STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

I have to be honest here and give some critical feedback. The original version of Jedi Knight has been plagued by modern systems' inability to render the game's 3dFX graphics and the hassles of playing music and cutscenes from a CD in an optical drive. I bought this in the hopes that all such problems would be resolved, and they were, but new problems emerged. To make the game run at 16:9 resolutions, instead of the field of view being appropriately widened horizontally, it has been shrunk vertically. The game runs cropped, so you are actually seeing less than in the original game that runs in 4:3. Also I have not discovered a way to play the game in windowed mode to account for the FOV which is too small for a 22" display in desktop configuration, like I used to do with the original game. I had to crank down the ingame screen size to make the FOV suitable for my eyes at my viewing distance. People need to understand that FOV is not a preference, it's a geometric calculation based on the size of the screen and the screen's distance from the eyes. That's why PC games default to 90°, and console games default to 60°. The game is great and runs smoothly. But if I can't have the game in HD resolutions without cropping it, then I say the HD resolution needs to go. Seeing more is better than seeing less, even if it means playing with black bars on the sides.

A sequel to the original Dark Forces, a game reminiscient of Doom, Jedi Knight is a clever and enjoyable adaptation of the Star Wars license for a shooting game, incorporating force powers and lightsaber combat into the original run and gun mix. Using a full 3D engine, this game feels much different to it's predecesor, but telling a more interesting and personal story from the perspective of it's protagonist and having far more interesting and intricate levels, JK:DFII is both an appropriate sequel and a very different game in it's own right. Looking at it as an FPS, JKII is reasonably competent with a good variety of weapons and opponents, some recognizable from the universe, with others being unique without feeling out of place. The lightsaber weapon is a lot of fun to use, but nodding to the game's genre you can't rely on it all the time and can be a bit tricky to use defensively. Boss fights with other force users are infrequent and reasonably enjoyable, but don't feel like an epic clash from the films. What makes the game feel distinctive is it's completely off the wall level design, due to its scale and fondness for extreme platforming. When you have learnt more advanced force powers, the game makes great use of force jumping to have you hurdle over enormous hydroelectric dams, on the edges of cliffs and caverns, over the gaps between buildings and around imperial fortifications and towers. The scale in some levels can be almost dizzying when outside. Most other force powers fit the lore of the series; and having the ability to push foes off of cliffs or mind trick stormtroopers into in-fighting adds a really enjoyable dimension to the game. All up this is a strange one. It feels very distinct from other games in it's genre, for better or worse, and it's graphics and gameplay are definitely showing their age. But it stands as a competent entry in the series, and a faithful use of the license to make a unique feeling product.

I am running windows 10. I just fired up the game and played well into it without any type of patches, and it worked PERFECTLY!

This game pushed so many gameplay boundaries, it's astonishing how quickly people forgot about it. It was especially jarring when everyone raved about the more modern Jedi Knight - a game that simply lifted everything from Dark Forces 2 and gave it a lick of paint. But what Raven didn't lift was the sense of a living breathing world - in DF2, you encounter civilians going about their normal business and you can have fun tormenting them with your force powers. Jedi Knight only populated its worlds with enemies and therefore it felt empty and lacking soul. The story also felt so much more engaging thanks to the live-acted cinematics. Yes the acting was atrocious - but it was still really enjoyable to watch and carried the characterisation very well - a whole lot better than emotionless game models. Others have already talked about the brilliant game and level design. The fact you can switch between FPS gun battles to 3rd person Light Sabre. Etcetera. But the sound effects and voice-over acting and narration is still to this day superb. If any game deserved a dedicated big-budget faithful remake, it is this one.

...and with a little tool called dgVoodoo 2 I even got 3D Acceleration working, making textures appear much smoother. The game still requires a bit of fiddling to get it feeling ‘just right’, but the fact that we have a working version of Jedi Knight for modern OSs is something of a miracle considering this game’s notoriously finicky nature. As for the game itself, it’s both a classic FPS, and a classic Star Wars game. The developers simply nailed the Star Wars atmosphere, which permeates every inch of this game. The visuals are of course very dated, but the low poly models have a charm to them, and sometimes look like Picasso’s take on the setting. The sound and music are simply lifted from the films, but along with the excellent voice acting help elevate the game’s presentation. The FMV videos are campy, fun, and drive the narrative. The story won’t win any awards, but it’s entertaining in that classic Star Wars vein and aides in immersion. The shooting mechanics don’t feel as smooth as say Doom or Blood, but they get the job done. Spicing things up are the inclusion of the lightsaber and force powers, and I had a lot of fun zooming around the huge levels with Force Speed. Speaking of which, the real standout here is the level design. The levels aren’t as labyrinthian as those in Dark Forces, and they’re a bit more linear, but both of changes are for the better in my opinion. The levels still offer a lot of hard to reach secrets, and you’re incentivized to find them to increase your force powers. The sense of scale in the levels is fantastic, with most having tons of verticality. This is simply a must play for Star Wars fans, and even just old school shooter fans in general. Just know that it may take a bit of tinkering to work properly.