Gaming Target - Xbox: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Written by Leigh Culpin on August 28, 2003

First Impressions: The force is strong with this oneЕ

With the recent release of Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars fans everywhere have been having a heyday with all of the in-depth RPG action. KOTOR is an incredible game after all. There's just one thing about it that may not satisfy some - while there is plenty of cool action, you don't really have the ability to assert as much influence in the midst of a battle as you might like, being that KOTOR is an RPG. Well, for all of those wanting dual lightsaber force-wielding fun, enter Jedi Academy.

Raven's latest entry with the Quake 3 engine finds the player being given some RPG options with actual real-time combatЕ while it's not an RPG to the extent of Deus Ex necessarily, it is a first person (though as is customary for the series, third person is available to make those lightsaber battles all the more amazing) RPG in the sense that you get to customize the look of your character (race, sex, clothing, head, etc), his or her powers (while certain neutral powers are automatically awarded the player gets to pick light or dark powers), the look of their lightsaber (hilt design as well as colour) and all of the missions are non-linear, which is beginning to thankfully become a standard practice in the gaming world.

Now, while all of these elements will certainly make for some in-depth character creating fun, the real enjoy will come out of the combat - take one part Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, one part KOTOR and one part sweetness and you get the fighting formula for Jedi Academy. There aren't an amazingly wide variety of weapons available when compared with JK2, but you can wield not one, but two lightsabers should you so choose, not to mention a single double bladed staff. And best of all, it's truly real time, incorporating JK's approach to combat - there are different fighting styles available (light, medium and heavy), each with it's own strength, weaknesses and distinctive moves, and the direction of the swing and the direction the player is moving are the deciding factors on the actual swing type itself, giving the player complete control. Add lots of kickass force powers (the ever-so-fun Force Grip from JK2 is making a return, allowing you to pick up some poor schmuck by the neck with the force, floating him above the ground, which then allows you to chuck him off a cliff or smash him into a wall) and you have a winning formula which should answer the wanting cries of Star Wars fans everywhere.

As far as plot is concerned, the main character is a student of Kyle Katarn (the main character in the previous Jedi Knight games), and will be able to do the various missions he or she is presented with in whatever order the player chooses. Naturally the Sith are involved (they always are nowadays) as is the Empire, but the time frame is one such that the player gets to play along during the attack on the Rebel Base on Hoth which takes place during The Empire Strikes back, which means encounters with the likes of the characters from the original movies are far from out of the question. In fact, at one point you'll have to team up with Chewie for a time in a quest to save the Millenium Falcon.

Naturally Raven didn't forget about multiplayer, and thus there are a variety of Live-supporting game modes, including your basic Deathmatch and CTF as well as special lightsaber duels which will make for some pretty hardcore replay value as well as a great incentive to get some system link parties going with your friends. As one would expect with the engine bot support is also included in the event that you don't have Live for some silly reason or you just feel like some free kills.

Unfortunately you are forced to choose between the dark and light sides of the force, unlike Mysteries of the Sith (which let you collect and use any and all force powers regardless of light or dark orientation), which will certainly encourage replay but at the same time may turn off some players. Nevertheless, such a developers decision is important in that it increases the length and complexity of the game, since the game itself will play differently depending on who you side with. Then again, there isn't much of a choice with powers so cool as GripЕ

The game uses a heavily modded version of the Quake 3 Arena engine (which one would associate with Raven anyways, having made such games as both Elite Forces which used the same engine), but looking at it you wouldn't know it - the graphics will surely be a spectacle to behold and seem to do an excellent job of giving you that movie-like quality as you travel throughout the Star Wars universe. Look forward especially to the epic lightsaber and force combat battles, both for visual and audio-based excitement.