Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II
Description official descriptions
Kyle Katarn, a former mercenary and now an ally of the rebels, discovers that he is in fact a Jedi, and is on a quest to find his lightsaber and learn the techniques of the Force. The evil Sith lord Jerec, who was responsible for the death of Kyle's father, is on a quest of his own, searching a mythical place called Valley of the Jedi, where his dark powers could be unleashed. Will Kyle be able to stop Jerec and become a true Jedi without falling to the dark side?
Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II is a sequel to Dark Forces. The game is set in the Star Wars universe and its events occur after those depicted in the movie Return of the Jedi (Episode VI). Primarily a first-person 3D shooter, the game also allows the player to switch to third-person perspective. Kyle can use blasters and rifles to take care of his enemies, and later in the game he will also be able to fight enemies with a lightsaber.
There are three kinds of Force powers Kyle may use in the game: light, dark and neutral. Light powers are mostly used for healing purposes; dark powers involve violent actions such as choking enemies or hurling objects at them; neutral powers enhance Kyle's speed and jumping ability. There are fourteen Force powers altogether; if the player chooses to develop only one type of powers throughout the game, a bonus power can be gained. Completing levels rewards the player with stars, which can be allocated to enhance the powers.
The game has a branching storyline with different endings, and the player's decisions can lead Kyle to the light as well as the dark side (for example, killing innocents will add "dark points" to Kyle's score). The game features video sequences with live actors as cutscenes.
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Credits (Windows version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 88% (based on 35 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 143 ratings with 17 reviews)
You can forget about the movies
The Good
A seriously done FPS with a lot of things both SW and FPS fans would have expected to see after the renowned Dark Forces. The music included is in audio cd quality and feels like a classical Star Wars stuff all the way, from wandering planets and imperial bases to bar themes. Furthermore, since it actually is recorded as audio cd, you can listen to the soundtrack on your hi-fi. Sort of to be expected after Outlaws. The game spans across two discs, and features real actors and quite a nice sum of FMVs. Acting is really good (well, nothing more or less than you would expect from a Star Wars universe) and the whole bunch of cinematics serve great purpose to lead on the story... which, this time branches and is able to get you two different endings. As known from the prequel, Kyle was a mercenary who sided with the Rebels after finding out the truth behind his father's death. In this game, his character takes a whole new step forward and as much as you start with a regular blast 'em all tactic, you reach a point of getting a lightsaber and eventually becoming a Jedi Knight (hence the title, duh). Aforementioned story branch refers to whether you'll follow the path of light or darkness. Hint in being able to make the dark side prevail is not to upgrade your powers as you get them, but to leave some updates for when the dark powers will become available. This game is a decent sequel and propels a fine story that would probably beat all those movies if this game was ever made into one.
The Bad
Being the first SW title to have lightsaber battles is commendable, but they are all too crappy to enjoy them. They are sometimes too hard and don't feel like anything worth the title of a "Jedi".
It takes about five or six long levels until you get to see your first Stormtrooper. I must say I was looking forward seeing one ever since the game's start, and started to believe LucasArts forgot to add them at all. Of course, afterwards you can't get enough of them, but it was annoying to leave you without a hint of them appearing. And since there was Darth Vader in a prequel, would be cool to see him in this game as well, especially since neither prequel nor sequel features live actors anymore. This game has a historical value and could be considered even greater classic than Dark Forces, but it can become annoying at the moments.
The Bottom Line
With lots of levels and a fine replayability rate, this game guarantees you the first truest experience as a Jedi that no other Star Wars title to date offered. Furthermore, it's more than just fine asset to the trilogy of this First-Person Shooter and will fall no behind the feeling of going through a Star Wars movie. A FPS games are not to be dealt with the story via ingame cutscenes, they are to be what th name implies, shooters, and the story is best followed via long array of cutscenes in between the missions.
Windows · by MAT (241285) · 2012
A great game if you a Star Wars fan...
The Good
The game in itself deserved all the awards granted to it when it was released.
The Graphics - although 3 years old - are impressive and give you the sense of being on Nar Shaddaa or any other Star Wars Locale. Nicely rendered backgrounds and explosions help the game along.
John Williams. The name alone means that LucasArts was smart enough to put REAL soundtracks from the movies into the game, and not just MIDI recreations of them. The weapons fire, the whine of Tie Bombers and Crunching sound of AT-ST's walking around give the game that much more "authentic" atmosphere than most 3D-shooters.
The gameplay is excellent compared to Doom, Quake and other "Pre Half-life" shooters out there. Consequences were suffered if you shot innocents, mostly in the fact you would grow toward the Dark Side of the Force.
The Bad
The Control is weird. Even though the game is completely customizable, I like a game that is easy to get into, and doesn't take a day of learning where each button is that controls something. Jedi Knight has TOO many options and clunky INITIAL keyboard layout.
The AI at times is either really stupid, or so good you can't beat it. The Stupid is mostly against cannon fodder like Stormtroopers and Tusken raiders, while when you are in the variuos lightsaber duels, it is very difficult to play the game. First of all the AI is hard, but most importantly, you automatically switch to a 3rd person Tomb-Raider like view for Lightsaber duels. And for me that is very hard to play in.
The Bottom Line
An excellent 3D shooter for SW fans, and for non Fans alike. Just be prepared for some long Lightsaber duels.
Windows · by Chris Martin (1155) · 2006
An excellent fps with a complicated storyline. A winner all the way!
The Good
This game had some excellent features. The graphics were excellent for their time, the level design was INCREDIBLE. The cutscenes portrayed what you needed them to very nicely and ran relatively stable on my machine.
The Bad
A few things weren't right about this game though, such as sometimes, the cursor would only show up every few seconds, forcing me to guess where I was by the sounds and click when I think I am there. The acting in the cutscenes was pretty good, but I didn't like the mix of live action and cg graphics, it just seems a bit too hokey for me. Those were the only gripes I had with this game.
The Bottom Line
Overall, this game is an excellent example of what game developers can do with the first person shooter genre if they put their minds to it. It is incredibly well put together, the levels fit quite well with the game, and multiplayer is excellent, if not a bit laggy. The use of force powers was well done, and added a new level of exploration to the game. Despite its (few) problems, this game is beautiful, and is a must-have for any person who even considers himself a light computer gamer.
Windows · by Mike West (2) · 2000
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Comic
A comic book version was based on the plot of Jedi Knight.
Cut content
An early version of Jedi Knight featured an extra weapon not included in the final game, the "Tusken Prod". Several magazines have printed screenshots featuring this weapon on sneak previews and scoops of the game, though it is unknown why the weapon never made it to the final game.
There was also a screenshots of a "speeder level" where Kyle Katarn got onto a large speeder and could fly it around. For whatever reason, the speeder was phased out of the final game, and its model is not used anywhere as furniture or as decoration in any level.
Development
- According to early interviews before the game was released, all of the character models and art in "Jedi Knight" were created prior to any live-action filming. This is why the model of Kyle Katarn does not have a beard like the actor does, and why many other models don't match very well to their FMV counterparts.
- According to some rumors at the time of development and release, LucasArts contacted Lucasfilm and George Lucas directly over the effects of a lightsaber when submerged in water.
- According to the US PC Gamer issue of October 2001, Justin R. Chin stated in a interview that he would receive constant criticism of his game design during each project evaluation meeting. He chose to ignore most of the criticism and stick with his design.
German version
The predecessor Dark Forces of 1995 has been banned in Germany and may only be sold to adults. In order to avoid a similar ban for Jedi Knight, the German version of the game doesn't mention the subtitle Dark Forces II.
Inspiration
Justin R. Chin, like George Lucas, researched ancient Asian history and culture for inspiration. The arch-enemy, Jerec, is apparently blind. In some Japanese folklore and myths, blind warriors are oft-times the most deadly, because it is the weakest sense (in warrior theory).
Mods
As of 2007, this game still has a active fan group that modifies it. For example, there is a new mod for this game called Jedi Knight Enhanced, which updates all the games models to "Quake III era", making it more appealing. The mod can be found here and is about 40 megs big. Make sure you read the installation instructions carefully.
There is also an ongoing project, which updates all the original games textures, and it can be found here.
Music
The music heard in the game is taken directly from the original Star Wars trilogy film soundtracks, performed by London Symphony Orchestra. It's included on the game CDs as Red Book Audio which means that the game CDs can be listened to in an ordinary CD player (be sure to skip the first track, though!).
References
- In level 5 there's a secret that lets you encounter Max (the rabbit from Sam & Max Hit the Road.) If you let him out of the house, he will go on a shooting spree killing everyone from civilians to stormtroopers.... to you. And with what appears to a remote control too!
- On Level 9 (Fuel Station Launch) do a 180 spin while jumping from the platform onto the ship at the end of the level (you can't turn once you've landed on the ship). The retracting platform has the face of Max tiled on the edge facing you.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- March 1998 (Issue #164) - Game of the Year
- February 2002 (Issue #211) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #41 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- PC Gamer
- April 2000 - #7 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
- April 2005 - #21 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/1998 - Best Action Game in 1997
- Power Play
- Issue 02/1998 – Best First-Person Shooter in 1997
Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Alexander Schaefer, Emepol, Jason Musgrave, Kalirion, Mu77etOfDeath, naula, PCGamer77, Scott Monster, Simon Michelmore and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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Jedi Knight Dot Com
A general overview of the Star Wars universe, but also includes a section with all Star Wars games by Lucas Arts. -
Jedi Knight Editing Hub
Everything about editing the original Jedi Knight game.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by robotriot.
Additional contributors: MAT, Swordmaster, Unicorn Lynx, naula, Duduzets, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.
Game added November 3, 1999. Last modified March 8, 2024.