Star Wars: Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 with Mysteries of the Sith

Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all!!
Review: Not bad at all.Really cool graphics I must say.This game looks and feels like any of the newer games coming out.It even looks better than Phantom Menace.
The game play is pretty cool too.You get to put your hands on a lot of weapons including(yes!)a lightsaber.You get to use some force powers too(you`re a freakin` jedi for god`s sake!).
Bare in mind that the only reason I`m giving this game a 4 stars rating is because I`m still playing it,so get it and start kicking some imperial tail!

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: Okay, let me start off by saying that I do love this game. When it came out it was a landmark in terms of moving SW gaming in a good direction. There are some big problems with it, but if you're looking for some good SW fun, they can be overlooked.

First, the good: the storyline is simply awesome. Kyle Katarn progresses as a character very well in this game, aided by the cinematic cutscenes that feel like part of the SW movies. These cutscenes, in fact, made me fall in love with Kyle's character, which in Dark Forces was a lot like Han Solo but now is more like a rogue-ish, bad-... Jedi. Many of the other characters, a la the Dark Jedi, are also enjoyable.

Also, in terms of gameplay, the choice between the light side and the dark side is a great idea, and it's a lot of fun to make the choice. The levels are well-done, and the enemies, while lacking somewhat in AI, are well-balanced. They are true to the Star Wars universe but still vary in difficulting, and there is still that one enemy you just HATE--for me it was the dianogas in Dark Forces, and the Mailocs in Jedi Knight.

There are several problems with this game, however. First off, it just doesn't feel entirely true to the Star Wars universe. The Valley of the Jedi idea feels essentially like a spiritual superweapon, but a superweapon that seems to extend beyond the realm of Star Wars. The bowcaster and thermal detonator (which is more like a bomb in ROTJ) aren't true to the movies, either. And some of the Force powers are from the movie, but some are not, and there are some form the movie that aren't included in this game (like Obi-wan's distraction). I especially had a problem with the invisibility-inducing Persuasion, which is supposed to way of implementing the Jedi Mind Trick, expect that it should only work on the weak-minded, not Kyle, Dark Jedi, or against other players in multi-player. Lightning never worked very well for me either. In short, the Force powers were a good idea but could have been implemented better. Same for the lightsaber, which I really only used when fighting the Dark Jedi.

My biggest problem, though, is the engine. This was a period in gaming when the Quak engine was big, mostly because from a programmer standpoint you could do things that were impossible before like true 3D maps and fluid moving characters as opposed to cartoon sprites (if that means anything to any of you). The result, however, was that in those early days of blatantly pixeled characters the environments didn't look very realistic. It is pretty clear Kyle Katarn and his enemies are crafted from polygons. The original Dark Forces looks more realistic in terms of screen shots than Jedi Knight.

These problems shouldn't deter you from buying this game, though. This is a great game, with an excellently scripted single-player and a really good multi-player platform.

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: Okay, let me start off by saying that I do love this game. When it came out it was a landmark in terms of moving SW gaming in a good direction. There are some big problems with it, but if you're looking for some good SW fun, they can be overlooked.

First, the good: the storyline is simply awesome. Kyle Katarn progresses as a character very well in this game, aided by the cinematic cutscenes that feel like part of the SW movies. These cutscenes, in fact, made me fall in love with Kyle's character, which in Dark Forces was a lot like Han Solo but now is more like a rogue-ish, bad-... Jedi. Many of the other characters, a la the Dark Jedi, are also enjoyable.

Also, in terms of gameplay, the choice between the light side and the dark side is a great idea, and it's a lot of fun to make the choice. The levels are well-done, and the enemies, while lacking somewhat in AI, are well-balanced. They are true to the Star Wars universe but still vary in difficulting, and there is still that one enemy you just HATE--for me it was the dianogas in Dark Forces, and the Mailocs in Jedi Knight.

There are several problems with this game, however. First off, it just doesn't feel entirely true to the Star Wars universe. The Valley of the Jedi idea feels essentially like a spiritual superweapon, but a superweapon that seems to extend beyond the realm of Star Wars. The bowcaster and thermal detonator (which is more like a bomb in ROTJ) aren't true to the movies, either. And some of the Force powers are from the movie, but some are not, and there are some form the movie that aren't included in this game (like Obi-wan's distraction). I especially had a problem with the invisibility-inducing Persuasion, which is supposed to way of implementing the Jedi Mind Trick, expect that it should only work on the weak-minded, not Kyle, Dark Jedi, or against other players in multi-player. Lightning never worked very well for me either. In short, the Force powers were a good idea but could have been implemented better. Same for the lightsaber, which I really only used when fighting the Dark Jedi.

My biggest problem, though, is the engine. This was a period in gaming when the Quak engine was big, mostly because from a programmer standpoint you could do things that were impossible before like true 3D maps and fluid moving characters as opposed to cartoon sprites (if that means anything to any of you). The result, however, was that in those early days of blatantly pixeled characters the environments didn't look very realistic. It is pretty clear Kyle Katarn and his enemies are crafted from polygons. The original Dark Forces looks more realistic in terms of screen shots than Jedi Knight.

These problems shouldn't deter you from buying this game, though. This is a great game, with an excellently scripted single-player and a really good multi-player platform.

Rating:
Summary: It's true, I can't handle the Force!!!
Review: Owners of low level Pentiums (200 mhz and less), dissatisfied with the performance of such new games as "Half-life" and "Rainbow-6" on their antiquated systems should get LucasArt's "Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight". The sequel to the classic Star Wars game, "Dark Forces", JK offers more than improved graphics and sound reflecting hardware advances since the mid-90's. With its more realized worlds, fleshed out charachters and complex puzzles, playing the newer game feels like watching a new Star Wars movie that doesn't...well...dissappoint. And because of the improved gameplay, as opposed to special FX which change little from movie-to-movie, the experience is even more palpable.

In JK, you become Kyle Katarn once again - the freebooting soldier of fortune. Out to find his father's killer, Kyle crosses paths with an army of dark jedi marshalled by the Evil Jerec. Cruising the galaxy in the typical miles-long Star Destroyer, and flanked by an endless army of stormtroopers, Jerec searches for the fabled "Valley of the Jedi", a burial ground holding the force energy of countless Jedi. Were he reach this sacred battleground, warns the spirit of a departed jedi, "the eradication of an entire star system, in a whisper, would be within his power!" Revenge is forgotten and galactic salvation takes priority. Along the way, Kyle will learn the ways of the jedi - to make super jumps, high-speed dashes, or grab guns from his enemies. But every Jedi faces challenges as he grows in power, and the game allows Kyle the choice of eradicating the dark side...or succumbing to it.

JK has a much tighter plot than DF, keeping the action within a smaller number of worlds and locations, with a much more linear progression. Gameplay is also improved in that, for a first-person shooter style game, the body movements are much more natural. The up-down and sideways head movements, separately coordinated in the older game, are easily managed with a single mouse control. While the rigid head-movements tended to give players of the old game car-sickness, players of the newer game can leave their Dramamine in the medicine cabinet. The levels are mostly diverse and the John Williams score keeps things hopping. Star Wars devotees may even remember which of the movies' scenes go with which music.

Non-fanatics need not go hungry, as the game supports a seeming ocean of add-on levels produced by game enthusiasts. While most of these internet-downloadable levels add on the Star Wars theme, others, called Total Conversions, or TC's, restructure the game to recreate anything from Star Trek to 007. Parts of JK itself seem to recall other movies. The occupied city of Baron's Hed recalls pre-WW2 Cairo from "Raiders" (outgunned swordsman, not included), while Indiana Jones would've felt at home in the darkened tunnels of a Jedi Temple towrds the endo of the game. In another level, Kyle must escape from a towering Dark Jedi fortress by creeping through vents, jumping through elevator shafts and crawling around very narow ledges, all faster than you can say "yipee-kay-yee you fuzzy nerf-herders!!"

That said, the game is not without cons. AI is pretty spotty - with storm troopers running for cover once they've lost their blasters. As in the movies, the troopers fall like flies while commandos seem more duarable without all that armor, and have a much better aim. The biggest dissappontment is the game's biggest selling point - mano-a-mano using lightsabers. In the films, saber duels represented the epitome of brute force and choreography. Technology hasn't reached the stage where such a myriad of body movements can be represented in software, and the combatants in JK seem to hop around like crazed monkeys until, inexplicably, one of the chimps wins out. Inevitably, the game climaxes on just such a duel against Jerec himself.

Until then however, JK is compelling and downright fun. Replay value is high given the complexity of each level. I downloaded the demo in 97' and played it almost non-stop for 2 years before getting the full game. (Custom levels won't work with the demo or the SE version that comes with repackaged editions of the original DF) This edition comes with "Mysteries of the Sith", offering added missions and improved graphics over JK, but still requiring the older game to run. You won't be dissappointed, and you'll give that old pre-Celeron system a new lease on life.

Rating:
Summary: It's true, I can't handle the Force!!!
Review: Owners of low level Pentiums (200 mhz and less), dissatisfied with the performance of such new games as "Half-life" and "Rainbow-6" on their antiquated systems should get LucasArt's "Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight". The sequel to the classic Star Wars game, "Dark Forces", JK offers more than improved graphics and sound reflecting hardware advances since the mid-90's. With its more realized worlds, fleshed out charachters and complex puzzles, playing the newer game feels like watching a new Star Wars movie that doesn't...well...dissappoint. And because of the improved gameplay, as opposed to special FX which change little from movie-to-movie, the experience is even more palpable.

In JK, you become Kyle Katarn once again - the freebooting soldier of fortune. Out to find his father's killer, Kyle crosses paths with an army of dark jedi marshalled by the Evil Jerec. Cruising the galaxy in the typical miles-long Star Destroyer, and flanked by an endless army of stormtroopers, Jerec searches for the fabled "Valley of the Jedi", a burial ground holding the force energy of countless Jedi. Were he reach this sacred battleground, warns the spirit of a departed jedi, "the eradication of an entire star system, in a whisper, would be within his power!" Revenge is forgotten and galactic salvation takes priority. Along the way, Kyle will learn the ways of the jedi - to make super jumps, high-speed dashes, or grab guns from his enemies. But every Jedi faces challenges as he grows in power, and the game allows Kyle the choice of eradicating the dark side...or succumbing to it.

JK has a much tighter plot than DF, keeping the action within a smaller number of worlds and locations, with a much more linear progression. Gameplay is also improved in that, for a first-person shooter style game, the body movements are much more natural. The up-down and sideways head movements, separately coordinated in the older game, are easily managed with a single mouse control. While the rigid head-movements tended to give players of the old game car-sickness, players of the newer game can leave their Dramamine in the medicine cabinet. The levels are mostly diverse and the John Williams score keeps things hopping. Star Wars devotees may even remember which of the movies' scenes go with which music.

Non-fanatics need not go hungry, as the game supports a seeming ocean of add-on levels produced by game enthusiasts. While most of these internet-downloadable levels add on the Star Wars theme, others, called Total Conversions, or TC's, restructure the game to recreate anything from Star Trek to 007. Parts of JK itself seem to recall other movies. The occupied city of Baron's Hed recalls pre-WW2 Cairo from "Raiders" (outgunned swordsman, not included), while Indiana Jones would've felt at home in the darkened tunnels of a Jedi Temple towrds the endo of the game. In another level, Kyle must escape from a towering Dark Jedi fortress by creeping through vents, jumping through elevator shafts and crawling around very narow ledges, all faster than you can say "yipee-kay-yee you fuzzy nerf-herders!!"

That said, the game is not without cons. AI is pretty spotty - with storm troopers running for cover once they've lost their blasters. As in the movies, the troopers fall like flies while commandos seem more duarable without all that armor, and have a much better aim. The biggest dissappontment is the game's biggest selling point - mano-a-mano using lightsabers. In the films, saber duels represented the epitome of brute force and choreography. Technology hasn't reached the stage where such a myriad of body movements can be represented in software, and the combatants in JK seem to hop around like crazed monkeys until, inexplicably, one of the chimps wins out. Inevitably, the game climaxes on just such a duel against Jerec himself.

Until then however, JK is compelling and downright fun. Replay value is high given the complexity of each level. I downloaded the demo in 97' and played it almost non-stop for 2 years before getting the full game. (Custom levels won't work with the demo or the SE version that comes with repackaged editions of the original DF) This edition comes with "Mysteries of the Sith", offering added missions and improved graphics over JK, but still requiring the older game to run. You won't be dissappointed, and you'll give that old pre-Celeron system a new lease on life.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Forces 2 Good, Mysteries of Sith Bad
Review: The Dark Forces may be the best first-person action video game, but it gets Marred by MOS. It was too easy to kill myself in MOS simply by force jumping. I died a hundred times because there was something overhead when I jumped. Once I died because I jumped straight up, but took damage from the fall. Another time I was on this ledge and couldn't get back up--every time I jumped, I would bounce off the wall and die. When I went to several web sites to get help on how to get off that ledge, the best that I could find was 'it is tricky' to get off the ledge. After dying several hundred times I got bored and quit. I've never gone back.

Rating:
Summary: ok
Review: the games story line is great...exciting and full of action but the game has its pros and cons...first off the graphics pretty much suck...for the time it was made the graphics were awesome but now they are funny...second off the force powers get stupid sometimes...the AI sucks and its too easy to fool them by just using mind trick, its easier just to use mind trick over and over again to finish the levels. But like i said for the time it was made in...its a good game and fun to play but once again...the graphics...SUCK

Rating:
Summary: use the force
Review: the grghics are good the filmclips are cool. you get to use a lightsaber its like doom with a story line and one more thing a morality scale you must do good to have light side powers but if you want to go crazy you can use dark side powers. motsit better in one way no morality scale and just as fun.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent buy!
Review: The thing that's realy great about this set is that you get three CDs worth of games. You get the original Dark Forces II game that has quite a bit of gameplay, PLUS the Mysteries of the Sith game that is almost as long as Jedi Knight. For the price you get a LOT of playing time.

Jedi Knight follows the path of Kyle Katarn, an ex-Imperial soldier turned rebel. His father was murdered and as the game progresses you learn the truth about your family and learn the ways of the force.

One of the interesting twists of Jedi Knight is that your alignment towards the dark side or the light side is determined by how many innocent people you kill or by certain moral decisions you make as the game progresses. You shape your own destiny and at the end of it all your decisions determine how the story turns out.

On the second game, Mysteries of the Sith, you primarialy play Mara Jade... although you also spend time in Kyle Katarn's shoes once again. Much likes its predecessor you find yourself once again going against the Empire before they destroy a Rebel base and ruin all hope the Rebellion has against defeating the Imperial forces. From there you embark on a search to find the lost Kyle Katarn and find your way through an amazingly twisted and trap ridden Sith Temple.

The thing that sets these games apart from most first person shooters is that you do more than run around and kill things. You have to make moral decisions, solve puzzles, and use tactics to your advantage. By the first hour or so of gameplay you'll easily lose yourself.

And finally, as an extra special bonus there is a hidden level on the Mysteries of the Sith CD of Cloud City that allows you to follow in Luke's footsteps from Empire strikes Back.

Rating:
Summary: Don't just play Star Wars, Live It!
Review: There are few games inspired by movies that capture the feel of those movies as well as Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight has. It isn't any one thing that does it, be it the music, the graphics, the characters or the sound effects, that draw the player so completely into the game until all senses are immersed in the environment, but rather they all combine so perfectly that Jedi Knight accomplishes just that. If I had anything approaching a complaint it might be that those 20 levels go by awfully fast.

The player assumes the role of and control of Kyle Katarn, a former Imperial agent who turned against the Empire to help the Rebellion against the fearsome new Dark Trooper project. Now, it's five years later and the Empire has been defeated, but Katarn hasn't been sitting on his laurels, this time it's personal. Kyle's father, Morgan, has been murdered and a disk he had made for Kyle has been stolen by Jerrik, the sinister leader of cabal of Dark Jedi whom he is leading with the aid of a faction of Imperial soldiers, to find a world upon which thousands of Jedi fought a battle centuries earlier and their souls are now trapped there. It is Jerrk's plan to tap that power for himself, a transformation that may spell doom for the fledgling New Republic.

The game starts with Kyle escaping from a death trap on the moon of Nar Shadda, laid by the mercenary droid 8T-88 whom he must find in order to retrieve the lost disk. As Kyle you must fight your way trough legions of blaster-toting and thermal detonator throwing grans and quick, trigger happy rodians in order to achieve your objectives. Running, ducking and a fine sense of balance are needed to make your way through the first three Nar Shadda levels and once the disk has been found, Kyle must escape Imperial reenforcements with the help of his best friend, Jan Ors, (played by the stunning Angela Harrie). It is after the escape that Kyle has his first vision, a visitation by the Jedi Knight Qu Rahn (Benoit Gregory), who tells him of Jerrik's evil plan and encourages Kyle to become a Jedi.

From Nara Shadda its off to Kyle's home planet of Sulon, an agroworld where he must find the old family robot, WeeGee, who can play the encrypted disk. Kyle also receives Rahn's lightsaber and before long his destiny is set. The way LucasArts handled the application of Jedi powers is brilliant, as is their ease of use. Players gain 'stars' by finding secret areas, these stars are then applied to an ever increasing selection of neutral Jedi abilities (Super speed, Force Jump, Force Seeing and Force Pull). After these are mastered, the player has the option to become either a Light or Dark Jedi with corresponding powers. While the Dark Side powers are nice and flashy, they are not nearly as useful as the Light Side abilties.

Light Side powers include: Force Blinding that you can use to dazzle opponents so they miss you with their shots, Force Protection, a literal force field that resists all damage, Force Persuasion that allows you sneak in unnoticed, and Force Absorption which allows the player to absorb the Dark Side energies wielded against you, and finally Force Heal, which heals damage. Dark Side powers include: The Grip which lets you crush people, Force Throw that allows you to hurl large objects at your foes, Deadly Sight, which immolates your enemies and Force Destruction, which hurls a bolt of powerful energy at your opponents.

From Kyle's home on Sulon it's off to the city of Baron's Hed where Kyle must now go in order to learn the location of the Lost Valley of the Jedi. It is also here that he must battle the first of the Dark Jedi, a young man named Yun who is all to eager to please his dark master. From there Kyle makes his way onboard a freighter bound for the planet with the Valley and where he must also battle Gorc and Pic-dark twins of the Force. And again LucasArts must be praised for sheer perfection with which the excuted lightsaber dueling in a first person view game. Players can parry attacks while performing slick and flashy maneuvers on their own.

I won't reveal any more of what happens through out the game to those people who may have not yet had a chance to play this classic. I think one of the several reasons why this game is so memorable are the live action cut scenes, (which were the first Star Wars footage shot in almost fifteen years). Kyle is handsome and dashing, Jan Ors is beautiful and witty, and the other characters like Rahn, Jerrik and his henchmen Maw, Boc, the beautiful and deadly Sariss all go a long way to immerse the player in the finest first person shooter I have ever played. I still find enjoyment in this title, even though it is four years old and starting to look dated, the game still holds my attention. Of the Star Wars games released to date, this is by far the most superior, engrossing and ultimately rewarding of the lot.