyle Katarn's character wasn't very good, and neither was the ending (didn't Yoda say that once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny?). Finally, the cinematics in this game were miserable. Although the engine can cut the gameplay okay, the cinematics were terrible compared to the real-life FMV from "Jedi Knight". True, they got away with a lot more in this one (such as Mara Jade crashing through the skylight), but that's not much of a justification for the "Wing Commander" crowd like myself.

The Bottom Line
An excellent expansion brought to us from the same people who created the excellent "Outlaws: Fistful of Missions" for "Outlaws". Highly recommended to any aspiring Jedi.

The Good
Mysteries of the Sith (MOTS) is an interesting add-on to Jedi Knight. You play first as Kyle Katarn, the hero from the first game, and after 4 levels, you start playing as Mara Jade, a character introduced in "Heir to the Empire" by Timothey Zahn (note to readers - Read the Book!)

Graphics are about the same as they were in Jedi Knight, with a few face-lifts in various areas. In the second level, you pick up a great little scope for your blaster rifle. I WISH that the scope was available in the original Jedi Knight! There is a certain satisfaction of being able to kill a Stormtrooper from a large distance with one shot. Holocams are another addition. Similar to the camera system in Duke Nukem 3D, you character can access the camera systems and see what other places of the level look like and for tactical reasons as well. Cutscenes are done using the ingame engine, not actors as in the original. Although a bit hokey, it does the job well.

The control is exactly as it was in Jedi Knight, along with with sound and gameplay

The Bad
It's hard. I mean, tear-out-your-hair-until-you're-bald hard. Lots of puzzles involving timing, and speed is a big factor. Be prepared to spend a lot of time going through a level to complete it (especially of level 3 ;)

The Bottom Line
Since it's basically an expansion to Jedi Knight, the chances that you'll like it if you HAVE Jedi Knight are pretty solid. Then again, if you didn't like Jedi Knight in the first place, would you buy the expasion? :)

But seriously, for those who have played through Jedi Knight, and are thirsting for more, MOTS is for you.