THE GAME PAD REVIEW REALM

Review by Darryl Sato

***Jedi Knight by Lucasarts***

My Test System is a P200MMX with 32MB of SDRAM, a Diamond Monster 3d Card used to play the video, a Sound Blaster AWE 64, and a 3 button mouse used for the control along with a WIN95 Keyboard.

About 2 years ago something happened that forever changed the 3d gaming genre. Dark Forces!! This was the first game that added jump, crouch, look up-and-down to the gaming arena which was populated by Doom and other clones of the time. I can remember first going to the store to pick up the newest issue of PC Gamer to get a glimpse of the new game. This 1 level demo provided the gateway to the fantasy that I think all Star Wars Fans have; grabbing that Stormtopper Rifle and blowing the Imperials away. So I thought that DF was REVOLITIONARY. Some may disagree but hey, this is MY review.

Now on to Jedi Knight: I , like a lot of other gamers, visited various Jedi Knight sites, daily for the last year to get a peek at a new screen shot or to get a glimpse at what would be known as Jedi Knight. So I'll admit that I was VERY Hyped for this game. Once the demo arrived, I was not as happy with this title. I will just say here that I am a 3DFX freak. Give me Glide or face my wrath.

GRAPHICS

I tried Jedi without 3d acceleration and was ASTOUNDED! They WERE TERRIBLE. The graphics of Jedi Knight looked dated as for a 3d title. Lucasarts is usually on top in this department, but here they really didn't put any effort in at all. My basic complaint is the restriction placed on a game with Direct 3d. On my system (with the latest drivers) I was getting framerates of around 80fps down to 25fps range; this is OK. For those of you with a 3D card try this: go into level 9 into the gas system where you have those big doors and watch the textures as you approach. They change about 4 times. Sure everything can't look good from far away, but when the changes are that noticeable it really gets to me. The explosions looked a lot like bitmaped images dating to X-WING, and the laser bolts areen't top notch. I ran the game at 640X480 on my 17 Inch monitor at 640x480. The 3^rd person view is nice, but when you are looking at a character for so long wouldn't it be nice to look at som ething nice?! Lara Croft from TOMB RAIDER is ideal. She was well done with joints and such. Kyle looked like his legs were hardly attatched to his body. Some may disagree but I would say these graphics look very dated after seeing Quake 2.

Graphics score-5.5

SOUND

The sound in Jedi is top notch. With a high resolution install the sounds were fantastic. The blaster fire sounded great, as did the saber. Couple this with genuine John Williams and I am forced to give top marks in this category.

Sound score-10

AI

Not much going on here, though I did like the fact that when StormTroopers lose their weapons they run like babies. What is stopping them from picking up something else? Who knows. The Dark Jedi were not very difficult. This, after playing against a real human opponent. I would give the game an average score in this dept.

AI Score-6

GAMEPLAY

You basically shoot everything that moves, if you want to be a Dark Jedi. Every level greets you with a cut scene, NOTE: These are NOT good actors. Get past the acting and the story is ok. My basic gripe with JK is that everything is almost EXACTLY like Dark Forces. LEC didn't bother to come up with many new weapons. The new ones you'll see are the Rail Detonator, the Bowcaster and the Light Saber; everything else is the same. I found that there weren't enough puzzles so every level seemed very linear. Nothing truly new here. The lightsaber was a nice addition, but it can't really carry the game. Force-powers were also very fun and added a new dimension to the game. I personally completed the game using the Dark Powers and found them to really help destroy the bad guys. These though are not a reason to play this game and also adding to the fact that 7 of the levels in the game are nothing but fighting one wimpy jedi. Personally this game would have been nice had it been a little longer.!

The multiplayer is excellent and fighting other Jedis with force powers is a blast. But it too can get old after a while. Not enough levels included by LEC.

Gameplay score-8

Interface/Controls

Congratulations go to LEC for including the option to save your controls to a file. Just about everything is programmable. I personally enjoyed this, being a veteran of hard core combat sims. I would have like to be able to to more things with the lightsaber but it was done just fine the way it was. I really liked the 3^rd person view, simply the best for saber duels.

Interface/control score-8

Summary

All I can say really is TOO little, TOO late. Sure, I am not a programmer but with everything else that is on the way, can Jedi Knight have staying power? I don't know. Personally I have stopped playing multiplayer for the most part. I have not played the game through as light Jedi, but I don't really feel like spending time doing it. If you are a Star Wars fan you will like it. But if not you will probably feel like many others do. This title is "Dark Forces II" not Jedi Knight. It's worth a look if you are a fan of the series, otherwise you might try Tomb Raider II or wait for Q2, Prey or any of the other "Quake Killers" due out soon. After playing this game I know why it is that I like Flight Sims. Basically a disappointment. A tip as my friends told me- "don't get hyped and you can't tell anything by a screen shot".

Final quote "Blah , I could take it or leave it."

FINAL VERDICT-7.3

Sites worth a visit.

http://www.jediknight.net Find multiplay opponents.

http://www.swgamers.com Star Wars gaming News

Back To Game Pad HOMEPAGE

LinkExchange Member