Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy

The Good
It's the StarWars universe with all its little details, sounds and characters, and every once in a while it feels good to ignite that lightsaber and bring justice to the galaxy. The graphics are great, especially regarding the rusty Quake-3-engine. The sound effects and score are on a high level. The level design is interesting, moody and diverse. The controls are easy to learn and the light saber duels are fast and furious. Its way better than JK:Outcast because it doesn't have the awful jump sequences and boring "puzzles".

The Bad
The story can be a bit lame and hacked together sometimes, its more a detective novel than a truly enthousiastic StarWars action adventure. As in JK:Outcast, there is not a lot of "life" in the levels, so they can look a bit artificial at times. The choice between light and dark side isn't really given.

The Bottom Line
Years after the demise of the Empire, there are still planets and systems where the dark side of the force is strong, and where huge armies of the emperors troops hide. Kyle Katarn, the Jedi Knight, has become a Master at the Jedi Academy that Luke Skywalker has found on Yavin. You are a young, promising Jedi padawan who just starts his study at the academy, when a new menace arises and threatens the still fragile structure of the New Republic.The remnants of the Empire ally with the remaining Sith to form a deadly alliance that could bring the young republic down...can the few courageous Jedi around Master Skywalker stand against this dark army...?

Jedi Academy is the best StarWars first person game hands down. The graphics are great and the universe is true to the movies. Like in the first Jedi Knight game, You have a limited control on how to augment Your "forces".Some a given and can not be altered, some can be increased every once in a while, thus making the replay value better than in JK:Outcast. The forces are spectacular as ever, and the way You can combine the saber and the force powers are fascinating and fun. Its always cool when You are beeing attacked by the sith apprentices, because in some levels, You can use the "Force Push" to throw them over a cliff, and when they come jumping at You, You can stop them in mid-air and push them back so they fall into the endless pit, that way You can avoid some of the saber duels. Additionally, for those who are skilled, there are quite some interesting acrobatic tricks like running on walls, flic-flacs, salto backwards, salto forwards, its very rewarding and the controls are not too hard to master. The game has its dull moments, and weak AI, but when You are starting to do a salto backwards, hit the enemy in mid-air, add a combo that kills three in a row and end this with a force push, You really feel like a Jedi. Kudos to Raven, in this version they really put the Jedi acrobatics as seen in Episode 1 and 2 to shine, and the game will be fun even when You are replaying fights, because You can always try some new combinations. Sure, story-wise and from character development its not KOTOR, but it doesn't want to be that, its a good, fun, easy to access StarWars-action-game with bags full of atmosphere and great action scenes.

The Good
Graphics-despite the apparent age of the Quake3 engine, they managed to pull it off again with JA. A new game engine would have smoothed all the rough edges out and improved the look of the game.

The game is not very difficult. There are no real puzzles to solve, just use your force powers and good sense and you'll beat most of the levels in a flash. It was very satisfying to see various Star Wars worlds like Tatooine (and Chewbacca) and Hoth with emphasis on action and adventure instead of boring puzzles and infinite mazes or labyrinths. I liked the action emphasis of the game because levels which are too difficult because of strange puzzles are so discouraging and detract from gameplay. Lighting for the levels was really good so I could always see the immense environments I was playing in. The single player was too short but it was very gratifying to breeze through this action-adventure that is full of jedi action from start to finish. Killing stormtroopers (stormies) has never been so much fun.

Riding those swoop bikes made me feel like I was part of the Star Wars adventure and that one level with the bike featured the best use of Star Wars music I have ever seen in a computer game. The tauntaun was also a lot of fun as I'd just ram into those stormies.

The game really has an emphasis on lightsaber battles whether you're playing single or multi-player. Those dual and saber staff weapons are truly a marvel as you can just slice through multiple enemies at once.

Creating my own character and seeing him through all this action made it more of a personal experience but with bad single player it dosen't measure up to JK or TIE Fighter.

The Bad
Single player mode was badly done in overall. You don't get to fight alongside Luke or play as Kyle, which would have been so fitting. Level design in the last few levels is atrocious, the momentum of the earlier levels is completely ruined by the last confusing levels. The music for the last levels is even more disappointing as they add no dimension to the last levels (or climax as some would refer to them as) unlike the levels in Jedi Knight or TIE Fighter. The last duel features music that really dosen't fit with the level.

The bad guys are so repetitive in this game. Dark jedi are used to such an extent that they cease to be a threat. Every corner you pass it feels like you'll fight yet another new reborn. The reborn say silly things like "you are weak" even when you slaughter tons of them. It's funny to see them say things like "now I, am the master" when you die because its really short-lived. They get easier to kill as you progress and even with force powers are no match for the power of the light side. The female dark jedi say really stupid things like "are you afraid?" and spoil the mood of the levels. Tavion is a pathetic boss and dosen't pose a threat in the final duel.

When you play as a dark jedi it's discouraging because unlike JK you don't get any dark force powers. You go to the dark side so late in the game that it makes almost no difference until the final duel. You're stuck with your light side force powers and forced to fight with that great guy Kyle Katarn. Unlike Tavion he's impossible to kill as he just slices right through your defenses as if he's more powerful than Darth Vader.

You don't get to go to all the places like Dagobah and there are so few levels with Kyle Katarn that you're all alone in your distant corner of the galaxy away from all the real action, so it seems.

The level with the mutant Rancor is so out of place that it has really no positive bearing on the level progress.

The Bottom Line
I'd buy Battlefront instead of this unless you really want to play as a jedi. The jedi combat is the prime element of the game and no other element of Star Wars is featured.

Buy at your own risk.

The Good
First off, the graphics are very good. You can even see the stubble on Kyle's face. Secondly, I love the way that people can make their own skins and maps easily. The online multiplayer is very good, but it's better with a mod such as JA+ and Xmod. I love the dual saber option especially. Ah, good old backslash...

The Bad
The single player is the most boring thing I've ever played. There are no addictive weapons, the force is weak, and pretty much the whole premise sucks. Secondly, on multiplayer, it's brought out the worst in people. The option to "lame kill" has attracted more than a few (killing while someone is away from keyboard or chatting). And "clans" have completely made this game into a dictatorship; the clan administrators can change any option they want for the server, such as which type of saber style does more damage. They are forgetting it is supposed to be a fun game where people can respectfully play together and admit defeat without calling their prey "n00bs."

The Bottom Line
If you buy this game, think twice before entering a clan. 8/10