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Return to the ways
of the Force
Genre: FPS
Developed by: Raven
Published by: Lucasarts
Things have looked pretty sad for
a long time for Lucasarts. The company
renowned for their innovative and brilliant games (Grim Fandango, Day
of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Outlaws, X-Wing, TIE Fighter,...) was
sliding into a pure merchandising rig, with mediocre titles like Racer
and The Phantom Menace, and even downright bad games like Force Commander.
While things might be looking up now, the fact remains all virtually
all talent has left Lucasarts to go either solo or join other teams.
Example is Tim Schaefer (Grim Fandango). Recent titles released by Lucasarts
remained mediocre (Starfighter). This is not the case for Jedi Outcast.
The sequel to the brilliant Jedi Knight (which was developed
inhouse by Lucasarts) is developed by Raven, one of the companies closely
affiliated to iD.
Both in Dark Forces and Jedi Knight you were Kyle Katarn, a rogue scoundrel
with connections with the Rebellion and the Force. In Jedi Knight, you
could become a real Jedi, with lightsabers and Force powers. From this
view, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast remains faithful to the Jedi Knight
formula. You return as Kyle Katarn, who has distanced himself from the
Force out of fear for falling to the Dark Side, 8 years later. Mon Mathma
is the leader of the peaceful New Republic, and Luke heads the Jedi
Academy on Yavin. By your side is still the fair Jan Ors.
First of, Jedi Outcast is split in a singleplayer part and a multiplayer
part. You can compare it to Return to Castle Wolfenstein's mo. Jedi
Outcast singleplayer initially showed no surprises. The first mission
involves infiltrating an Imperial Remnant (don't those guys ever give
up?) prison facility.
Jedi Outcast uses the Quake 3 engine, and this shows. While you still
have evolved and solid graphics, the brilliance has already been shaven
off this engine. Geometric complexity is relatively low, and the levels
seem a bit empty and dull. The models are decent as well, but again,
they could've been better: lipsyncing and facial animation is not quite
seamless, and general character animation shows some flaws (idle characters
simply stand still as a statue, and don't, say, breathe).
The gameplay also seemed very familiar. It was particularly striking
that the level design was largely inspired on the original: again you
have cold and sometimes chaotic, maze-like tech surroundings. Tadly
illogical puzzles and hard-to-find exits are also back in the picture,
but if you look well and climb any ridge or rim you see, you should
manage fine.
So, based on this first impression, I was slightly disappointed.
But 6 hours later, a stubble beard richer and a social contact poorer,
I was still playing. After more thorough gameplay, Jedi Outcast proved
to get better and better by the minute.
While the first mission might seem a bit dull, it just gets better later.
The level design improves greatly, with the beautiful Jedi Academy at
Yavin and the incredible complexity of Nar-Shadaa. Also, the re-introduction
of your Force powers and you finding your lightsaber really spices up
the game. For real, the game really start after the first two missions.
As I indicated, you still have to sometimes search for an exit, but
with your Force powers, this all seems more fun. Say for example you
have a large room with the stairs embedded in the walls. Force Pull
will allow you to literally pull the stair steps out of the wall. Your
crosshairs will indicate when you need to use a Force power. Force Push
is again very useful against enemies, to swipe them of their feet and
putting them in a position for you to saber him.
Talking about the Force, you will now be immune to the constant danger
of falling prey to the Dark Side. Kyle Katarn, since he uses the Valley
of the Jedi as a source for his Force mastery, is a neutral figure,
perfectly able to combine Dark powers like Force Lightning, and Light
powers, like Mind Trick or Heal. Between you and me, Raven probably
didn't have the time to work on 2 storylines, which is of course understandable.
The story by the way is mostly told through ingame cinematics, which
are quite good, if you ignore the mediocre facials. Some scenes remain
CGI. The story is quite involving, and there are, in the good tradition
of the Quake 3 engine, many scripted events.
Lightsaber action is also evolved. Where in Jedi Knight the lightsaber
was just a fancy club, the lightsaber is far more complex in this game.
First of, lightsaber combat uses 3 stances: light, medium and heavy.
The light stance are short and fast hacks, with the longest chain of
moves possible. Medium is a more generic stance with the ideal balance
between power and speed and heavy involves longer range, powerful swings,
but will leave you quite undefended and very uncovered. What's also
new, is the fact that the saber throw, previously introduced in JK's
datadisk, Mysteries of the Sith, now is the secondary fire mode of the
lightsaber. Another new feature is "locking". If two opponents
perform the exact same manoeuver, a lockup will result. He who most
quickly taps the primary attack button will win, and the other will
be smited to the ground. This feature is really cool and makes you experience
those great duels we saw in the films.
Last thing I'd like to mention concerning lightsabers is that they leave
marks on the walls, even just by touching them. Trust me, these markings
are mouthwatering.
The other weaponry largely resembles the weapons found in Jedi Knight.
Newcomers are the disruptor and the flak cannon. Also fun are the advent
of tripmines and detonation packs, next to the trusted thermal detonators.
Some of the weapons, mostly the disruptor, reminded me of Star Trek's
Voyager's faser cannon. This is probably by chance, since Raven also
used the Quake 3 engine to develop the Voyager FPS.
Finally, let's talk about the AI. This is again pretty decent. Of course,
you can't expect a Stormtrooper to be Green Berets or Commandos, because
this also isn't correct in the Star Wars universe. If you look at it
this way, Jedi Outcast's AI is ok. But even critically, the AI is quite
good: Stormtroopers will swarm intelligently, using flanks and cover,
they will run away if they realize they have no chance, and enemies
seldomly walk in each other's line of fire. The Jedis, who are more
or less level bosses, are also quite tricky, and with the added depth
of the Force, even on "Jedi" difficulty level (Medium) the
game is quite hard.
In short, the singleplayer experience is quite good, with nicely evolved
gameplay, an involving storyline, and some darned excellent moments.
The multiplayer part is surprisingly complex. Being a seperate game,
like in RTCW, i was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Jedi Outcast
has its own match-up interface, like RTCW and Half-Life. The multiplayer
modes include the more common Free For All and Capture the Flag, but
also new modes like Duel and Capture the Ysal-somthing-something (curse
those Star Wars denominations). Duel is simply a restricted 1 vs 1,
where the winner continues playing, and the loser joins other waiting
players into spectating mode. The Ysal-thingy is a variant on Capture
the Flag, but capturing the Ysal-thingamabob will create a Force vacuum,
where no one will be able to use the Force.
For the rest, you can add bots, choose your lightsaber colour and distribute
your Force skills.
A final word about the presentation. I can be short. It's Star Wars.
So expect great music signed by Cliff Bajakian (one of the few talents
loyal to Lucasarts) and John Williams and perfectly mapped sound effects.
The music by the way is contextual, so you can rest assured you'll hear
the thundering Empire theme when encountering an armada of Stormtroopers
and the Skywalker tune when you're duelling or training in the ways
of the Force.
Pros and Cons
+ Star Wars
+ Scripted events
+ Story
+ Improved depth, Force, lightsabers
+ Multiplayer
- Ageing graphics
EP sez:
Jedi Outcast nicely performs as
suspected. Everything that made Jedi Knight a classic, is here, and
is even improved. While it may not be the superproduction with dito
hype like its predecessor, it remains a brilliant Star Wars game that
is purely essential to any Star Wars fan, and certainly good competition
to MOHAA in the FPS genre.
Score:
Gameplay: 8,5
Graphics: 8
Sound & Music: 10
Addictiviness: 9,5
Overall: 87,5%
(c) 2002 Erwin's Pages
Erwin "Reaper" Husin
Links
>
Official JK2 Site
>
Lucasarts
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