Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy(IMG:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2003/all/boxshots2/914575.jpg)
TITLE: Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
PUBLISHER: LucasArts
DEVELOPER: Raven Software
DATE RELEASED: November 18, 2003
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1-2
XBOX SYSTEM LINK: yes, 2-16 players
XBOX LIVE COMPATABLE: yes, 2- 16 players
HDTV Support: 480p
5.1 Surround Sound: yes
GENRE: Action
PLATFORM: XBOX, PC
ESRB: Teen: Violence
Retail Price: $49.99
(IMG:
http://img.gamershell.com/imagefolio/gallery/FPS/Jedi_Academy/melee10.jpg)
If your like me, then when you first hear a new game come out by LucasArts......you dont get too excited. Outcast, to me, bombed out. You didn't get enough light saber action. Then Indiana Jones : The Emporer's Tomb was a cheap "wannabe" rip-off of tomb raider. I mean the last good game I can remember coming from LucasArts was Luftwaffe.....man that game owned............in it's day.
Well unlike the many failures of LucasArts (remember , failures in my eyes) Star Wars : Jedi Academy hits the nail on the head with Star Wars action. Finally a game based on the Jedi/light saber itself. But most of the fun lies within Multiplayer, not in single player campaign.
Sinlge Player 5/10
Sinlge player is based upon the struggles of good vs. evil. (of course). You are a jedi named Jadon. You do not necessarily have a set look. You can choose from Different races, clothes, boots, and u can customize your light saber. You begin with a standard saber. Throughout the campaign you can learn new abilites whether it is dark or light is up to you. Different forces such as pull, sense and push can help you through levels, where as other forces like Grip, Lightning and Drain, may help you get through enemies.
The game starts off rather interesting. You fight mostly mecenaries and other "scum" which use Guns. LOL by the way. You will rarely use Guns in this game, you will only want to use the saber itself. Read exactly why Gameplay. Anyhow, you go about tracing the steps of Sith which are planning to take control of the galaxy. The game is fun and stays that way until u reach places around Vaders palace. I admit, it is fun fight Sith but this is all you will fight from then on. And if you played on Jedi Master as I did, it just gets quite annoying. A nice feature in single player is once you get to a certain level in the game you meet up with a traitor from earlier. By deciding whether to slay or show mercy is up to you, but this determines whether you go to the light or dark side. Go light, you fight along side your fellow jedis at the end and defeat "the boss" (dont want to spoil) , go dark, and u must fight both jedis and sith AND "the boss" AND you instructor. YIKES. he is one hard mofo.
Multiplayer 9/10
This is why you buy this game. You can do everything here. Be it Jump off of walls, run on walls , jump 4-5 stories high, throw light sabers...... Whoa, and this is all against fellow gamers. Show who is the best in Dual mode where you fight 1 on 1 in a turn base format, or go at it in a jedi FFA. It is possible to use guns as well here, but isnt worth it. In multiplayer you have the option of having Standard, Dual , and Staff sabers. Each has their own special moves and weaknesses. Master the standard saber and believe me you are unstoppable. The levels in multiplayer are decent. All the dual levels are pretty much small and confined to set the 1 on 1 moods. Others for FFA are like mazes such as in Tatooine and Sith Temple. I wont even mention Capture the Flag because frankly its pointless, boring and oh yeah POINTLESS. Just back and forth scoring, No skill nor tactics involved.
Graphics 7/10
LucasArts certainly didn't make this game shine, they knew how to get it done right. The graphics are not impressive at all ,but they can pass as decent. The one thing that kills the graphics in this game is the sever drop in Framerate, during gameplay....mostly Singleplayer. Again, nothing sharp ,but can pass as decent.
Gameplay 6/10
The fighting style in this game with the sabers is killer. Different special moves with the different types of sabers keeps it fun. cutting off enemies arms and choking them with dark forces and throwing them off a high moutain is also great. One draw back I seem to notice is just how the game registers a hit with the saber. You can see your saber go through your enemies yet they take not damage. Also the saber can be no where close to your enemies yet cause tremdous damage. A little confusing for myself ,but you get used to this and compensate during multiplayer. Replay Value lies within Multiplayer. Also...as I stated before, the guns in the game are boring, lame and pointless to use. First, I don't know if the programmers had some error in writing scrpit, but the crosshair for the guns is off by alot. They placed it far too much to the right, so if using a gun, do not use the crosshairs to aim. LOL. Also it is entireably too hard to aim,shoot and move with the guns it becomes more tiring and sckiening than fun...FAST. truat me, just use the light saber.
Controls 8/10
Plain and simple. Once you pick the controller up and play for about 30 minutes, you will have the controls down for this game. You can assign different forces to unassigned buttons and pull out force combos. Swinging your saber of death has never been easier or more fun. You can either practice holding down swing and rotationg the analog sticks or rotate the stick and perform diff combos as your attack. All people have different strategies.
Sound 3/10
Oh my god is lame. Sound effects are no good, boring, and made at last second?
also the music is just repeating old starwars music that got old a week after Star wars : A New Hope came out. Da. Da, Da, Da. DaDa. Da. Da.....etc.
Final Verdict 6/10
LucasArts got the action in this game right, just not everything fell into place as they had hoped. True other areas are higher scoring, but it isnt enough to save this game. I'd say worth getting if you are a Star Wars buff or play live fighting games all day, but probably just good for a rent.
This post has been edited by DuDeR MaN: Jan 22 2004, 03:07 AM <
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Topic: Star Wars: Jedi Academy (Read 178 times)