Star Wars™: Jedi Knight™ II - Jedi Outcast™

Before anything, a definite must have for series fans. If you like Star Wars, you'll find a lot to like here. Coming at it purly on the merits of it's design, it's a real slog for the first half. The shooting is average, but it's all you'll be doing for the first couple hours. Even after getting your saber it'll be another hour or so until your moveset feels strong enough to rely soley on. The game's a real tease like that. The very first level after getting your saber is filled with snipers that you cannot deflect, for example. The duels against the dark jedi are peerless, though. Some of the best feeling lightsaber fights in gaming, which comes at a cost. The floaty physics feel great for fighting and not great for the platforming that will be thrown at you. Quicksave early and often, as bottomless pits are everywhere. To the game's credit, it avoids a lot of poor design choices made by many early '00 games. The levels may make you scratch your head from time to time, but are never labyrinthian (though it can be tough to tell what is interactable). Enemies progress along a similar curve to you in power to where they never feel hatefully designed. By the end you'll be equally as deadly and powerful. I know it's not a great selling point to say if you can make it 'X' amount of time it'll be fun, but if you can make it to the half-way point (Bespin), you will be in for a good time. There's also no shame in just skipping to there anyway if it's too much of a drag. The story's not exactly good or deep, but at least it's not as 'fan fictiony' feeling as Extended Universe narratives can get. Besides, what more reason does anyone need in an action game than "There's some evil jedi, go be awesome"?

My favourite lightsaber game. Loved this game twenty years ago when it was released, and loving replaying it now!

If you ask me, this is peak Star Wars action adventure. Great characters, good writing, good action (if a bit slow to ramp up), super interesting levels, feels fresh and true to the franchise at the same time. Loved it as a kid, love it today. An absolute gem.

If you always wanted to fight your way through enemies with a lightsaber then this is the game for you. Spent many unforgettable hours as a force user in this game.

I loved Jedi Academy back when it came out, but I had never played Jedi Outcast until now. I got Jedi Outcast because everyone says it is the better title, with the same mechanics but a better story and gameplay. I don't understand how anyone can feel that way. The combat system is incredibly dated and feels about as tactical as the original DOOM. The gunplay you are forced to endure is awful, with inaccurate weapons, no cover system, and enemy AI that just runs around from side to side to dodge your already inaccurate shots. Skill and tactics are irrelevant; the combat situations you are put into are inherently unfair, so the key to survival is just to manage your health power ups and keep your shields and ammo topped up whenever possible. Worse than the combat is the level design. The missions take place on a succession of bases, which consist of endless mazes of corridors that meet in near-identical rooms. Progress requires you to solve puzzles, some of which make sense and some of which are utterly illogical. There are no hints, and the game's design language isn't consistent, so there is no indication of what you need to shoot, what you can open, what consoles you can activate to get to the next piece of the level. It's just a clickfest of trial and error until you manage to stumble upon the solution, usually after you've fallen to your death or been burned alive numerous times in the attempt. All in all, this never feels like a Jedi simulation. It's just 1990s FPS mechanics dressed up in a Star Wars skin. If your idea of fun is dying and reloading constantly until you get it right, and having to look up walkthroughs on the web to discover where to go next, this game is for you. I will say that the game runs well, and the engine works great on modern 16:9 and even ultrawide displays with just a few config file entries. So if you're an old-school fan of the game and want to relive it on a modern system, it definitely will satisfy that. Just don't go into it sight unseen and expect a satisfying Jedi simulator; skip this and go for the far superior sequel.