Yes, they are Dark Forces 3 and 4, and move from first person to third when you wield a lightsaber. A great move imo. Third person always pulls off badass better. Of the games you mentioned they are probably closer to Blood Rayne. I adored those games for their stupid fun. It is the same reasons I like these two. Academy more so than Outcast.

TinyE made a good point about the combat. You don't have to get too serious about it, but there are so many moments of awesome you can exploit if you do. I just feel it you think too hard you start to notice the flaws, instead of not caring about them. Like most games I guess!

Jedi Knight 2 (and probably 3 too) rocks hard in LAN multiplay, I had a lot of fun with it back then slaying the other guys from my class. :D
One of the best games for a fun LAN party besides Rune and some others that are already here too.

They were made with the quake engine, so that should give you a good idea of the gameplay:) especially outcast(for sniping etc but with lightsabre battles). There are plenty of game demos, both dl and vids about so i'd check those first. You may have to muck about with any dl demo to get them working with newer operating systems(a quick search should tell you how to get said games working with the systems).

Outcast is alvl based story driven game, but older style lvls not the newer run along the line to get to the next cutscene type games. More so jedi outcast than academy. Academy is a bit more mission based and you can sort of pick what order you do some of the the missions in.
Both have some rpg elements with jedi powers and such.

Of the two I would recommmend outcast more than academy. better storyline and gameplay and academy seemed to be more not well done console port.

Also you could consider starting with dark forces 2 as it sets the story up for outcast(not needed but can help here and there). But as I said check a few gameplay demos on youtube and see if you like the look.

Jedi Outcast is definitely the best I think. It's essentially split in 2 parts. The first part, which is roughly (been a long while) a 1/3 of the game, plays as a very solid first person shooter. The 2nd part is when you get your lightsaber&force powers and, if you're a starwars nerd like some/most of us, proceed to play exclusively with them from that point onward from a third person perspective. You don't lose your guns and still pick up ammo, so you could continue playing the game as an fps, but some parts are clearly meant for the lighsaber and the force, like when you have to fight dark jedi.

The lightsaber combat (probably the best here than in any other game save academy) and force power mechanics is where the game really shines, and it is significantly amplified if you're a star wars nerd! Hell, it is so good, it might even turn you into one ;) As you continue the game after obtaining them, your force powers become more potent and you unlock extra light saber fighting styles. In the beginning you can just about force push a single stormtrooper off his feet and deflect blaster fire from one or maximum two stormtroopers. Towards the end though, you become skilled enough to force push several stormtroopers at once across a room or into eachother, pick one up with force choke and drop him down one of those patented star wars ledges with 10 kilometer+ drops, and reflect incoming blaster fire from 10 or more stormtroopers back at them. Not to mention leaping incredible heights, frying dudes with force lightning and force pushing rockets back to their source.
Then of course there is the oh so tasty lightsaber duels which just get more and more spectacular the stronger both parties are with the force. Some of the later fights you are jumping all over the room and attacking your foe (or foes) from any and all angles imaginable, and the final killing blow with a lightsaber (against another lightsaber wielding enemy) is always satisfyingly made slowmo.

The gameplay and story progression is linear, and the huge well thought out levels cover a variety of different locations including military installations, a wide valley where you drive a AT-ST walker, massive industrial type levels, jungles/marshes levels, cloud city, ancient jedi ruins, a city (or the city) on Nar Shaddaa, and of course imperial star destroyers. The levels are incredibly well designed and although you progress linearly through them, they're huge enough to sometimes leave you wondering where to go.

I honestly can't think of any other games to compare it with. The strictly fps part of the game could be compared in terms of quality, I suppose, to almost any good fps game before the call of duty craze. Perhaps one tier below the likes of Half life, unreal and Halo. The 2nd part of the game I feel is unique and very star wars through and through.
If you take out the use of force powers (which is taking out a lot), the lightsaber fighting feels a bit like Rune I suppose. As for length, I can't give you an hour count, but it's a lengthy game for it's genre. If you play nonstop I imagine you might be able to finish it in two days, otherwise if I were to do another playthrough I would expect to play through an entire weekend.

Lastly, there it uses the Quake3 engine and has a solid multiplayer component with bot support, but I never played with anyone else. From what I hear though the deathmatches are incredible.

Sabre combat has to go 3rd person because so much of that depends on positioning. My favorite kill strike involves you being in front of your opponent with your back to him and that's a little tough in 1st person.

Youtube of someone running the tram level. Spoilers, obviously. Not so much tho, Its a decent example of what the game is like.

I always played on Padawan as well because I liked taking the time to badass. Even on Padawan there will be insta-deaths. Stupid flaky platforming.

*Unreal Tournament announcer* IN-IN-IN-IN-IN-INSTABUY!!!!! ;)

Figured they'd eventually show up, and for the (to me) low price of $2.29 each it's a no brainer. Haven't played either in around ten years or more so it'll be great to replay them.

Sorry, Transistor, you and everything else in my backlog will get shoved back yet again. Nothing beats Force asshattery. ;)

Isn't that just one of the best things of the Star Wars universe? All those incredible drops where you know you wouldn't be able to see the bottom regardless of the lighting conditions? I still don't know how Luke survived that fall in episode V. (edit: not IV)

He landed on a decline and slid into it.

*fangirls*

So Memories. Sliding grades? who cares! Lets Jedi some more!
Youtube "How to Lightsaber"

That's how the film portrays it, but he clearly doesn't land that hard. I'm thinking there were massive updrafts in that gigantic chamber which slowed his fall. Otherwise he would've been left with a friction burn even Ben would've felt.

The power of awesome defeating the power of bad writing!

Limitations of film-making of the day. Can you imagine how it would look today? He'd slap against the wall hard, leaving a massive dent. Dust and debris would fly all over. He'd lide out of the cloud of impact, putting all his dislocations back in place as he slid with satisfying, sloppy clicks. Then when he exits the end the antenna would ba far longer, all becomging severely gamaged as he bounced of the protrusions. Swinging from one last piece held precariously in place by hope and a crease. It would give out before the Falcon finds him, but Leah would still be able to swoop in and save him mid-fall. Possibly whole doing a barrel roll, just because.

great games. especially jk2!!