Customer Reviews

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll say right from the outset that I'm not a really huge Star Wars fan, though I did enjoy the films. But I am a first-person-shooter fan going way back to Wolfenstein 3D, and I know my FPSs and I know outstanding level design. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 has some of the best level design and by far the most memorable locations of any FPS I've ever played. Please don't confuse this with graphical splendor. Back in 1997 I was stunned at how good this game looked. Now it's 2005 and I've just now decided to play it again. And while the graphics do look ancient compared to modern games, I cannot describe what a rush it is to visit these old familiar 'places'. The sense of 'place' is so powerful, I felt like I was visiting real places I had actually been to before. It was like re-visiting real places instead of virtual ones. Look folks, if you are a graphics junkie, you've really got no business playing any game older than 3 or 4 years old. But if gameplay is your thing, this is your game. The levels are absolutely VAST. I have never in my life felt such vertigo when playing a game. And that includes all modern ones. As far as inducing vertigo goes, this game has never been challenged. Even Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy don't come close to matching this game's dizzying heights (or vast distances). The 'puzzles' are really quite logical and fit right into the game. Playing an old game like this is akin to watching an old movie. Sure, the technology is old, but the heart is still there, and both old and new can be enjoyed equally if you can accept each on its own terms. Replaying Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 has been a real treat for me. I just can't believe I waited 8 years to do it! Also, for reference, it runs superbly at its highest settings on my Windows XP w/ SP2, Athlon XP 2600+ with 1 gig ram, and an NVidia 6600GT w/ 128 video ram. Using a Logitech optical mouse and am have absolutely no control or video issues. In-game settings: 1600 x 1200 resolution, checked the box for 3D acceleration and turned on every option there is, including entering '32' in the 'Minumum Texture Size' box and checked the box for 'Back Buffer In System Memory'. Also increased view size to just short of maximum. Only problem I'm having is manually saving the game by exiting out to the save menu. When I save the game that way, the game will crash to desktop, but the save DOES work, so I just re-load the game and in 10 seconds I'm going again. QUICKSAVE however, works without a hitch, so that's what I use most of the time. Also, each time I start the game, I have to set the graphics options...annoying, but nothing to it, and well worth the small hassle to enjoy this game at its highest settings on a modern computer. Aside from the manual save glitch, it's VERY stable on my rig. I can play for hours with not a single visual problem. There are very few 'classic' games that run this well on a modern WinXP rig.

This was one of the first games I played on my old P166MMX, Even if you're computer is powerful enough to run the New JK game (Outcast), and especially if you haven't played that many of the newer FPS games like those based on Unreal or QuakeIII I'd still recommend playing this one first.

Though a seeming sequel to The earlier Dark Forces, leaps in technology and set design make JK so much more. In short, JK is fantastic - combining all the elements of great gaming and linking up the various levels into a single tight storyline - it's as close as you may have come to feeling as if you were in a Star Wars movie.

You play as Kyle Katarn - a freebooter who turned on the empire, but never went over completely to the rebels. Kyle is on the trail of a Dark Jedi named Jerec who (this being SW) killed Kyle's father. Unfortunately for Kyle, Jerec is not just a dark jedi, but a dark jedi lord - the sort of guy who cruises the galaxy in a mother-huge battlecruiser surrounded by clouds of tie fighters. Besides an army of jedi apprentices ("who ya' callin' 'padawan'?") Jerec is more than capable of handling any danger - something he proves in one of the cutscenes that open the game. (People have mixed feelings about the cutscenes, but I loved them, and thought they held up pretty well next to the movies, and that was BEFORE I saw "Phantom Menace".) Jerec has little time for Kyle - he's more interested in finding the lost "Valley of the Jedi", a sort of Jedi's Graveyard holding the energy of countless deceased knights. You'll be well into the game before you've even begin confronting Jerec's forces directly - by then realizing that your mission has less to do with revenge than saving the galaxy.

The game has about 20 levels - with problem solving sometimes being more important than marksmanship. The game has you traveling to fewer different planets than the original DF - this makes the story more coherent and progressive though , in the final levels, it does drag the story out. (On the planet of the Valley, you go from rocky canyons surrounding an imperial excavation to the excavation itself, then into the dig, then down through the subterrenean imperial installation in the excavation, going deeper and deeper into the planet - and it all seems to last forever). Some of the level ideas are brilliant - the cargo-transport tubes of Nar Shadaa, the aquaducts of Sulon, the insides of Jerec's tower at Baron's Hed and the tumbling innards of a spaceship that is about to crash. Through it all, the sound effects and John Williams' score remain truthful to Star Wars. The game is a techno masterpiece, but it's plotting and level design point can't be chalked up to pentium computers with good hardware acceleration. (After JK, my next FPS was Quake2, which was not as good. Star Trek: Elite Force, was another great shooter, but despite better graphics, one only sometimes matching JK in storyline and level design, and soemtimes falling behind it despite the greater technology available).

I ran this game on my P166 with a 12mb 3DFx card and had no problems. It ran sort of okay on my winXP P4, though there were hiccups I could probably pass of on my Savage4 card. One caveat - LucasArts released an expansion disk using an updated engine: Mysteries of the Sith, which lacked the FMV cut scenes or tighter storyline of JK, but offered much more challenging levels. I bought JK in 1999 when it was packaged with MotS, but I doubt this edition has it similarly bundled. Before buying it here, I suggest you search for the two-game pack on an on-line auction and only buy this ed. when that search becomes fruitless. But don't give up without a fight or I will find your lack of faith most dissappointing.

The original "Dark Forces" game was a fine piece of computer gaming. Strong battle sequences, challenging and complex levels, and stellar gameplay helped propel it to one of the more successful and accomplished titles in the vast "Star Wars" gaming universe. The story of Rebel agent Kyle Katarn's mission to destroy the Dark Trooper and thwart the Empire was very compelling.

Of course, with any great game, there will be a requisite sequel. The biggest fear of any gaming fan is that a follow-up game will simply not be able to measure up to its predecessor (Rebel Assault comes to mind). The "Dark Forces" franchise suffers no such fate with the release of "Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight". "Jedi Knight" continues the tale of Kyle Katarn and expands it in a dynamic way. It would seem that Katarn has Jedi Heritage and he is tasked with mission of protecting an ancient Jedi burial ground from some evil Dark Jedi who wish to harness its power to control the galaxy. The interesting twist in this game, as opposed to the earlier version, is that, now that Katarn is a Jedi, he has Jedi powers which the player can use to help defeat his enemies and protect the ancient Jedi.

"Jedi Knight" is powered by superior graphics and enhanced by full motion video cut-scenes that further the story arc (the actress that plays Jan Ors is a real cutie ;-)). As with the previous "Dark Forces", this game is sufficiently challenging, but it's the entertainment value of the journey that makes even more fun. Each level builds on one another and provides a different twist and a different challenge. There is one particular level where Katarn is aboard large ship that is slowly crashing into a canyon below. Katarn has just about 10 minutes to get activate the landing bay and get to his fighter before the ship crashes. All the while, he has to disorienting gravity shifts. It's a truly innovative level.

"Jedi Knight" also comes with a set of companion missions called "Mysteries of the Sith" which focuses more of cult favorite character, Mara Jade, and her battles against the Empire and to rescue Katarn from an evil Dark Jedi fate. "Jedi Knight" provides hours of quality gameplay, and the true excellence of the game is demonstrated in how it keeps the player coming back to play it again and again without it ever getting old.

Ok so the game is old, but man is it still as addictive as ever!

This game not unlike Jedi Outcast, balances the game between FPS and Light Saber duals perfectly, another thing they have in commen is a good story line, but where this one goes above and beyond is the levels and the movie cut scenes!
The movies are a bit B-Rate, but at least they were trying, and they did manage to pull off a decent job over all, not near as bad as the acting on an old CDi game or anything!
The levels in many cases are full of platforming, and battling your way up elevator shafts, large vast areas where there is nothing below you as far as the eye can see, there's a few anti-gravity situations...

...I dunno, it just feels like you are actually there some of the time, despite the dated gfx.

Still the BEST Star Wars game to date, well that and Knights of the Old Republic. :)

Be sure to GOOGLE for extra MOD packs, weapons, levels, etc for this game, there is still quite a homebrew community out there.

There were a couple of "Star Wars" games that allowed your character to use a lightsaber (mainly the NES and SNES trilogy-based games), but this was the first to get it right. It's true that "Jedi Outcast" and "Jedi Academy" and "Revenge of the Sith" have put the animations and techniques in this game to shame, but this game still holds very well as an FPS. So while this game is a rookie in the ways of lightsaber school, it's still a very good game.

The character of Kyle Katarn was first introduced in "Dark Forces", an FPS that resembles the "Star Wars" bent on "Doom". This sequel to that 1995 classic, Katarn is given more depth. For the first few levels, you will play as the mercenary shooting his way in-and-out of trouble. The fourth level, which is the return to Katarn's family home leads to a special treasure...the lightsaber! This is actually a nicely-handled gaming mechanic, and probably made all of us gamers jump out of our seats when we got our hands this weapon!

The Force Powers aren't as deep as say "Knights of the Old Republic", and probably not as practical as in the sequels to this game, but they are fun to use and not complicated at all. That's what makes this game great. This is a game for anybody into "Star Wars" or FPS games. You don't need to worry about RPG-like levelling up or "Resident Evil" puzzles (though, there are some brain-teasers thrown in for good measure).

The story is actually still one of my favorites in the video game universe of "Star Wars". Seven Dark Jedi search for the Valley of the Jedi, which will give infinite power to the one who unlocks the secrets. The acting in the full-motion-video cutscenes is not phony or forced at all. It's not Shakespeare, but it's better than "Attack of the Clones."

There's some decent multi-player for some deathmatch lovers, and the level design in this game is pretty good. You'll breeze through this game in about 12 hours, but you'll love almost every minute of it! Almost...

Which brings me to the cons:
This was the first game to ask the player to manage Light Side and Dark Side powers. If you shoot civilians or choose to use Dark powers, Kyle Katarn will become evil. The same goes for the Light Side - save civilians and choose neutral powers.
However, this concept is severely imbalanced. After the 14th mission (which there are 21), your prior actions will determine whether you are an honorable hero, or a sadistic villain. Choosing the Light Side will give you practical powers, more cutscenes, and a much better ending (not to mention that it matches the sequels to this game). But choosing the Dark Side will give you powers that are cruel and very amusing, but don't really have much use against the Dark Jedi that remain in the game. Also, you're gonna be short-changed on about 8 cutscenes, and then find an albeit good ending that isn't nearly as awesome as the Light Side finale.

Other than that imbalance, I highly recommend this game to action gamers and "Star Wars" fans. "Star Wars" games haven't always lived up to the franchise, but this game hasn't lost much of its entertainment value since 1997.

DARK FORCES CHRONOLOGY
"Star Wars: Dark Forces" (PC 1995...avoid the PSone port!)
"Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II" (PC 1997)
"Star Wars: Jedi Outcast - Jedi Knight II" (PC 2001) and
(Cube/X-Box 2002)
"Star Wars: Jedi Academy" (PC 2003) and (X-Box 2004)

This game was a beautiful example of what a culmination of turning Star Wars into a 3rd person shooter could be in Dark Forces, and then coupling the natural progression of desire to spend time exploring the Jedi lifestyle. Dark Forces 2 neatly enfolds these 2 concepts into a game, while allowing the player to choose to remain loyal to good via Light-side powers or giving in to a more basic instinct for using power as a weapon with the Dark-Side powers.

The ability to switch between 1st and 3rd person perspective was a wonderful choice when deciding to wield the lightsaber or any normal projectile weapon. While this may seem semi-standard on most FPS games these days, it was not at the time this game was released and greatly added to the feel of immersion and the feel of greater control over the character. The range of environments and the feeling of accomplishment when gaining a new Force power was ramped up at a well-paced level.

There are many things to like about this game: The graphics, while dated now, were pretty for their time and there were many moments of surprise and enjoyment in the large environments. There were different ways to accomplish tasks depending on how you had allotted your Force upgrades, and many, many ways to be killed or fall over cliffs, etc. I especially thought the idea of having to battle Dark Jedi Masters as you make your way ultimately to the Valley of the Jedi was a nice touch and made the game feel more personal than simply adding a random, slightly more difficult boss character to the end of each level. The soundtrack was of course outstanding.

The only stumbling blocks to the game come in the form of having to repeat fights with certain Dark Jedi Masters until you finally discover their one weak point. If you can still find this game, I highly recommend it as a great example of a successfully done Star Wars PC game.

I just bought this game so u might not consider my review the most thought out. but anyway, this is a good game to buy (ecspecially considering the price) but only if your not someone like me who believes graphics are one of the most important part of the game. But besides the rather primitive graphics the game appears to be very well thought out, The game not only allows you to shoot down enemies to achieve your goal, but allows lightsaber duels. but probably the most interesting part about the game is you customize your jedi. You choose what force abilities he has and whether he is a good or evil jedi. This game is worth the ten dollars.

Many people are complaining about the graphics of this game, they are comparing them with Jedi:Outcast. This game was release in 1997, when the only good video accelerator was a Voodoo 2 from 3dfx, as opposite to Jedi: Outcast just release this year(2002) with a GeForce4 ti.

Having clarify the graphics issue I must confess that I still play this game. One reason is that it has a feature length story as opposite to Jedi: Outcast. Here Kyle must find a secret and sacred place call "the valley of the Jedi" before the evil Sith Jerec. During his adventure he must battle the empire with his growing Jedi powers that his obtaining each time a level is completed. Here you choose what powers you want as opposite to Jedi:Outcast. After flying from one planet to another, killing several enemies that go from lack aiming realistic troopers to REAL dark jedis not the lack of training fake ones from Jedi:Outast (which were a piece of cake to kill) you will became a Jedi or a Sith lord depending on your action. The story varies if you are a Sith or a Jedi and the ending of the game pretty much depends on this, I personally prefer the Sith ending.

The controls are not so good since you cannot bond the mouse buttons with your personal settings, they are pre-defined e.g. you cannot use the wheel to scroll your weapons, that option is not available for the wheel. I really don't like this because I like to have the same keys (mouse1=attack, mouse2=jump, mouse3=s. attack, mouse4=reload, mouse5=drop or use, wheel=scroll weapons) for similar games (Unreal, Quake, CS, HL, etc.).But the overall enjoyment of playing this game is real satisfactory.

I have had it since 1997 and the only reason I play Jedi:Outcast is because the multiplayer is real fun, and yes the graphics rock, but remember can you really compare The Empire Strikes Back special effects with Attack of the Clones special effects, is Attack of the Clones better than The Empire Strikes Back only because it looks and it sounds better, I think not. Just like The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite Star Wars movie, Jedi Knights - Dark Forces 2 is my favorite star wars game and maybe even my favorite FPS(first person shooter, not frames per second), were else can you slide people up with a lightsaber. Other than the limitation of the mouse bonding and the old graphics, I think that you will enjoy this game.

Just for the record, ANH and AOTC both are second just after ESB. But if I must choose a second and a third I'll go for ANH then AOTC. Also is not that I don't like Jedi:Outcast is just that I expected more from it. And yes I consider my self a Sith because the first time I played this game is were I ended up.

This is a review for Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. Amazon.com is grouping all the 'Jedi Knight' games together which is a huge mistake, because all of them are very different.

There is at least a five-year gap between Jedi Knight and its sequel, Outcast. In this game, Kyle Katarn learns about his force heritage and must battle 7 Dark Jedi led by Jerec for control of the Valley of the Jedi. In all honesty, while this game was hailed as a classic and received many 'game of the year' awards during its initial release, it hasn't aged well. Most polygon-based shooters dont, and it's somewhat painful to look back on the rudimentary character models and textures (though the basic level design itself is still top notch). Outcast also improved on everything that Jedi Knight brought to the table, including a better lightsaber combat system and better implementation of force powers. I won't deny that the game was an absolute blast to play through years ago, but nostalogic value alone doesn't make this one worth picking up.

What DOES make it worth picking up though, is that the game featured an intricate story told through cutscenes with live actors. Everyone is shot on a bluescreen, sure, but the acting is mostly up to Star Wars standards, and it's worth buying to unlock all the cinemas and watch this cool Star Wars footage.

As a game, there's really no reason to pick up the original Jedi Knight anymore, but if you're interested in viewing the cutscenes, then this is an absolute must-have. I'm giving this game 3 stars because 5 stars, what it was worth upon original release, doesn't accurately represent the game today.

I recently got high-end computer that can play all the graphics-intensive games I've wanted to play for years, like Black & White and Neverwinter Nights. While I was buying those games, I also picked up this one because I'd been interested in the series for a while and was impressed by the reviews. I was a little concerned that it wouldn't even run properly on my new machine, but if worst came to worst I could always play it on the old one. However, to my great pleasure it does run on my computer (128Mb ATI Radeon 9700, 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4, 512Mb RAM, Windows XP), although it's a little hyper--I turned the mouse sensitivity all the way down and it's just barely manageable. The only problems I've had are that it crashes from time to time when I'm loading or saving a game--and restarting it takes less time than waiting for levels to load in some games on my old computer, so that doesn't bother me much--and the cutscenes don't play right--the sound is out of sync and after a while they start to skip. Otherwise, it runs beautifully. The graphics are a little dated (the water is the worst; it looks like shag carpet), but all things considered not terrible, and they don't in anyway detract from the enjoyment for me. In terms of gameplay, I love it. I've never been a huge fan of shooter games (Doom gave me nightmares when I was a teenager and turned me off to them for a long time), and yet of the half-dozen games I got for my new computer, it's this one that I can play for six or eight hours straight and not even realize it. I like NWN, I like B&W, but I love Jedi Knight. My favorite things about it: you can play in either 1st or 3rd person, which I find extremely helpful, because when I'm navigating a narrow ledge I like to be able to see my feet, but if I'm shooting an enemy who's just a speck in the distance, the 1st person crosshair is useful; I've never seen controls so thoroughly customizable; having a lightsaber kicks arse; Jedi powers kick arse; and I find myself using almost all of my weapons in different contexts, rather than always going with the most powerful weapon available--lightsaber is great for taking down a few enemies quietly, especially with its ability to block incoming fire; stormtrooper rifle is great for thinning out crowds, and in 3rd person because you don't have to aim it very precisely; thermal grenades are good for sneaking up on groups of enemies, especially from above, and for detonating mines; crossbow is good for precision sniping in 1st person; I use the railgun similarly to the stormtrooper rifle but it's precise enough to work better in 1st person; etc... So, all in all, a great game which holds its own against newer, more technologically advanced games. I'd recommend it to anyone.