STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Combining a First Person Shooter set in the star wars universe with a light RPG elements and character customization for the path of the force that you choose and adding to the mix live action cutscenes and a dynamic story-line which outcome depends on your choices in game. Can it get any better? Yes, it can, because we get lightsabers, the ability to deflect lasers with them and one-hit most enemies if we manage to just get close enough to hem with our lightsabers, the addon Mystery of the SIth improves the game play further, adds the popular extended universe character Mara Jade as a playable character.Both vanilla and add-on feature as well a brilliant multiplayer mode which makes quake looking slow in comparison thanks the force powers which can increase your characters acrobat skills right onto the level of a full powered Yoda or give you destructive powers on pair to the Emperor. And it you choice with path you go and which skills you prefer to improve. A really outstanding game with outstanding single-player, multiplayer and even fantastic mods. The only shame is that the official multiplayer lobbies and servers are down for many years, even when there are still some community driven projects and naturally as old school game there is lan support and private server hosting options anyway.

After completing Dark Forces 1 (DF1) on the Deck, also happy to report that, this version of Dark Forces (DF2), after control mapping, also runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck at 60FPS! At the time of the review, currently at the last level, and it was a delight playing it on the Deck - and soon will try out the MotS expansion - for which will also publish a how-to run it. However, for the moment, would like to highlight both the weaknesses and strengths of the game: Strengths: ● SW atmosphere still present (despite the dated graphics). ● Light saber addition and the basic skills tree/choices allows a new SW immersion level. ● Like DF1, the story flow feels natural and consistent. Weakness: ● Aged graphics sometimes don't fare that well. ● Level bosses are, at best, just ok and at worst repetitive... sometimes they brake the story flow. ● Jedi powers usage are rarely needed to in order to progress, more of a nice-to-have. Overall, if you enjoyed DF1, then DF2 its a sequel worth playing! If DF1 was not your cup of tea, then its unlikely that the improvements of DF2 will change your mind.

It's great to finally see Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the Sith get a proper modern treatment to work on newer machines. I have played through both JK and MOTS and they play perfectly. However, I noticed that after cutscenes play and when a level loads up that the screen becomes distorted (to the point I have to reboot the cpu). I noticed the problem only seems to occur when I had the 3D acceleration on in the settings (maybe it's just my video card). Neverless, aside from that minor detail this is the best version of this game and its expansion that is currently for digital distribution. The GOG team must have put a lot of effort into getting this right (please pay attention Steam). As for the game itself, it has been a favorite of mine since the late 1990's. It was also a blast to download user levels/mods to expand upon the Lucasarts material. Even without any modifications this game is still great on its own. A must have for Star Wars fans and action gamers alike!

For me, the game isn't really playable. By default, the game opens with a tiny view and the colors are missing (they look like film negatives). Turning on hardware accelleration results in a black screen regardless of view size selected. This is one of my all-time favorite games. Unfortunately, for me, its unplayable.

I'm currently replaying this after several years. Oh man is it awesome! Sure, there's some goofiness to it, but it's well worth the price. The only thing that could make it better would be the Mysteries of the Sith add-on