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Stormtroopers still cant aim...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is probably the most fun FPS I've ever played. Then I got the Lightsaber, and had a 3rd person game...It was also the most fun 3rd person game i've ever played too.
Story-
The story is good, with enough twists to it to keep it from being completely contrived. The writers came up with enough twists to get you to the locations in the game, such as Bespin.
Control-
The control was ok. The forcepowers were sort of awkward to use, but some tweeking with the scheme fixes this. The lightsaber controls were ok, supposedly allowing you to do some neat moves, but in my experience, all of this went out the door in actual play, I just kept hitting buttons until I killed all my opponents. The ability to run up walls was neat, I didn't know i could actually do it until i was running down a hall and bumped against a wall and did it. It was cool.
Weapons-
I used some of the earlier weapons, but after the lightsaber, there was NO turning back. I couldnt even tell you the secondary features of half the weapons. The force powers are very, very cool. After some practice, you'll be running around pushing hoards of storm troopers down bottomless chasms, taking there weapons from them, and occasionally torturing an isolated Imperial Officers with the choke hold.
Gameplay-
Even on the Jedi difficulty level, this game is moderately difficult, mainly due to some of the impossible hoards of storm troopers you'll be facing.
There are some neat features to offer slight changes of pace in the game, such as the level in which you take control of an AT-ST and decimate ranks of storm troopers.
Slight problems occur with the level design, such as the impossible hole which is to be found on one of the Yavin stages. You'll know what i'm talking about...its some sort of sick joke.
Multiplayer-
I typically don't indulge myself in multiplay, as my slow 56k modem just cant handle it. I did some dabbling with this game, and kind of found it boring. The lightsaber battles werent nearly as interesting as the single player games, and some of the force powers are extremely unbalanced, especially on stages with death holes. Overall the multi play is ok...I'd recommend playing Multiplay before you mess with the single player game, or else you'll be disappointed.

Return with a Vengence

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a bit presumptive of me, I've only spent a scant five hours playing around with JK2, but I feel comfortable giving it 5 stars and have faith the game will justify me.

Activision has teamed with premier developer Raven to give customers one of the best themed FPS's in a long time. Raven, you may recall, made a huge splash on the scene a couple years ago with the graphic (and gory) Soldier of Fortune. The graphics were top of the line and the innovations SoF brought to first person shooters was truly invigorating. Now they've had the opportunity to dabble in one of the most lucrative (and loyal) franchises around, and they've delivered a great product. We're back to the original Star Wars setting, post Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, when things are dark and dreary (not bright and chipper as in Episode I).

This game really pulls you in, right from the very beginning. (I'm assuming you've got an idea of the plot, surely it's been written about a dozen times--trust me, it's good!) A connection is quickly established to the previous games, and you feel like you're picking up right were you left off. At the same time, novices to the Jedi Knight games won't feel too left out, as the plot takes enough time to develop and build that you learn everything you need to know as the game progresses.

The combat starts out light and easy, and steadily progresses into something more difficult and challenging, keeping you on your toes. The levels are extremely well designed, and although they're a bit more "puzzle" oriented than I usually care for, I enjoyed the exploration all the same. So far, it isn't quite the "thinking man's" shooter that Deus Ex and Hitman were, but it doesn't try to be. Health, shield and weapon recharges are perfectly placed, and I've been so close to death so many times when I found "just what I need" at the last possible minute, building a superb amount of suspense and tension.

On the technical side... Wow. The graphics are great. Rich texturing and beautiful lighting effects. There have been a couple times so far that as a cutscene begins, I forget that they're drawn with the in-game engine, and not pre-rendered. Just very nicely done. Sound is equally superb, though you may want to turn your subwoofer up a bit more than normal as the sound editors seemed to go a bit light on the bass.

On the downside, while the installation went smoothly, I spent a solid 1.5 hours banging away at technical problems before I was able to actually play the game without worrying about a system lock-up occurring every ten minutes. Presently, I've had to turn the in-game graphics far below where Raven says my system ought to be able to handle them. As always, make sure you have the latest drivers, with one exception: Nvidia graphics card users should use Detonator 23.11 drivers... I've ordered another 256 meg of RAM, and I'm hoping that'll fix my problems. Common problems reported on the LucasArts Forums include random freezing of the OS (cause unknown), corrupted graphics when using volumetric shadows (related to Nvidia drivers), and long load times purported due to have your graphics turned up too high. Despite these technical difficulties, the game rocks and I'm more than willing to suffer through the random freezes... just remember to save often and frequently!

Trust me... buy it! You'll love it!

Reviewer's System Specs:
Athlon 1.4 w/ 256 megs of PC2100 DDR Ram
VisionTek GeForce 3
Soundblaster Audigy Gamer

Not your daddy's FPS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I won't lie, this game is complex, tough, and after awhile, not very fun.

But you can't stop.

Its complex and difficult for exactly the reasons you love in a game: There's so much you can do!

Combat-wise that is. Especially with a lightsaber. Between three fighting styles and various moves there, Force powers, high and low attacks, lightsaber dueling couldn't be more realistic. Even with just normal weapons, the complexity remains. This is not a game where you simply grab the big gun and run screaming through the levels like a madman killing everything in sight. Do that, you'll last around maybe the first corner. The enemy AI is intense. You'll find yourself flanked, outmaneuvered, and so on. I'm in the Marine reserves, I was surprised to see Stortroopers advancing in squad rushes against me.

Simply put, the game requires something I don't think any other FPS out there requires: finesse. Especially in multiplayer. In a lot of ways, that takes the fun out of it, especially starting out. You can't expect the computer to just huddle all the bad guys together like in other games, or simply stand blindly by while you snipe everyone. Head shots don't always kill, the troopers have armor after all.

All in all, an amazing game, one that takes a great amount of skill and time to master.

And you get a lightsaber.

A force to be reckoned with...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ingredients:

30 years of film culture
Big shiny laser swords
Mix thoroughly

Avid fans of Mr Kyle Katarn will have been charting his progress for a few years now, in his ongoing quest to shoot stormtroopers and avoid being crushed in big imperial crushing devices. To bring the newbies up to speed, you play as ex-imperial agent Katarn, fighting your way through assorted Star Wars themed worlds and locations. Initially a smuggler and spy, Kyle takes up the path of the Jedi, batttling dark Jedi and swamp beasties, and generally having a good time.

In this latest (and greatest) chapter, we join Kyle in another bout of sci-fi intrigue, a spot of platform hopping, lots of shooting and some rather nifty lightsaber duels. Kyle needs to relearn the Jedi skills he apparently turned his back on at the end of this games's prequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2, all on his way to another 'save the universe' confrontation with some naughty Jedi.

So, on to the game. Playing in either first of third-person, Kyle explores the SW univererse, hitting switches, solving puzzles, sneaking past lazy stormtrooper sentries, and a lot of other things we've come to know and love in 3D shooters. Where this game becomes unique is in the application of Kyle's Jedi force powers, which you gain as you delve deeper into the game. Fans of the movies will recognise several of them...Force jump, speed, pull and push (to throw enemies around, or tug the weapons from their hands) lighting ("and now young Skywalker, you will die!") plus a few new ones invented for the game. Often you will have to use your powers in specific ways to solve puzzles or bypass obstcales, but you are also free to apply them to other game situations, meaning that there's often multiple ways to defeat traps and enemies. Why fight that squad of troopers when you could use Force Persuasion to sneak invisibly past them? Surrounded? Push your foe off of cliffs or into walls; choke them with your Grip powers, hurle you lightsaber, boomerang style...use your force speed to slow everything down, matrix style, and vault over them, saber flashing.

The graphics are top notch, and true to the visual themes and styles of the movies. Likewise the sound, from the blaster fire to the glorius 'vwhoooom' of your lightsaber is as close to playing the movies as you can get. The saber combat is brilliantly realised, and you'll get lots of practise squaring off against evil Jedi. You can fight using three different saber stances, enabling you to perfom lots of different and deadly moves...combine this with your force skills, and you'll feel like one badass Jedi by the time you're done.

On top of this already stunning single player game, the online multiplayer allows you to take your skills to the net, and engage in team battles, one-on-one saber duels and lots more.
All of this is wrapped up in Lucas Arts famously lavish presentation, with plenty of cut-scenes, crisp menus and loving fan art.

May this game be with you.

Great game -could have been special

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There is nothing like drawing your lightsaber in anger to hew stormtroopers and other baddies. Throw in some force powers and nothing beats playing as a Jedi in the Star Wars universe. Nothing except for the pseudo Mario Brothers jumping and maddening puzzles. A number of times throughout the game you'll wonder why the designers mapped the levels the way they did -the puzzles remind you that you are at home playing a PC game, which really undermines and diminishes the joy of fantasy Jedihood. I did enjoy the storyline and the gradual build up of the Force and lightsaber powers, but just as you really start to immerse yourself in the Jedi role, the game winds itself up before you have the chance to really see what you can do. Oh yeah, and there are more puzzles at the end. I don't remember ever seeing much if any puzzles in any of the Star Wars films; it's ridiculous to think that Empire soldiers would have to go through the same silly steps to activate key doors or access storage areas. I would like to comment on the multiplayer aspect of the game, but I haven't played online yet. It's fun against the bots by yourself -I can only imagine how much more enjoyable it must be against human foes! Essentially, this is a great game, but should have made full and better use of the Star Wars license.

"Mom please let me beat up the sith"!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is very fun. And you can have Ronald Mcdonald, the LOTR characters and some of the Simpsons right on Jedi Outcast! Here's how you do it: 1. go to jk2files.com 2. on the bottom left look for the word skins or models (it has to be under Jedi Knight 2.) 3. Look for the skin that's right for you. 4. Download it. 5. go to Computer which is at the start button 6. go to Hardware and then look for the Program files 7. go to lucasarts folder 8. go to jedi outcast folder and then to game data 9. go to base and extract your downloaded skin 10. take the file that was in the folder and place it at base. Run jedi outcast multiplayer, you should see the new skin (same thing works with maps.) I hope you get info on this and thank you for reviewing. Remember I play Jedi Outcast online.

The force is strong with this one

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a great follow-up to "Jedi Knight," and while I do recommend the game, there are a few caveats I should mention right away.
First, this game is DIFFICULT! I was able to play through Jedi Knight without the need for cheats or walkthroughs, but this is entirely different matter. Without making myself invulnerable, I would have lost patience early on. The problem is simply that the odds are always stacked against you just a little too severely. Unlike Jedi Knight, where the fights were generally manageable, here you will often find yourself entering a room and suddenly being surrounded by imperials. To make matters worse, the AI here is much better than it was in the past, so not only are you facing quantity, you've also got to contend with quality. Which I suppose can be considered both a recommendation and a complaint at the same time. Adding to the difficulty are the jumping puzzles which can soon become infuriating. Kyle has an annoying habit of taking an extra step or two after landing a jump, often causing him to scoot off the other side of that crate you just spent the past five minutes trying to reach. The manual suggests pressing E to "stick the landing," but if I wanted a gymnastics game, I'd be playing that old classic "Summer Games," not "Jedi Outcast."
The puzzles also rely a little too much on trying to find a well-concealed passage, or simply pressing every switch you come across. At one point, I was stumped because the I didn't realize that the next move I had to make was a seemingly impossible leap to a hidden ledge. Such puzzles may extend the playing time, but can also drive you mad.

Fortunately, the game's positive aspects compensate for its short-comings. This is perhaps the game that feels closest to a Star Wars movie. The plot has everything you'd expect from Lucas' franchise-- Great saber battles, a bit of humor, a touch of romance, and lots of exotic locales and space stations. Cameo appearances by Lando (Billy Dee Williams himself does the voice) and Luke (not Mark Hammill, but good enough) certainly help make this game feel like the real thing. But where are Han and Leia?
The light saber here is far superior to how it was implemented in Jedi Knight. There are plenty of moves available, and facing off against a group of dark Jedi with Luke fighting alongside is a thrill any Star Wars fan would love to experience.
Oddly enough, this is one game where I would recommend cheating if you have to. Unless you have a lot of experience with First-Person Shooters, you'll quickly lose patience with this one due to its extreme difficulty. Yet, you'd be shortchanging yourself by not playing it at all. So give it a try, and if you find yourself getting killed too often, feel free to find a cheat code, but whatever you do, play this game through to the end... you won't be sorry.

Incredible Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is an absolutely wonderful game. I've played it over and over again, and never got bored.

You get to use the powers of the force to defeat many villains and increase your abilities. Eventually if you get good enough, you can take on large numbers of storm troopers with ease.

The lightsaber battles are incredible. You feel like a real Jedi Knight. You get the chance to fire the guns of a starship, and to go into battle in an AT-ST, which is a lot of fun. There's also a time to act with stealth.

This is one of those games that really strikes the right balance of combat, puzzles, graphics, and story.

I recommend it highly!

A couple of shortcomings, but very worth it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

There are several things that grabbed me about this game. First was the demo. Without it, I would probably not have considered buying this game. I remember not liking the original Dark Forces. Running around hacking Stormtroopers to bits with a lightsaber was very enjoyable, so the purchase was made. (By the way, the Demo is a level not in the game itself)

After playing around with the demo and the lightsaber, I got annoyed at the switch from third person to first person when changing to a blaster. This can be easily rectified using the 'p' key. There are some really neat acrobatics that look like they can only be done in 3rd person. Aiming with a blaster in 3rd person can be a bit of a pain, so the ability to switch gets a major thumbs up.
Those acrobatic jumps have to be done 'just right'. It's far too easy to try to jump to a ledge and bounce off a wall, or skid too far and plunge to your death.
Many of the 'secret' areas are accessable only though these jumps. The only thing you get at these areas are some shields, or ammo, so if you're stocked up, it's not worth going to them. There are no 'hey, cool!' aspects to them. I guess I expected more after the Marathon days when secrets meant more story depth.

The 'auto block' feature of the lightsaber was great, as far less time is spent dodging blaster fire, and you can concentrate more on wasting some enemies.

As far as bugs go, I've only noticed two. Loading a checkpoint will sometimes crash the game. This can be annoying when you die, and then go back to reload, only to have to load a save farther back than a checkpoint. The other is minor, as the load dialogue has a limit and doesn't list all of your saves. Deleting an old save will show your new saves.

The force powers are really neat. Push, Pull, Mind Trick. Push is great when you see enemies standing on a ledge (hee, hee). When I saw the force lightning pop up on my powers list I thought "Oh yeah!" I spent far too much time choking and force lightning stormtroopers once those abilities got to level 3.

Voice acting is reasonable. Billy Dee Williams does the voice of Lando! The voice of Luke bothered me, but I'm not exactly sure why. I noticed a few times in the game where the soft voice of Kyle didn't carry well, or didn't seem to fit the mood.

Sure there are a few shortcomings, but you get to play with a lightsaber. You get to kill Stormtroopers, You get to play with a lightsaber! (did I mention the lightsaber yet?)

This might be the best game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Of all of the games that I have ever purchased (a lot), JKII might be the best ever. Raven has spent a lot of effort both pre and post release dealing with customer opinion and offering tons of help with customization and hints.
1. The bottom line: The light-saber duels are the best. Forget the other weapons (although they are cool too). My fiance actually went out and purchased another copy just so that we could team match against each other, and she doesn't even really like 1st person shooters! Watching on spectator mode with a dozen jedi dueling makes the wait for Episode II less stressful.
2. Game play is pretty smooth, but the cutscenes should have been actual films, like with Dark Forces II, Jedi Knight.
3. My computer had some problems initially, but I boosted my RAM past 300 megs and it's much better now. Even on better video settings it runs well.
4. Kyle should look more like the Kyle from Dark Forces. He looks a little too 70's.
5. A reation to those that complain about it not working on their computers, GET A NEW MACHINE! A PENTIUM I OR II JUST WON'T CUT IT ANY MORE!!!

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