JEDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY (PC, XBOX)


A Jedi's path is simple, yet rewarding

By WILL BARKER

A long time ago, in a country far, far away, Lucasarts was once one of the powerhouses of the PC games industry.

In it's hey-day, George Lucas' personal development house released space combat games such as TIE Fighter, first-person shooters like Dark Forces and gripping strategy titles like Rebellion.

Today however, the Lucasarts brand is represented only in spirit, with the talented people at Raven holding the fort and keeping the interactive Star Wars dream alive.

And, while this reviewer laments the exodus of talent at Lucasarts that lead to the development house's slide into mediocrity, I'm happy to report that the latest Star Wars game on PC is far from a pretender.

Raven seems to have a knack at rolling in, surveying the landscape and then resurrecting a given franchise, or even development house - as is the case with Lucasarts - and the latest Quake III-based FPS/TPS is hotter than a Tatooine summer, let me tell you.

One of the biggest drawcards of Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (or Jacad as I'll call it) is the fact that not only can you wield the legendary lightsaber, but also you get to create one.

All young Padawan dream of the day they can create such an iconic and venerated device, just as they dream of falling in love - but sadly a Jedi must find inspiration far away from the loins of another. Celibacy is chastity you see, and, like I told a young Rodian apprentice from the Riishi sector (during the Twi'lek Governors biennial speech on cheese proliferation in the demilitarised Bakura zone), "There's pros and cons to the life of a Jedi."

At the beginning of Jacad, before the cinematics roll and the John Williams theme song gloriously fires up, you get to choose the colour of your lightsaber blade (I went with yellow - I have an exotic flamboyance, you know) and the shaft style.

You'll also get to create your very own 31st century Jedi apprentice - I went with the reserved and somewhat humble Rodian youngster in order to lull my foes into a false sense of security, before potentially clefting their heads from their bloated torsos, sending them back to the fiery pits from whence they emerged.

Once you've satiated your creative desire to, um, create stuff, it's time to kick off the plot and, true to form, the story is finger-lickin' good.

You play a wet-behind-the-ears Jedi apprentice fellow, who is out to prove that he can amount to something significant and, right from the get-go, there's a twist: Without any training or tuition you have somehow managed to create your own lightsaber. Dun-dun-duuuuun!!

While you play the token good guy, your primary rival in the slowly unravelling story is the enigmatic leader of a new sect, known only as Ragnos. Is this a human, an alien, or something completely unfathomable? Dun-dun-duuuuun!!

After a bit of exploration and basic saber work, you'll find the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, where you'll run through elementary force powers in order to acquaint (or re-acquaint) yourself with using the Force, otherwise known as 'Futuro Magica'.

After this cleverly disguised tutorial of sorts, you'll bump into a chap called Kyle Katarn, who will be your Jedi Master in upcoming missions, just like Obi Wan was to Anakin, until the little bastard got nasty after his "forbidden" bride copped a proton torpedo through the spleen, and his Futuro Magica became tainted by his immature anger. Stupid head.

Anyway, this Futuro Magica is pretty damned cool, and anyone who has previously played a Jedi Knight game will know the fun to be had. There are a number of force powers, some are passive (meaning they're always in use) and some are not, meaning you'll have to activate them by punching keys on a keyboard.

One of these active powers is called Drain, and though it's a dark-side power (as with all dark powers) unless you use it with malice in mind - i.e slay innocent bystanders - you'll not be pulled over to the dark side of the Futuro Magica, where your skin becomes grey and your eyeballs turn red, to blatantly signify your evilness to slightly dull audiences.

Other force powers of note include force protection - a special shield that comes in very handy when you're facing off against other Jedi with their laser swords of the snap-hiss denomination. Force lightning is pretty lame early on, but once you boost it up to level 3 it will really - wait for it - shock you.

Force grip is an old family favourite, one that mum always likes (you can't blame her - it is wholesome fun), and as you pass missions and gain experience, your lightsaber skills will also improve.

This is one area of Jacad that I really like - sword play. To be frank, I hardly used any of the guns, except the disruptor rifle/laser (a high-tech sniper weapon) and the rocket launcher on tougher opponents, such as rancors and boss characters, while my trusty exotic yellow blade of impartiality dealt most of the killing blows.

The lightsaber physics have been improved since JK2: Jedi Outcast and there's more fancy footwork too. While the sword play is not as detailed as say Mitsurugi's masterful katana skills seen in Soul Calibur 2, you can impale, stab through fallen foes into the ground, and pull off some pretty tasty combos to boot.

Furthermore, whenever you switch from a weapon to your laser sword, the view defaults from the first to the third person perspective, which works remarkably well in combat situations.

The better your skills with the saber of light, the better your ability to block incoming weapons fire as well, and there's nothing quite as satisfying as walking into a Hutt-owned cantina to be faced with four burly alien guards - each brandishing a rather deadly weapon.

Before your mind can react, your lightsaber becomes a brilliant arc of luminescence, blocking three of the shots at your body, with two returned at their originators, thusly killing them.

The two goons still standing are crestfallen, knowing their fate will be swift. You slice off the arm of the closest assailant, watching it twitch of its own volition on the scum-stained tiles below you, as you impale the armless victim, before turning your attention to your final adversary.

"Do you feel lucky?" you ask, trying to squint your oversized Rodian eyes in an attempt to look and feel tougher than your skinny Futuro Magica-enhanced body outwardly suggests.

"Well, do ya?" you intone in your coldest manner, then follow up with "Punk!!" as he casually drops a primed thermal detonator down your rustic-looking hessian Jedi trousers of justice, as you realise all your witty combat bravado has backfired in what will result in a rather nasty and painful crotch-based immolation session.

So yeah, the game's lots of fun, and any given situation can be approached in a number of different ways, whether with the force powers, your lightsaber or even traditional projectile weapons.

Compared with other first-person shooters, this one is a good game with more variety than most, but it does sometimes suffer from poor collision detection when you're slicing and dicing through hordes of baddies, often ignoring clean and otherwise fatal lacerations.

Jacad runs on a heavily tweaked version of the Quake III engine and, while far from cutting edge visually, the game does portray the much-loved Star Wars universe with style. You'll even be able to ride a swoop racer and the kangaroo-like Tauntaun, explore the abandoned Rebel base on Hoth and fight alongside Chewbacca on Tatooine.

Special moves with the lightsaber are dazzling (activated by pressing both primary and secondary attack in tandem), leaving very cool motion trails that will either excite you to the point of pants wetting, or leave you blind. Win win, I guess.

In general, level design is exemplary, with lots of variety, though there is a lack of curved architecture that defines modern era titles and a lack of detail when compared to more modern (and bump-mapped) first person shooters. I really liked the way you can pick your missions - don't like the idea of a rescue? Why not opt for the missions involving the eradication of some Ragnos followers instead.

Enemy AI is average in general, though the more powerful Jedi apprentices and knights you'll have to face off against - complete with their own lightsabre and fighting style - make for seriously engrossing fights. Granted, the first half-dozen saber-wielding chumps you come across are rather chumpified, offering little resistance to some well-timed combos and lashings of force lightning.

Later on in the game, you'll come up against much more difficult opposition, which ups the ante, increases the challenge and makes the game oh-so-rewarding.

Raven has done wonders with the sword play and, though it's not water-tight, it does make for a blindingly exciting experience.

In addition, the multiplayer aspect of Jacad comes alive thanks to the more substantial lightsaber fights (much improved over past JK games I must add), and the acrobatic moves fit in well with the Jedi credo, and at the same time make multiplayer bouts so much more intense - it's often hard to attack a rapidly moving Jed-izen.

There's also some really cool 'Siege' games, which are basically team-based, objective oriented game types (destroy/protect reactor, etc.), complete with player classes a la Battlefield 1942, including Assault, Heavy Weapons, Demolitions, Scout, Tech and Jedi classes.

The Power Duel multiplayer mode is also great fun (2 vs 1 [powerful] Jedi), plus there's CTF, DM and team FFA game types, and you can include fairly capable AI bots as well, good for those who are banned from being online (you'll have your comeuppance, Admin!). The multiplayer code, being based on Q3, is nice and secure as well, meaning low packet loss and few irreversible glitches.

While the latest first/third-person shooter from Raven and Lucasarts isn't going to melt the side of your brain that deciphers visual stimulus, it is going entertain you for a long time. The semi-freeform single player game is a delight; both exploring new areas of the Star Wars universe, while at the same time unravelling an engrossing plot that is very enjoyable and yes, even memorable at times.

And, once you've tired of the single player game, the multiplayer aspect has been sufficiently tweaked beyond the scope of past JK iterations, making it smell and taste better than ever. Yum.

ORIGINALITY 75%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 75%
PLAYABILITY 95%
ENJOYMENT 80%
OVERALL 85%