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Well done, if lacking full potential.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is the follow-up to Jedi Outcast, which is a FPS with third person melee elements involved.

To begin the review: If you don't like Star Wars don't expect to like this much. It is very well done in all respects but tends to fall behind in some areas.

CONS:

Uses an older game engine. With Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and Farcry out it shows its age.

Texture clipping. Due mainly to that old engine I'd wager.

Needs more freedom. How about the ability to walk around the Academy and talk to other Jedi and Apprentices? This would really help make the Jedi experience.

Some less than clever puzzles.

Story can't compete with KotoR's.(Unfortunately)

Short. This game is choked full of fun but ends kind of quickly.

Multiplayer. Multiplayer needs some major tweaks. A better emphasis on team-based objectives would help replay value. Deathmatch (even with lightsabers) doesn't last very long. More time spent on CTF and other kinds of gameplay modes would really be appreciated.

That's the major problems that hold this game back. The next installment in the Jedi Knight series would need to be based off a new engine, have more freedom, and have a more engaging storyline. The multiplayer aspects would need to be tweaked as well, include a slew of original maps and possibly devise better net coding to help with lag and such.

The Pros need not be mentioned, if you can get past those Cons and enjoy FPS's or love lightsabers this game is worth a shot at least. It has a fun single player that's addicting, but sadly lacks the replay value of games such as Half-Life and its mods, BattleField 1942 and its mods, Call of Duty and its mods. But every few months you'll get the itching in your palm for a lightsaber, and this game will fulfill that need to great lengths.

Highly recommended for casual and hardcore gamers looking for a refreshing take on the shooter market.

Lightsaber for everybody!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

From the game's opening scene to its frenetic climax, I was immediately embroiled in more lightsaber dueling combat that I would have thought possible.
The story is set 14 years after "A new hope". You get to select the look of not only your character, but also his (or her) lightsaber. Once this outfitting is complete, you're off to the Jedi Academy to meet Master Skywalker. However, very little of the game actually focuses on the Academy, and your Force instruction is limited to one very basic tutorial early on.
In all, you get 16 classic Force powers - Push, Pull, Heal, Jump, Speed, Lighting, Rage, and more - and they're great fun to wield.
While at times, you may be fighting alongside your fellow classmates, you never get to know who any of them are. Thus you don't care when they get killed or when, should you choose the path of the dark side, you may have to kill them yourself. After your pivotal choice whether to follow the light or dark side of the Force, you'll be tracked toward one of two endings.
The Raven crew has beefed up the Quake 3 engine quite a bit, adding a ragdoll skeketal animation system. The AI is also improved from Jedi Knight 2 as well.
I did not try the multiplayer aspect of the game but I have heard it is great. I simply do not have the time.
All things considered, Raven deserves major kudos for delivering an extremely compelling experience.

Multi-player is still alive in this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

There are 120 other reviews at the moment that tell you how the game is so I will tell you a few things I would find usefull. Also this is a review aimed toward Moms =]

There are tons of servers on multi everywere and there are plenty of servers that have good rules such as being respectful and no cussing an such.
I am in a clan that is Christian as well and it is awesome. There is no blood because it is sabers, in fact in multi-player there is no body part dismemberment unless you download a mod to make them fall apart =P in single acassionaly a storm trooper will lose an arm or hand or something but never are they chopped in half or beheaded. Anyway this is a really fun game I have been playing it for 3 years and I am still playing it every day =].

Decent expansion for Jedi Outcast

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Jedi Academy is a fun enough game. If anything, it is a nice expansion of Jedi Outcast--gameplay is essentially the same, and as in the case of Outcast, playing as a Jedi Knight has never been better.

As in Outcast, Force powers and lightsbaer combat have been greatly increased since Jedi Knight. One of the, ah, INTERESTING new features in Jedi Academy is some fancy combo moves, such as overly-dramatic stabs and more needless twirling of the lightsbaer. I call this interesting because, while it looked cool, I found it annoying when my character engaged in an overly dramatic, slow stab whilst he is getting shot at by a bunch of stormtroopers. I'd rather he just made a quick swing and killed the guy so I can turn around and deal with the other 10 guys trying to kill me.

Force powers are also better. It's true that it doesn't really amtter which Force pwoers you use, but I thought each side had a nice balance. Force jump in particular has been nicely improved--you can now run up and jump off walls. One Force power glitch I HATED, however, was how for Grip you sometimes couldn't throw people over the edge...they would just skirt along the edge of the cliff.

Another problem was that, for some levels (especially Coruscant), my computer had trouble dealing with the landscapes. As a result, gameplay was sometimes choppy.

Character customization isn't really as cool as I thought it would be. It's a nice idea, but ultimately I found myself just impatient to get on with it. In particular I wanted more species (I would love to be a Gamorrean wielding a lightsbaer). However, it was nice to finally wield a double-bladed lightsaber.

As in the case of Outcast, there were some Star Wars consistency issues that felt a little strained. Apparently there is a Force-scepter that can store Force residue and use it to empower people with the Force; I don't know about you, but this doesn't feel very Star Wars-ish to me. Another problem I had was with the stormtroopers with jetpacks and Jedi-assassin droids--again, these made me feel like I was playing outside the realm of Star Wars. And for some reason alien species (such as Greedo's species) speak like humans in this game. Also, I find it very annoying how every Jedi in the game can dodge a disrupter shot EXCEPT for mine. Finally, in one of the later levels you encounter a Rancor that, well, you'll know what I mean when you see it.

All in all, though, this game is enjoyable. The designers made a nice attempt to create different feels for each mission so that they didn't get repetitive, such as a Dune-ish world with sandworms and a swoop level (a level which, while I appreciated the effort towards different gameplay, I also hated). While no great improvement over Outcast, this game is a nice continuation of it, and presents some elements that hopefully will be expounded upon in the next Jedi Knight game.

r_dynamicglow 0

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have to say straight off I have only played the demo, but I thought this might help those with framerate issues.

If you open a console (Shift-tilde) and type: r_dynamicglow 0

It turns off an extra 'halo' effect around sabers, lava, &c. It does _not_ turn off dynamic lighting. Your framerates will probably double or triple. On my computer with it on at 1600x1200, I can get around 17-25fps, with it off, around 55-75fps or higher. That said, I left it on and play at lower resolution, but I have to admit its effects are very subtle compared to the framerate hit. Try toggling it (r_dynamicglow 0 for off and r_dynamicglow 1 for on) with your saber(s) out and decide if it is worth it for you.

too short and too easy

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Whereas the original dark forces and subsequent games focused on puzzles within the missions, jedi academy was more concerned with fighting with light sabres. There was almost no use for conventional weapons, the lightsabre wielding adversaries were easily defeated just by pushing as many buttons on the keyboard as you could and as fast as you could. In dark forces II it took a long time to develop as a character with enough time to have fun with the force. In Jedi outcast you didn't have enough time to have fun using advanced sabre techniques, and in jedi academy it was overkill. I just would like to have seen a game that had more difficult mazes and puzzles in the levels . . . or maybe I'm just getting smarter . . . It literally takes about 6 hours of solid playing time to get through this one . . . oh wait, I can play it again and try to find all the secret areas. Wait till you can buy it used.

One parent's plea

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: April 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I write this more as an innocent bystander than anything else. I am not particularly into hack-and-slash games, but the resident 10-year-old thinks it is the last word in entertainment, at least for this week. As far as I can see, it largely consists of run run run, jump jump, slash slash slash, run run, jump, slash slash, run run, shoot shoot, use your funky Force powers from time to time, run run run run, jump. Woo hoo. If that's your cup of tea, more power to you.

However, for we poor saps who happen to be stuck in the same room with the urchin playing this game, the experience can be pretty miserable. To start off, the dialogue is just absolutely god-awful, melodramatic crap. I don't know if the game designers are trying to be faithful to the movie franchise, but please stop it. Nobody will ever confuse the diaglogue in the Star Wars movies with Casablanca. Please, try to improve on this in future efforts.

Also, why do all of the male characters sound like they are doing bad Clint Eastwood imitations? It just drives me crazy to listen to this stuff. I keep waiting for Jaden or Kyle to say, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" I guess you are trying to emphasize the characters' manliness (god knows some of these pimple-faced gamers need to live vicariously through these characters), but it only adds to the overall cheesiness of the production.

Finally, try and make it a little more challenging. The aforementioned 10-year-old, playing maybe an hour per day, was able to get through this game in maybe 2 weeks. This is the same 10-year-old who was hard-pressed this weekend to tell us if the sun rises in the east or the west. This is not encouraging, and for those of us who shelled out depressingly large sums of money for this game, we would like to see the youngsters a little more challenged.

The Day the Jedi Knight Series Died

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: July 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I do not like this game.

Jedi Academy (Jedi Knight III or Dark Forces IV) is a really really weird game.

Outcast was very very fun. And so far, the Jedi Knight/Dark Forces series was UNBELIEVABLE. When Jedi Academy was released, gamers rushed to the stores to buy it.

Unfortunately, most of them came back disappointed.

Pros:

1. Cool lightsabers, you can get your own saber color and your own saber style.

2. Okay moves, some of them are boring but they're okay.

3. Great multiplayer mode.

4. Interesting planets.

5. Ability to choose light side or dark side is fun.

Cons:

1. Terrible AI.

2. Most of the missions you go on you go alone with no one to help you.

3. No matter what species your character is, his/her voice sounds the same: human. The only voice difference comes from what gender your character is.

4. WAY too short; Outcast was MUCH longer.

5. Your character has no real importance in the galaxy.

6. I found it to be much much easier than Outcast, and I can't stand easy games.

7. HORRIBLE storyline. If this was a movie, it would hold my attention for about 10 minutes, then I'd be fast asleep with my head in my popcorn bag.

Overall, I think this game could've been a success if it was released as an expansion pack for Jedi Outcast, or if it was just a multiplayer game with no single-player mode.

THIS GAME WILL MAKE YOU SCREAM, "I AM A JEDI!"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy will make you feel like you are a jedi. You start out as a teenage "jedi-apprentice-to-be" nammed Jaden. Throughout the game, you fight through millions, yes, I mean millions,of foes. There are many types of enemies throught the game. I've played smoothly with as many as 50 enemies within 20 ft. of me. In times of high danger, you have only 2 friends: your double-eged, dual, or single-bladed, lightsaber, and cover. Also, unlike in Jedi Outcast, where you are a jedi no matter what, you can choose which side of the force you want to be on. It really helps the games "feel."

I have only three complants for this game and they are as follows:

1. The story could use some work. You start out in a short "tutorial" type traaining mission and then have a set of five missons that can be played in any order and have no relation to each other whatsoever. As bad as it may seem, you don't really need much of an incentive to slay a mutated rancor while being attacked by 20 reborn warriors, now do you?

2. The game is a bit slow at times, especially on the level where you are trying to sabotage an imperial tibanna gas platform. You can actually see the frames moving, but that can be solved by simply turning the graphics settings down.

Overall, BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW AND STOP SITTING IN FRONT OF YOUR MONITOR, EATING A BAG OF CHIPS!!!

Great Follow-Up To Jedi Outcast!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I know some have said that if you've got Jedi Outcast to not bother with this game. However, I beg to differ!!! Jedi Academy is a great follow-up to Jedi Outcast, with Kyle Katarn now teaching at the Academy on Yavin 4 with Master Skywalker. You create your own character, which adds a new variant to the game, and get to choose from three different lightsaber configurations. The premise is that you are now, as the title implies, at the Jedi Academy undergoing training. While you start off at the academy, don't get settled in as you're soon off to others worlds to complete missions, everywhere from Hoth to good ole Tantooine! Did I mention you'll get to work with new Force powers as well!?! I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of Star Wars, or is a fan of the Jedi Knight series of games. I look forward to the next game in the series of Jedi Knight games!!

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