There’s always peace before the storm, and that
is evident in Lucas Art’s Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast for the Gamecube.
The storyline of this game takes place 8 years after a great war, but I can’t
quite remember which one. Mark Hammel is in it, and he does the voice for whom
other than Luke Skywalker. He is only a small part of the game however, but
the star is Kyle Katarn, a former Jedi who is at first on a mission to investigate
a rebel base. As the story progresses, he regains his lightsaber and force powers
from long ago.
I really enjoyed this game when I first played it for the PC. I didn’t
much enjoy the storyline, but I loved the multiplayer. It reminded me of a Quake
game only it had lightsabers and force powers. When it came to the Gamecube
however, there were some changes I had to get used to, because let’s face
it, Gamecube doesn’t have the best of control systems.
In the multiplayer mode, it isn’t much to compare to the PC, but only
because the Gamecube has no online support. The lightsaber to lightsaber fighting
is done awesomely, and in combination with force powers such as heightened jumping
and the push ability which propels your enemy backwards, there is a lot of Jedi
control in this game. It gave me the feeling that I was a Jedi, and that’s
how all Jedi games should be. In addition to those powers, you can also appear
invisible, pull your opponents towards you, increase your speed, and throw your
lightsaber like a boomerang among others. In this mode, you will also have a
choice between the darkside and the light.
The sound was ok, typical for a Star Wars game. The thing that really angered
me however was the lack of cinematic parts. The ones that they did include were
very short and unsatisfying, but an added feature that should be on all games
allowed you to view any previously viewed movies.
Now comes the paragraph of problems. First of all, the default sensitivity was
way wrong, I don’t know what they were thinking. If someone actually tried
playing it with the default settings, they wouldn’t get very far. Second
of all, this game was dark, and not in a happy evil way either. I couldn’t
see anything half the time, so I tried to change the video settings. Guess what,
there weren’t any. It was awesome. The last thing I had a problem with
was the unclear mission objectives. I guess that’s part of what you had
to figure out, but it was more annoying than fun.
Buyable, only because it is not a short game
Cheatable (www.gamewinners.com)
I believe it’s beatable, but I don’t own it so I never found out
I wouldn’t rent this game again
Single and Multi-Player
Altogether this game gets a 5 out of 10