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Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (Mac)

Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (Mac)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $19.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: May the force be with you.
Review: This is another great game in the Star Wars series. This is kind of a sequel to Star Wars Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2. Like in Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2, you are the mercenary Kyle Katarn who once knew the ways of the force, but forget them when returning to his mercenary ways. You guide Kyle and his partner Jan through the galaxy attempting to stop an evil Jedi knight named Desann from taking over the galaxy. To defeat Desann you must recall upon the powers of the force. The sequel brings back the force powers and the light saber from the original, but this time they are better. There are more force powers and they are easier to control and use. When you use the light saber in Jedi Outcast it uses a 3rd person perspective instead of keeping the 1st person like it did in the Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2. There's also a new added feature were you can throw the light saber. You also bump into Luke and other characters such as Lando and Mon Mothma. You travel through cities such as Yavin, Nar Shaddaa, and Bespin. There are many grueling light saber duels that you must deal with throughout the game. You even get to use an ATST for a short period of time. The game is length is really amazing. There are something like 22 missions each packed with Storm Trooper killing and evil Jedi knight smashing. I still don't understand how they fit all of this on one 700 MB CD. So get this game and be on your way to fighting evil and risking your life in order to restore peace to the galaxy. Good luck, and may the force be with you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great, now i'm addicted
Review: so far i have gotten through school without getting addicted to a game, but then jedi knight 2 came out. once you get rolling with all the force powers you get in this game you really feel like an unstoppable jedi everything from throwing an enemy off a cliff with the force to running up a wall, flipping over an enemy and slashing him from behind with the lightsaber. must buy!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great game, if you can get it to run
Review: This is a very nice game, or so I think from the screenshots that I have seen, and what I have played at the office. I have my gaming PC at home, but I wasn't wise enought to visit the official site for videocard support before buying. I found it extremely frustrating that this game only works on OpenGl supported cards, (most of the new ones do it) but even then, there are only a very few that are supported by JO. My own card is not that old, (a Banshee) and now is left out of the competition. Do yourself a favor and check if you card will actually run the game before buying. Concerning the game, it is a lovely experience. The graphics are sweet, the plot and scenarios are truly Star Wars and even though the game control is a little hard to learn, you'll come around. Beware of long loading times and...cutscenes. other than that, the game we had been waiting for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: looooong wait to load
Review: Overall the game is very good. But, if you get killed and reload where you saved, you'll be waiting a long time. My system is: Celeron 700mhz., 64mb Radeon video card, 192MB Ram. According to the system requirements, that is more than enough. I will be getting another 128MB of ram to see if that helps.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most "finished" Star Wars Game to date
Review: Those of you who follow the gaming scene will note that Star Wars games of recent times have been, well.. very much lacking. Jedi Knight II changes all of that.

The single player experience in this game is exceptional. Although some of the textures are a bit blocky, the world that the game designers have created truly make you feel like you're in the Star Wars universe.

Now, some people have commented the the graphics are subpar. Jedi Knight II uses the "aging" Quake 3 engine. Sure, other games that have adapted this engine to their games do seem to have higher quality graphics than Jedi Knight II (Medal of Honor comes to mind immediately). However, I can assure you that the gameplay more than makes up for the lack of ground breaking imagery. Moreover, these are the largest Quake3-engine based levels I've seen.

Some of the game's many cutscenes are prerendered. More often than not, though, the story advances using in-engine cutscenes. I've read some of the other reviews on this page that poo-poo this design choice. For me, the scenes are fantastic. High detailed models, almost flawless and well detailed animation, good voice acting, great lighting effects all make the in-engine cutscenes a joy to watch.

Gameplay-wise this game is a breath of fresh air for a first person shooter. With the myriad of force powers at your desposal, you'll feel like you're playing out a scene in a movie each time you enter a room full of Imperial Storm Troopers or scummy Rodians (Greedos).

The Jedi Speed Force Power is of special note. Those who have played Max Payne know of bullet time - a game mechanic that slows the gaming world down and allows you to take better aim and to react the enemies before they can react to you. Jedi Knight II takes this to the next level. Using the "Speed" force power can increase the speed of your character 2 fold. Suddenly a room full of 10 storm troopers becomes a privilege instead of a chore. Opening the door, rushing in, and disarming them (literally) is a gaming treat that nobody should miss. The task at hand moves from "surviving this encounter" to "try to get all ten before the first one hits the ground"

This is a definite contender for FPS of the year, and possibly game of the year depending on how Neverwinter Nights and Dungeon Siege live up to expectations.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Game
Review: I give this game my whole hearted recommendation. Looking through the reviews already posted I just wanted to comment on some of the marks against the game.

1) I think the graphics are far from pedestrian. Sure they arn't Return to Castle Wolfenstein but there still Quake 3 based which makes them among the best looking on the market. The Storm Trooper model is one of the most convincing looking 3D models I've ever seen (take a look at the reflections on the glossy white armor if you don't believe me.)

2) This game is puzzle laden so if you don't want much in terms of cerebral demand for the single-player this isn't for you. However I thought the puzzles were all logical and was never stuck for much more than five minutes. Usually a bit of back tracking and paying a little closer attention to your environment will keep you from getting stuck.

On to my own thoughts:

Pros:

This game has the best melee combat of any shooter ever. The saber fighting is suprisingly deep with controls similar to the various rolls and shoot-dodges from Max Payne. What swing you do depends on three factors: 1) position of your enemy 2) movement key pressed and 3) fighting stance (you start out with a medium stance then earn a quick but weak stance and finally a powerful but slow stance). Combine this with the acrobatics of your force powers and once you get the lightsaber you won't want to use anything else.

A.I. is excellent. Storm Troopers arn't supposed to be this damn smart, there easily as smart as the Half-Life Marine. These buggers will make use of cover and attempt to out flank you. If there Officer or Section-Leader is killed they won't be nearly as organized or as willing to fight. Also at various times throughout the game you'll fight with some A.I. buddies (e.g. Jan Ors, Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker.) These buddies are a far cry from Half-Life's Barney. They never get stuck on terrain, fight smartly and the bad guys never seem to just target either you or your partner.

Finally single-player level design is excellent and multi- is varied and a lot of fun.

Cons:

The only major strike against this game is it starts out rather generically. In the first 5 levels you don't have your force powers or your lightsaber so the combat is not remarkably different from any other shooter. In addition the puzzle design is also pretty generic (find computer code; enter computer code to extend bridge, lower forcefield and unlock door beyond bridge and forcefield.) However once you get past this initial hump the game becomes one of the best shooters I've ever played.

Get this game and if you haven't played the rest of the series get the tin-box version which includes Dark Forces and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: To heck with the single player...
Review: To heck with the single player mode, I'm only in it for the massive lightsaber multiplayer brawls! :) I'm sure the novelty will eventually wear off, but playing CTF with a bunch of saber-swinging, Force-using Jedi is about as cool as seeing Vader and Obi-Wan go at it back in '77! ;)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Force is Strong with This One
Review: First the initial parameters:

1. I am a huge fan of JK1 (so this review may be biased)
2. Running on GeForce2Go Dell laptop
3. Running Windows XP

Pros:

1. Runs right out of the box on my GeForce2Go laptop.
2. The game's graphics- especially the environments are wonderful. Very immersive vistas. I could almost feel the wind.
3. Force powers are much better than original JK1 by deepening its impact. E.g 1st stage of lightsaber throw is simple throw in direction of view. 2nd stage is a steerable lightsaber. 3rd stage of throw is autohoming lightsaber. As you mature in your Force abilities you will be able to do better things with them, not just more of the same as in JK1.
4. Lightsaber fighting system is the most advanced of any so far (compared to JK1, Jedi Power Battles, Phantom Menace, Obiwan). 3 types of fighting styles- from quick and weak to slow and powerful. You learn these during the course of the game (or you can use them immediately in multiplayer mode.)
5. Level designs are excellent. Very 3 dimensional interconnected spaces- providing more than 1 order to solve a problem.
6. Haven't gone thru the whole game yet, but plot line seems pretty compeling.
7. At 1280x1024 frame rates are very high.

Cons:
1. Initial part of the game is a not very different from a standard Quake or Elite Force game, but level designs in JK2 are better.

2. The incessant jumping and puzzle solving starts to get a little dull, if not annoying. The scene with the stompers in Galaxy Quest comes to mind a lot: "why would anyone put these in a starship?!?!"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best FPS I've ever played
Review: I can easily say that SW: JKII is the best first-person shooter I've ever played. Lucasarts and Raven both collaborated to make a gaming masterpiece. With graphics that take your breath away and gameplay that consumes hours upon hours of your time, I have not been disappointed one second of playing. Another great aspect of this game is the challenge. Some first person shooters are just arcade-esque where you just run around killing things, (Don't get me wrong, I like those games as well.) Jedi Knight 2 has such great depth and puzzles involved. So to George Lucas and all those involved with creating this game, I salute you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: best first person star wars shooter...could be better
Review: You've got to play it simply for the fact it's Star Wars. The story line is immersing, and the light saber battling functions are awesome. The levels are bigger and better than in the first Jedi Knight, much more detalied. Lucas Arts took care to add a lot of little goodies like funny banter between stormtroopers, sniper rifle mode, and new force powers like the Jedi Mind trick. Memorable charcters appear for the first time in this verson, unlike in past games where the story lines have focused soley on non-movie characters. But this time around we see Mon Mothma, Lando Calrissian, and Luke Skywalker.

What's bad? Well, I probably wouldn't feel this way had I not just finished playing Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, which I feel is the best first person shooter to date. So I couldn't help comparing the two games. Seeing what the developers were able to do with MOHAA I couldn't help but feel the graphics in Jedi Outcast are a little underdeveloped and blocky. The cut scenes were pretty uncinematic as well. The enemy AI is not what Lucas Arts had promised, though it has it's moments. Could have be a lot better. And my biggest gripe with the game is that it's HARD!! I finally gave up and downloaded a walkthrough and cheats from the net. I found many people on message boards who were having the exact same problmes--in the same areas--as me. When you get to the level with the mine cars you'll know what I'm talking about.

But in the end it is Star Wars, and shooting stormtroopers and Rodians will make anyone's day a whole lot brighter. Worth the money, but be prepared to be a little frustrated at first.


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