Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy

Moby ID: 10374
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Description official descriptions

Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy is the sequel to Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast. The player is cast as Jaden Korr, a padawan at the Jedi Academy taught by Luke Skywalker and Kyle Katarn. Both the character and his lightsaber are to be created at the beginning of the game. Throughout the game, the player will acquire several force powers and weapons, such as lightning and the Tenlos Disruptor Rifle. As he progresses through the different missions, he may be seduced by the dark side of the Force...

Spellings

  • スター・ウォーズ ジェダイナイト:ジェダイアカデミー - Japanese spelling
  • 杰迪武士:杰迪学院 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

207 People (185 developers, 22 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 54 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 88 ratings with 10 reviews)

Expands on the best bits of its predecessor

The Good
This game takes all the fun parts from Jedi Knight II and expands on them. For example, in JK2 the lightsaber combat was a strong feature but you didn't receive your lightsaber until halfway through the game. This made replaying the game tedious. However, in Jedi Academy you have your lightsaber from the first level. In Jedi Academy there are more force abilities to learn but you will never have enough points to become a master at all so you can customize your character by becoming a specialist at some or have a little of everything. The lightsaber combat has been enhanced with the addition of two more saber styles: dual sabers and saber staff.

The Bad
Level design is very linear, but not lacking in variety. Graphics have not been enhanced and still use the Quake III engine which looks dated. Audio is what we've come to expect from Star Wars. The classic soundtrack still repeats. The voice work is good for the cut scenes but enemy taunts a repetitive and sometimes don't make much sense - especially if you've just effortlessly slaughtered their friends and they're still telling you "You are weak". Enemy AI is very lacking, even on more difficult levels a force grip and push over a ledge is good enough to dispatch most of your enemies.

The Bottom Line
Fans of the Star Wars and the Jedi Knight series will be pleased with this unambitious release. Those who were hoping for something more than a rehash will be disappointed.

Windows · by Cyberzed (51) · 2003

Great graphics, fast gameplay, mixed feelings on this one

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.

Windows · by bb bb (25) · 2017

Star Wars games should be more than this

The Good
There are a few good things about this game. The lightsaber fights are the best part, but do not really take skill because you can just swing your blade randomly and kill the enemy jedi. The weapons are almost the same as outcasts, save you get 2 or 3 new ones. As a first-person shooter, it doesn't exel, but is alright.

The Bad
The horrible plot line, bad lip synching, bad movies, and useless force powers will make this game feel like a bad interlude, than a good follow up to outcast. The levels on this game feel more like mini levels as you could easily beat them in 5 minutes. Also, you'll have to level a completely useless force power just to get by one stupid level. It is just annoying.

The Bottom Line
This game is simply pathetic when compared to Knights of the Old Republic, and you'll beat it the first day, but it isn't bad for ten bucks.

Windows · by Jester236 (34) · 2004

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Trivia

Manual error (pg 30): the DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol (the default blaster) does have an ammo type: the Blaster Pack and the alternate attack (charging the blaster for a powerful shot) does work in the single player game.

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Related Sites +

  • Clan Mod
    A Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Multiplayer Modification. On these forums you can chat with developers of different mods who are helping to compile this mod.
  • Graduate Summa Cum Lightsaber
    An Apple Games article about the Macintosh version of Jedi Academy, with commentary being provided by Producer Brett Tosti (December, 2003).

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by James Kirk.

Macintosh added by Corn Popper. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Xbox One added by Kennyannydenny. Xbox added by Kabushi. PlayStation 4 added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Terrence Bosky, Unicorn Lynx, Jacob Fliss, Zeppin, Rik Hideto.

Game added September 21, 2003. Last modified February 13, 2024.