Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast.
It is simple an amazing action game. I had played a few hack and slash games in the past and a few shooters, this one was a mix of both. However it got something absolutely right which Star Wars games to this day struggle with.
If you hit a person with your lightsaber, it cuts through them. You have a max of 100 health, and 100 shielding. On one hit a lightsaber can easily deal 200 damage instantly killing you. So it wasn't about hitting Dark Jedi with light up bats, you would duel them and clash blades. Once one strike got through generally you or they were dead. As you played you got to learn new abilities, the story itself isn't super but decent. There is a wide array of levels, in fact they even do sort of semi-introductions in some cases. Early on you get a quick tour of the Jedi Temple, going through the civil areas before going through a sort of trial in a temple. At a later level the civil areas are used in a more dire situation causing them to open up and allow you to actually go to places which you thought would always be closed off. The puzzles are simple yet do still require some thought. Powers can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, a quick trick for killing enemies is to push them onto the ground. Next, jump high over them, then right as you pass over them use force pull. It will slingshot them high into the sky.
Another thing I loved is that you can actually do things in a non-violent ways, not always, but you can strip enemies of their weapons and they'll surrender. Something a Jedi would certainly do.
In the game you play as Kyle Katarn, my favorite Jedi.
Kyle "***" Katarn is a badass through and through. He is known as the Jedi Battlemaster, most people outside the order don't even recognize who he is without his weapon. Since he doesn't wear robes, he wears street clothes or armor. He uses energy shields, explosives, he has a criminal history and has no issue with people bending the rules. He is a Jedi Commando for lack of a better word. Throughout the game you will find moments where using sniper rifles, rocket launchers, heavy blaster rifles with plasma launcher alternative firing systems will benefit you more than your blade. Kyle Katarn has no problem with this, it's all about what is practical to him. He also isn't a Jedi that is afraid of emotions or any of that. He has used the Dark Side, Kyle has a girlfriend, he has friends he talks to and drinks quite frequently. He had a family that you got to know, basically if a Star Wars Sequel Movie was made he would be a prime candidate for a main character that would make the movie great.
This is also a hard as hell game, playing through on Normal will cause most players to die frequently due to the difficulty. For instance, snipers one shot you. If you aren't using force speed they will probably hit you. Explosives, they'll flat out kill you. Essentially in this game most things, including you, can easily die in one hit. Because of this your control and reaction time is very important. You can also set up traps with mines or remote explosives. The game also has stealth elements, you can sneak through areas using quiet weapons to hit the enemies without them knowing. Physics also play a big part with the push and pull mechanic.
Did I mention the special moves? The game has placement based attacks for the lightsaber combat, as well as direction. For instance, if you swing to the right with the strong style, you'll swing pretty fast while pushing an enemy should they survive the attack. With the quick style you can roll and get a fast thrust attack off. If using the strong style, moving backwards suddenly with your back to an enemy and swinging causes you to do a backwards wide knee high slice. Meaning you can knock enemies down, jump over their heads, then as they rise up spin around executing them all at once. These attacks all carry over into the multiplayer allowing for an incredible meta game in regards to dueling.
Because of the placement sensitive combat you can force moves, such as suddenly revealing your back while jumping to get a mid air knee high reverse slice while moving. You can then use your mouse sensitivity to choose where the blade is going and cause your blade throughout the whole swing to face the enemy. Multiplayer maps often have dueling arenas, as well there is a specific duel mode. It was very common to have duel group maps, where a ring was decided and people could watch you fight others in it. It was all about who could deflect the attacks of the other person while trying to get their own hits in.
Parrying was in the game, blocking wasn't. You had to aim your blade to actually cross the other person otherwise you or they would miss, and one of you would die. If you hit partially across, it would deflect their attack. If you made a perfect X you entered saber lock, and had to mash attack to push back the enemy.
All in all, I *** love that game. If i had a gaming PC I'd probably be playing it right now. If an HD Remake came out I'm sorry to say but I'd probably drop Dark Souls for it.
by BIG TIME MASTER Tue Mar 26, 2013 1:41 pm
