Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-have for any FPS fan!, April 13, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost like being in a Star Wars flick, June 20, 2002
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.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Forces truly arrives with this spectacular game, September 12, 2002
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.
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