Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Sequel, but lacking overall. 3½ Stars.
Review: In 1997 LucasArts humbled the gaming world with the release of Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, a first-person action shooter that let players direct Kyle Katarn's quest to avenge the death of his father, Morgan and become a Jedi. The game flattened the competition with its near total immersion in the Star Wars environment that had been sorely lacking, even in the original Dark Forces in 1995. For twenty levels you became Kyle, the quirky smart-mouthed mercenary aiding the fledgling New Republic on a mission against Jerec and his cabal of Dark Jedi bent on locating and consuming the power of the Valley of the Jedi. A thousand years ago a great battle between the forces of light and dark saw thousands of Jedi spirits trapped within the valley. As Kyle you progressed in your powers until eventually having to make a choice between Light and Dark. To stop Jerec in order to keep the valley safe or take the power for your own and rule the galaxy. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is set nine years after Jedi Knight, making it 14 years after the fall of the Empire at Endor, and Kyle has abandoned his Jedi heritage after nearly killing Mara Jade at the Sith temple on Dromund Kaas when he fell to the Dark Side. Still working for New Republic Intelligence, he and Jan stumble across an Imperial Remnant base that appears to be growing gem-like crystals- similar to the ones found in lightsabers. It turns out that a fallen Jedi and the Remnant are attempting create a Force-using army by combining the crystals and the Force. The first couple of levels are also painfully dull and the goals are often poorly defined. After encountering the fallen Jedi Desann, Jan is murdered by Desann's apprentice, Tavion. Secretly, Kyle flies to Rusaan- the secret location of the Valley of the Jedi. There is reasserts his connection to the Force. Reluctantly Kyle must reclaim that which he abandoned, traveling back to Yavin IV, he meets with Luke Skywalker in order to retrieve his lightsaber. At the Yavin academy, Kyle relearns his basic Force abilities in a test devised by Luke before traveling to Nar Shadda to begin his search Desann and the Reborn. Game play is much improved over Jedi Knight in many areas, not least of which is lightsaber combat, which is now handled almost exclusively in the third-person view. I had misgivings about this, but having tried it out, I see that it's much better- allowing for greater control and freedom of action during duels. Graphics are not through the roof 'awesome', but very clean and exceptionally well detailed. I have a ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card, so I guess I expect all new games to be earth-shattering in their visual appeal. Raven did pay close attention to lightsaber duels from the Phantom Menace- giving the ones in the game a distinct cinematic feel, especially when view from a distance in multi-player. Mostly the game is fluid- the visuals flow nicely and Raven manages to overcome one of the Quake III: Arena engine's short comings by producing attractive vistas, whether indoors or out, everything has the right Star Wars-zy feel and look to it. Weapons range from Kyle's Bryar pistol, E-11 blaster rifle, Bowcaster and Repeater Rifle, plus new additions like the Tenloss disrupter, which can disintegrate distant targets in sniper mode, an EMP gun for dispatching droids and other electronic devices, a flechette cannon which is just a knock-off of the flack cannon from Unreal Tournament, plus a rocket launcher. Kyle also has access to munitions like thermal detonators, laser trip mines (a la Duke Nukem), and detpacks that can be blown by remote control. All three explosives and the rocket launcher do far more damage than their small, wimpy explosions would indicate. An additional weapon that Kyle carries that I really liked are the portable sentry gun- a cannister that once dropped deploys a blaster turret and begins shooting enemies within its range. Players also get macrobinoculars, bacta canisters for healing, and light amplification goggles. Plus you will find no end of shield and health power-ups through out the levels. One of the game's down sides is that it is difficult to tell when you're being shot- there are no accompanying green flashes or sizzling sound effects as your personal shields take a beating The game ships with 10 multi-player maps, customizable Force powers to fine-tune your character. You can even play games without the Force, though it tends to favor the dark side powers. Multi-player games include standard death matches, capture the flag, king of the hill where only one play has a lightsaber and Force powers and it's up to everyone else to deal with it, capture the ysalamiri (the Jedi Kryptonite creatures care of Mr. Zahn). One of the down sides in single-player missions is Raven split Kyle's Force powers between the Light and Dark side. He can throw lightning and choke someone, but no longer has Force Seeing and Protection- two powers that were, in my opinion, instrumental in the first game. I didn't like the addition of Dark Side powers that seemed to be there just to satisfy those players who think the Dark Side is 'kewl'. Raven also has the Outcast version of its Q3 Radiant level builder and other tools, like script managers etc. for creating single and multi-player levels. This is an o-kay game. It didn't completely suck me in like Jedi Knight did, but it is a worthy successor. It lacks the impact of Kyle's momentous decision between Light and Dark nor is the story as epic. And strangely, the feel is closer to that of the original Dark Forces than it is to Jedi Knight. Plus it suffers a little too much from console hell like Dino Crisis, where on some levels you must find the key to open the door in order to get to the next key to open the next door. It has some nice animated full-motion video, but nothing like the live action scenes that added so much to Jedi Knight. It is also a hard game- get used to not completing later maps on the first try even on easy 'Padawan' setting, plus some of the jumping can be a little frustrating. I waited a long time for this game and I'm glad I wasn't completely disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Best game ever. No Doubt.
Review: For all of you who have 2 lives( One as a Jedi and the other as a nerd) and those of you who are just "normal" non force wielding human beings, This game is the greatest ever. This game has it all. Excellent single player campaign with the BEST storyline ever. Excellent FREE no-obligations Multiplayer through the game directly, no 3rd party software needed. Beautiful, crisp, and awesome graphics. Awesome guns and force powers, and yes the light saber combat is beautiful as well, down to the sound. Excellent replay value included. If you're a flaming huge Star Wars nerd such as myself, this game is the reason you exist. If you're a hardcore gamer looking for a new title, they don't get much better than this. I recommend this to anyone and everyone with two eyes and a brain. Well you could have one eye and enjoy it just as much I'm sure.. but.. well.. yeah.. it's great.. HAVE FUN!!
Rating:
Summary: star wars jedi knight dark forces 2 review
Review: At first glance, this game is not that great. The graphics leave a lot to be desired, even for a 1997 game, and the cutscenes are dissappointing. But once you get into the gameplay, it's an amazing game. The characters in the levels are not only challenging but the levels themselves are. Each encompasses many secret passage ways, trap doors, and hiden shortcuts. Not only must you defeat your enemies, you must beat the terrain and map, trying to find your way out. While playing this game, I found myself slashing open grates to get where I was going, crawling through ceiling vents, getting blown through tunnels by giant fans, walking through pipes ankle deep in fuel that could explode at any moment, and much more. Another great aspect of this game is the AI. These enemies carry powerful weapons like crossbows, concussion rifles, fast firing repeaters, rail guns that fire explosives that latch on to you until them explode, and of course light sabers. During the levels it was challenging but the game suprises you at the end with a climatic lightsaber fight with another jedi that is very difficult to beat. As if the single player game is not enough, try going online and challenging your friends to a lightsaber fight. Watch them cringe as you throw boxes at them using your force throw. If Jedi Knight 2 Jedi Outcast had not come out, this game would be the foremost jedi game on the market.
Rating: 
Summary: graphics rock, but story jumps
Review: now, this is a good game as far as gameplay, but you start out not knowing anything and have to improvize. most charachters have no distinguishable intro. you really have to improvize through the first 3 levels, but the the game heats up. you start dueling with lightsabers, and stormtroopers get into it. when you beat the game as a light jedi, it has an ending which leaves much to be desired. it is impossible to beat as a dark jedi.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is such an awewsome game. Can't wait for the next similar style game to come out!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Game
Review: This game is so very good that while I played it, I almost literally had to tear myself away from the computer for school. It was really cool how they had the cutscenes with actors in them. They really help with the bad graphics. Saber Fighting in this game is far easier than in Jedi Outcast, though if you asked me about graphics, Jedi Outcast would definetly win. Storyline, cutscenes, fighting, and... imaginitive charachters, to say the least, make this game so good that you even forget about the bad graphics. Most of the Time
Rating:
Summary: Just.... Omg...
Review: This game has UNBELIEVABLE graphics. The duel light saber mode is NICE. I got so sick of noobs coming in and killing my enemies and this prevents it! The multiplayer OWNS with ctf, team ffa, ffa, duel, and jedimaster. Team ffa is my favorite... usually have one person grip while i lunge and kill the guy... ANYWAYS this game gets a 112983018923/112983018923 for me, and its very addicting in a good way... every day you're hooked! I played it once for 8 hours straight on a saturday... WITHOUT getting up... its just so much fun... but of course i have no life! I felt like i was atrophic and my legs were gonna fall off.... just needed a little break. BUT this game is the best star wars multi out there so far.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment....
Review: Huh, probably most reviewers won't agree with me on this one, but I found this game extremely boring. I'm a Star Wars fan, so I can appreciate everything w/ a good story, decent visual, etc. I know this game is fairly old, but I still play old games (even ones from the early '90-s), so old graphics really don't disturb me that much. But the storyline should be MUCH better, that DF2's: I never felt any interest in the game, playing it was almost like playing Quake 3 Arena: pointless. Acting is almost horrible in this one - they should've gone with graphical cut scenes inseat of live actors: acting is actually so bad that it hurts. Most of the B movies have better acting than in this game. I'd say avoid this game at all costs, unless you're a really big Lucasarts/Star Wars fan. I got the game for a bargain price but still feel fairly dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great game!!!
Review: Everyone else is raving about gameplay, which, following in the tradition of Elite Force and Quake 3 is stupendiously awesome, so I'll concentrate on another topic: internet play. After you've beat the single player part of the game, many feel it is over. You saved the galaxy, your girlfriend, and on top of all that, got to fight a "souped up barney the dino carrying a lightsaber (that would be Dessan)" while you were at it. Well, they are WRONG!! The multiplayer feature is very neat, but unless you have a bunch of fellow Star Wars addicts in your house, each with their own computer, you are not going to be getting anywhere fast in the way of person vs. person gaming. This is where the internet gaming comes in. I must say, that the developers did an awesome job! Gameplay is close to authentic, and interaction is very good. I enjoy playing CTF or Team FFA the best, but I've been known to do FFA or DUEL as well ;) Did I mention Force powers? Ohh, the dark side is very tempting, being able to strangle someone with the press of a button is too good to be true... :D :D There is a dedicated server for either Windows or Linux avalible at several download sites that is very nice. I am currently using it to host my own server, and learning along the way. The admin functions are prety extencive, but could use some work. Using an admin mod solves this, though. Emotes are also a kick in the seat. You can bind keys so you can laugh at people, address the puplic with pre-programmed taunts, and generaly antagonise the other players with body language! I have so many keys bound at the moment, that it is hard to find room for an extra function key, ot taunt! I would definately recomend this even if you are a once-in-a-great-while gamer, you will get addicted all too quickly, trust me ..
Rating:
Summary: Become a Jedi? Heck yeah!
Review: Jedi Knight II is a really fun game. The story is interesting, the characters are good, the graphics are nice enough (how exciting can corridors really get?), and the structure of the game keeps the player involved from start to finish. As a Star Wars fan, I can hardly imagine a more exciting premise for a game than becoming a Jedi, which is exactly what you do in Outcast. I know I'll be waiting in line for JK III to come out next year! As a side note, this is the first "serious" computer game I've played. I'd previously believed myself to be incapable of the kind of eye-hand coordination necessary for this sort of thing, but I learned pretty quickly how to get around in Jedi Knight II and I look forward to applying those skills to other games. Oh--and listen to what the storm troopers say. They're hillarious.
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