User Reviews (1 - 11 of 141)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

More Force to be reckoned with...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 77 / 88
Date: July 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After a healthy wait, the third installment of the Jedi Knight saga continues in this latest release. Fans of the earlier games will be at home with the basic setup: run around lovingly crafted Star Wars locales, zwapping Storm-Troopers with a lightsaber and generally spoling the Evil Galactic Empire's plans. Where this latest installment differs from the older games is that for the first time you WON'T be playing as spy-turned-Jedi, Kyle Katarn.

"Horror," you gasp, "don't tell me he's gone forever!". Well no, he'll be making a special guest appearance, but this time as one of your Jedi instructors. As the title suggests, the game offers players the chance to join Luke Skywalker's Yavin IV Jedi academy - a sort of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, but for Jedi. Instead of playing as a familiar Star Wars character, the game allows players to create their own, unique, Jedi apprentice by customizing your species, sex, clothing etc, allowing for literally thousands of configurations.

Even better, as you progress through the non-linear missions that you'll be dispatched on by your instructors, you'll be able to specialise in a particular saber style...the basic single-saber, the Anakin-inspired two-saber approach or the pyrotechnic staff-saber, of Darth Maul fame. Saber combat is the main focus of the game, but you can still grab a handy blaster to zap things with.

After you've sufficiently honed your skills in the one player game you can take the fight online (with your custom character, naturally). New multiplayer modes include an objective-based team game called 'Seige', and the ability to re-enact the climactic Qui-Gon/Obiwan/Darth Maul threesome from Episode One in the new 'Power Duel' mode - its a two against one saber showdown...what better way to prove your force mastery than by thwapping 2 birds with 1 stone?

So, loads of new tricks up the Lucasarts' sleeve, no doubt all wrapped up in the usual gorgeous graphics and sound. If Jedi Outcast is anything to go on, this game will be a must-have in any Star Wars fan's collection.

The best standalone expansion ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 35 / 37
Date: August 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I realize it's marketed as "Jedi Knight 3", but this is in every possible way an expansion to Outcast. It doesn't really continue the JK story, and it has almost the exact same engine and force powers and weapons, etc, with very little modified. Movement is identical, etc. If you played Outcast, you'll be right at home immediately.

That said, this is one of, if not the, best games I've ever played. Every modification it makes to the Outcast engine is an improvement, however small they are. As with the original Jedi Knight, you now get to choose what Force Powers to receive (to a certain extent...half are given to you, half are by choice), and you also get to choose light or dark side at a certain point in the game. All of the JO multiplayer powers are now in single player, plus one extra (that lets you see people through walls and stuff like that), and all of the weapons return, plus a jaw-dropping new version of the Concussion Rifle from JK.

The most important change, though, is in the format of the game itself - instead of a linear progression of levels, there are three sets of five levels, within which you may do the levels in any order. Between each set is a plot-advancing mandatory mission. In each set of five, you only need to complete four, so you can continue on if one of them stumps you, but you'll miss getting another force star (one per level you play). For the first set, your core powers (jump, push, pull, sense, lightsaber defense, lightsaber offense, lightsaber throw, and speed) are at level one, for the second set they're all at level two, and for the third set and the whole endgame, they're all at level three. This means you get a HUGE amount of game in which you are an uber-Jedi, unlike Outcast in which you only had two levels at full power.

Also, this means that instead of having long missions with multiple parts, the game mostly consists of small "vignette" levels, short and sweet. There are good and bad sides to this, the bad being that you don't feel as involved with the storyline, but the good being that there is INSANE variety in level design. Almost every planet looks different, and levels range from working your way down a speeding train to escaping from jail (lightsaber-less) to leaping back and forth across a giant chasm that a jedi temple has been built into (and since been turned into ruins). The sheer variety of visual and gameplay styles is mind-boggling. Every major Star Wars scene or place that wasn't recreated in Outcast is back here, too, from speeder bike chases (exhilaratingly fun) to the ruined Hoth base. It's insane how much is packed in to these levels.

The best thing about JA as compared to JO, though, is that JO's first two missions sans-lightsaber are GONE. You start out the very first level with a lightsaber, and the one level where you're forced to be without it you have massive force abilities, and if you really hate it you can skip it anyway. The worst part of Outcast is gone completely, and all that's left is pure Jedi gaming goodness.

Multiplayer is also back, with a couple of new modes (including an incredibly fun 2-on-1 power duel), but fewer levels. It averages out to about the same amount of MP goodness from Outcast, not really better or worse. The improvements in this game are mostly single player.

Finally, a minute detail for most but extremely important for me, if you liked Force Lightning in the old game, your head may explode when you see this one. It blows people back, has more than double the range, and is just generally the most insane offensive ability possible. Everyone - GET FULL LIGHTNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Overall, an absolutely incredible game, fixing everything that was wrong about Outcast, my previous favorite game of all time. The only downside is that they didn't change enough - this simply isn't a full-fledged sequel. If you liked Outcast, you'll love this, but if you didn't, give it a pass. There's nothing terribly different to change your mind.

Basically a commercial Outcast mod released standalone

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 58 / 73
Date: October 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

"Jedi Academy" is the latest in a long-line of Star Wars shooter games that began with "Dark Forces" (1994) and followed the adventures of Kyle Katarn, former imperial commando, free-booting mercenary and now Master Jedi Knight. As with last year's entry - "Outcast", "Academy" has you fighting various enemies across the Star Wars universe as rendered by the QuakeIII engine. Rather than play Kyle, you lead the fight as one of his assistants - an acolyte jedi (who ya' callin' Padawan!?). Looking and sounding little different than Outcast, Academy does allow you some flexibility. You can alter the appearance of your race, gender, skin color, dress and (because this was beginning to sound like some Supreme Court case) your lightsaber. Choose the color and style of your saber - single or double sabers, or the double-bladed single saber made famous by Darth Maul in "Episode 1".

The problem? While it's always fun to play "Star Wars", I spent much of my time just reminding myself that this was supposed to be a sequel to Outcast, with all the improvements that sequels should be expected to have. Using the same graphics engine as Outcast means that the game overall looks the same, while gameplay is otherwise little changed. Being able to customize your appearance is nifty, but it doesn't really add to the game - you're just a generic character in a generic Star Wars story (young and untrained Jedi students against former imperial forces and darker jedis who try and kill you with their fast moves and taunts). Anyway, players have been able to "mod" their appearance since the days of "Dark Forces", so even that feature isn't so new (I played that game as Boba Fett). Though a technological leap over the first "Jedi Knight" game of 1997, neither "Academy" nor "Outcast" match it in making you feel like you're inside a Star Wars movie. The levels (or maps) are compelling, but they always feel like maps - they don't connect in a way that suggests a single story the way the older game did (LA followed the older game's example when releasing "Mysteries of the Sith", a companion disk relying on a tweaked version of the engine used on "Jedi Knight"; though MotS looked shoddy, and its story was actually several loosely linked stories, the individual stories themselves never relied as heavily on cut-scenes to drive the game as Outcast or Academy did). Even forgetting about narrative, Academy is still less of a leap in technology over "Jedi Knight" than that game was over "Dark Forces". I'm not sure why it was even released at all (the only real effect is that the on-line communities that craft mods for Star Wars games have stopped working on Outcast mods, and have begun turning to Academy exclusively).

Being little advanced over Outcast, the same system specs should apply. I played this on my P4-2ghz, GeForce3, WinXP system (remember when that sounded like more horsepower than you'd ever need?) and had no problems. Remember to check LA's website to make sure your graphics card is on the approved list. In short, if you missed on Outcast, get Academy. If you got Outcast, Academy is still a worthy game, but not one that will rock your universe.

Good game, could be better

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: September 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is the 3rd installment of the Jedi Knight series, and could really be called 'Jedi Knight III'.

The game is fairly similar to Jedi Outcast in terms of gameplay, graphic and sound. The story in this game involves a young Jedi student at the Jedi Academy, studying under Kyle Katarn. The game follows a fairly standard setup, you participate in missions to achieve various goals, using your Jedi powers that increase with every mission to achieve those goals. But this game has one fundamental difference to Jedi Outcast, it allows a player to choose the Force powers they want to have more ability in, and those powers can be either of the light side, or the dark side. Towards the end of the game, the player is forced to make a choice to go to the light side or the dark side of the Force.

But the major new feature of Jedi Academy is that a player can now customize their character in the game, choosing gender, species, physical appearance, and, most importantly, lightsabre colour and handle style.

This is where I found the game lacking. I expected to have a wide range of character choices and options, instead there were only a handful of choices, Human male, Human female, Zabrak male, Twi'lek female, Rodian male and another male from a strange alien species. I would have liked to have been able to choose from a huge range of species, clothes and physical appearances, with enough options to ensure that every character is unique. This lack of options is one of the reasons that I gave this game 4/5 stars.

The lightsabre combat though, is where this game really shines. In additon to choosing blade colour and handle style, this game also features a whole host of new and cool lightsabre attacks and uses, such as a roll then quick lightsabre stab, and a move where a player can do an extremely fast twirling motion, essentially killing anything within the radius of the lightsabre.

Later in the game, the player must build a new lightsabre, but now there a 3 choices, single sabre, twin sabres, or a double sabre like Darth Maul used in Episode I. The new options are great, and allow for some fantastic new moves. Lightsabre combat is definitely the highlight of Jedi Academy.

Another point to mention is that the game is surprisingly short and easy. An experienced Jedi Outcast player could finish this game within 20 hours, probably less. The in game problems were surprisingly easy to solve, allowing a player to progress easily through the levels. After all the care and effort taken to customize a player's character, to finish a game that quickly just isn't satsifying. This is also part of the reason why I gave this game 4/5 stars.

In short, this is a good game, but not an outstanding one. I get the sense that it was possibly rushed through production, which may explain why it was so short. If you're a Star Wars game fan, you should definitely buy this. If you're just a casual gamer with a passing interest in Star Wars, I recommend you think twice before buying this one.

Run, jump and slash: lightsaber-wiedling fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: November 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You're a new recruit at the Jedi Academy. Pick out a wardrobe (after you've chosen your sex and species), design your lightsaber, and you're ready to meet your instructor, Kyle Katarn. He'll lead you through a short series of training exercises before you're off on your first mission.

This is an easy-to-use game that requires no strategy and minimal puzzle-solving ability. If you can run, jump and swing your lightsaber, that's about all you'll need to get through the game. You'll have a whole host of Force powers to choose from, everything from healing your bruised body to shooting lightning from your fingertips. And while those Force powers provide an added level of fun, they're not absolutely necessary; I was able to finish the game using only Force Push (good for knocking opponents of cliffs, ledges, and bridges), Force Protect (your own full-body shield), Force Speed (run circles around slower opponents), and Force Heal. In addition, there are perhaps two or three occasions you are required to us Force Sense to find hidden objects.

The game is built around a series of short missions, many of which are irrelevant to the main story, which involves a cult that worships Ragnos (an ancient Sith Lord) and which has been spotted throughout the galaxy at places where high concentrations of Dark Force Energy are to be found. The cultists are siphoning this energy for unknown but obviously nefarious purposes, and along with the other Jedi at the academy you have to interrupt their plans and finally chase them down to their base at Korriban, the tomb world of the Sith Lords.

For a game that was released in 2003, the graphics and game play hold up pretty well in late 2006, with the exception of a few contrived missions that involve traversing all four corners of a large game map to free prisoners, or to plant (or disarm) explosives. There are few long cut-scenes to interrupt the flow of the game, and the ability to save at any point during saves lots of frustration at having to repeat sections of the game. As there is no over-arcing strategy to the game, it's ideal for people who want to play for 30 minutes or an hour at a time.

If you're looking for a Star Wars game that requires a little more concentration and attention to detail, you might like to try Knights of the Old Republic. But if you want to just whack away with a lightsaber for a few hours, Jedi Academy is just what you need.

Use the Force... really, put down the blaster and use the Force

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: May 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game when it first came out. I thought it was an okay Star Wars FPS, but that some of the bosses were kind of hard to beat. Blasters and thermal detonators were iffy so I just flailed away with the lightsaber while mainly trying to run away. One of the big problems was that a regular mouse, even a wheel mouse did not have enough buttons to smoothly use the Force powers. It was similar to what I thought after seeing Episode IV and V: "What's the big deal with the Jedi Force powers and those light sabers? They have to be pretty close to use them so what good are they in a large scale fight?"

After watching Episode II I replayed it, but this time with a Logitech mouse with a ton of extra controls on it. Whoa! BIG difference. Now instead of stabbing blindly at F-keys I could control the Force powers and deploy them quickly and accurately. Then it was more like "Whoa, if the Jedi Knights could do *this* no wonder people/aliens thought twice before messing with them!".

At this point the game became interesting, especially after watching Episode III. Pay attention to what the enemy Force users and Kyle can do, because they will give you hints at what you can do. Note all the combo lightsaber attacks and their counters. At that point some enemies that were problems are no longer particularly significant.

Because you can select different Force powers as your character develops, it changes how you deal with each level and type of enemy. This means if you like the game you can keep replaying it and experimenting.

As far as good and bad Force powers go, note that Kyle says that it's not so much which powers you select but how you use them (so ignore Luke I guess). For example Kyle uses Force Lightning a lot.

As I type this I'm wondering if it might be possible to play all or most of the upper levels without using weapons at all. I may have to give it a try.

If you think you might want to replay it, be sure to save some of the higher levels where you have to make decisions about selecting specialized Force powers so you don't have replay the whole game if you don't want to.

Unfortunately increasing the single player difficulty decreases the rate at which your Force powers charge and your maximum shield charge instead of adding more enemies, etc. However, at one of the higher levels you get to make the big decision and if you choose the Dark Side you get to fight twice as many enemies.

Then there is a second aspect to the game. Playing single player using the Force Powers shows why the Jedi were so powerful in the movies. But if you didn't rely too much on Force Powers you now know how to fight with a light saber. Besides the basic moves, combo attacks, the counters there are also three combat styles and three diffent types of light sabers. This means there are a LOT of combinations. If you've learned those, go on-line and try your new skills against other Jedi Academy players. I haven't looked recently so I don't know how many servers and on-line players are out there (due to the game's age).

It's an old game so it's hardware requirements are not too demanding compared to 2006 titles. But in my opinion the game play and chance to play as a Jedi Knight make it a fun game even today. For ten bucks I think it's a deal.

Mildly Entertaining

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: July 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Jedi Academy, or JK3, while entertaining, unfortunately fails to match the lofty standard set by its predecessor, JK2: Jedi Outcast. While it proclaims its unique mission selection system, the customisable characters and the ability to turn to the dark side, these changes have little overall effect on the game. The "mission selection system" only allows the player to choose the order in which the missions are played. The ability to turn to the dark side only pops up in the final mission of the game. Jedi Academy also suffers from the use of exactly the same modified Quake 3 engine used in Jedi Knight 2, and while it was considered great a few years back, presently the engine is nothing spectacular. On a positive note, this means that the game will run on most systems. Furthermore, the storyline is comparatively cliched. A cult steals ancient artifacts of tremendous power. Unsurprisingly, the fate of the universe lies on Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy's latest member, you.

Though decidedly less original than JK2, I found that Jedi Academy was nevertheless very entertaining. Rather than controlling the Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn (as in the previous two games), Jedi Academy puts you in control of Jaden, a new student to the Academy. While developing skills in the force, you must uncover the details of the sinister plot behind the cult and the artifacts of power. That said, though undeniably entertaining, Jedi Academy just does not have sufficient material for gamers who already own Jedi Knight 2 to make a new purchase of the Lucasarts's latest Jedi Knight offering.

I like it. I like it a lot.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: March 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'll keep this simple. Some of my favorite things about Jedi Academy:

1. Lightsaber combat! It's fun, fast, and intense, and you get a high degree of control over the saber. It's a blast against both gun and saber-weilding enemies. The dramatic saber/force power duels with dark jedi are the highlight of the game.

2. I like the power of creativity the game gives you. If you want to try something, it will probably work. You can pull weapons out of the hands of your enemies or push them off cliffs. You can use the vader-style grip to pick up enemies and choke them, or throw them off cliffs, or through windows, or hold them over a fire and let them roast, or throw your saber at them while they are suspended in the air, or simply beat them senseless against the walls. Stealth is a viable option, if you want to use it. If someone fires a rocket at you, you can dodge it, or use the force to send it right back at them.

3. There is a strong modding community. There are gigabytes and gigabytes of extra maps, missions, player models, and weapons available for download. Jedi Academy helps by being very mod-compatible, and the result is a lot of extra replay value.

4. The missions are nicely done, and have a pretty good variety of objectives and environments.

Some things I didn't like as much:

1. The storyline is pretty weak.

2. Except for the very last mission, there is no real lightside/darkside choice, and no real consequence for using the powers of the dark side.

3. Some of the vehicle code seems a bit unpolished.

4. There are other weapons besides lightsabers, but they are rarely useful except for taking out the rare enemy you can't get to with a lightsaber. They're generally well done, but they feel somewhat extraneous (in almost all situations). Fortunately, you generally have the option of simply ignoring them and sticking with the lightsaber.

5. The lightsaber occasionally feels a bit underpowered. Against more powerful enemies, it may take several clean cuts through their body before they actually die, which is a bit annoying. 3rd party mods are available that fix this though.

Overall, highly recommended.

A game for the Jedi in all of us

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is my first Star Wars game I've played as a Jedi and it was the most fun I've had in a pc game. The only trouble I had was in getting used to using my keyboard and mouse to move my player around (only the first few tries). There aren't many choices of species but, the choice of sabers and colors make up for that.

The beginning is nice and easy so you can get used to using your force abilities. As you progress you get stronger and faster as well as bigger challenges. I really got into this game and came to like the characters alot. You get to travel all over the place and fight with a nice selection of weapons. The Wookie Bowcaster is my favorite!

The imagery is very good. Planets, creatures, and bad guys/gals were done very well. The cut scenes are fun to watch because they tie in with the whole story line. I especially loved the fight scenes with the Sith. The slow motion effects during these battles were awesome.

Overall, I had a great time playing this game. Some parts were easy while others were alittle bit of a challenge. Take your time and "use the force" to guide you. You will have so much fun and probably laugh at what those Stormtroopers have to say! Enjoy!

Not much is different from Outcast

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: October 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy was my second foray into the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight line of games. Since I really enjoyed Outcast and the demo for Jedi Academy, I decided to plunk down some money and buy Jedi Academy. I am not sure this was a good decision on my part.

I am now going to go over what I see as the good and the bad parts of the SINGLE PLAYER part of Jedi Academy.

First off, the good:
Since Jedi Academy (hereafter JA) does not revolve around Kyle Katarn, the player is given a new character that can be somewhat customised. Species, gender, clothing, and their lightsabre hilt and color are all modifiable.

The addition of dual lightsabres and double bladed lightsabres (ala the end of Episode II and Darth Maul respectively) available to your character and the enemy is also a nice touch.

Several times in the game I got into a particularly intense and enjoyable lightsabre fights that helped to draw me into the game, and I found that lightsabre fights seemed to be more fun than they were in Outcast, especially when I ended up fighting two or three enemy Dark Jedi, lightning bolts and force push being used in abundance.

JA allows you to customise your force power progression by awarding you force points to go towards your secondary force powers (Force Heal, Lightning, Grip, Absorb, Rage, ect). Each time you complete a mission, you get a force point that you can spend towards whichever secondary force power of your choice, a nice touch since it lets you concentrate on developing the force powers you care most about.

The Bad:
My major gripe about this game has to do with the basic storyline. I am not really concerned with whether or not they kept consistant with the Star Wars movies/universe, but I DO want to have a storyline that makes me interested in the character and the conflict that character finds him/herself in. Jedi Academy did not produce that for me. The game never really got me interested in my character. Your character is never given a history, and I found the character development practically non-existant. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I thought they did a fairly good job in Outcast, so I was hoping for more than I got.

The missions in JA were also a dissapointment. The game starts out with two short missions that seem designed to get you used to the game and to introduce the main characters more than anything. The real missions that follow are broken up into two categories: what I call "side missions," and the storyline missions. You are given five "side missioins" to choose from, and once you have successfully completed four, you can choose to go to the first storyline mission. This mission design is repeated several times for a total of roughly 15 side missions and 3 or 4 storyline missions. My problem with this setup is that some of the side missioins felt as if they were designed for another game. That is not to say that they weren't fun, only that I had no real sense of why I was going off to complete a mission that had no real impact on the game as a whole. They felt more like filler to me than well designed and implimented missions. Why do I need to run into a bunch of "Tremors" rip-offs on a desert planet in order to advance the storyline?

The character voices in the game left something to be desired. There is only one male and one female voice actor for the main character, and neither one of them really seemed to fit the alien species I could have chosen for my main character.

The force powers themselves came as something of a disapointment to me as well. Being able to force heal while fighting, or to use grip on an enemy dark jedi and fling them over the ledge of a cliff seemed a little anti-climactic to me.

Most of my battles saw me fighting a couple of dark jedi, taking some hits, defeating them, force healing, and then repeating these steps once I ran into the next one. In this way the game became very repetative. It seemed to deginerate into constant lightsabre battles without much rhyme or reason. I would have liked to have seen a better developed AI that reacted more true to life than as scripted as the game felt. At one point in my game I ran into three dark jedi whom I seperated by shooting at one of them (thereby activating that dark jedi) and then defeated him while the other two dark jedi just sat there, even though they were in visiual range of my fight with their AI friend.

My conclusion is that the single player version is a good buy for those of you who have to have all things Star Wars or those of you who love almost constant lightsabre fights and not a whole lot else. I personally think Jedi Academy is only better than Outcast in the area of lightsabre fights, and I think the story and missions are actually worse than they were in Outcast.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions