Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II

The Good
I was immediately impressed with Jedi Knight when the opening cut-scene led directly into the first level. Each level flowed into the next one and while the surrounding story was a little weak, I really enjoyed the intermeshing personal story set against the larger Doomsday scenario.

This game inspired a sense of wonder. Have you ever played a game and just stopped to look around? The levels are immense, complicated, and utilize John Williams' triumphant score. One of the best levels involves attempting to get to an escape pod as the ship you're in plummets downward.

Most of the same enemies are back from the original game- Stormtroopers, Gamorrean Guards, etc. There is also a cadre of evil Jedi which leads to impressive lightsaber duels. Fighting of foes with the lightsaber is incredibly satisfying and one of the best touches comes from deflecting laser blasts. At first you can only deflect a few shots, but eventually you can kill enemies with their own weapons.

Finally, this game was very challenging. Taking on a pack of Stormtroopers is easy, but an AT-ST? Two evil Jedi at once? Dodging a Tie Bomber? Thank you for including in-game saves!

The Bad
Graphics: Graphically this game was far ahead of its predecessor, textures and settings were great. I didn't really care for the character models though. The polygon structures used made the characters seem too distorted. This is mostly a quibble though, Blood which came out the same year had far worse graphics.

Force Powers: Okay, Force Powers work well in the game and look really cool, but I felt that the power-up system linked to finding secret areas diminished the Force. I mean Yoda never said, "Powerful Jedi Vader is. Found, he has, many secrets."

The Story: The awesome looking cut-scenes make up for the bad acting, but the story is pretty weak. I think a more dynamic implementation of the choice between Dark and Light would have improved the game. The branching storyline (more of a fork in the road) has little significance as far as gameplay.

The Bottom Line
Has a great personality and is fun at parties.