Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Demo
I’ve got a soft spot for the Jedi Knight games, and while the latest don’t seem to have quite the punch of the original Dark Forces titles, they’ve always been a good romp. StarWars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy seems to maintain the standard nicely. Plus it’s got the option for twin and two-handed lightsabres(196MB). How bad could it be?
Well, it’s not all good. The graphics are fine, and from what I could tell from the two missions, the level design is nice. However the animation system is pretty ordinary. The animations themselves are good, especially the actions of your avatar and opposing jedi during lightsabre battles. But when characters move and change direction at the same time they moonwalk, which is pretty cheesy for a modern game.
JK:JA is mission based, and the missions are given to you by Luke whose head talks to you from the bottom right hand corner of the mission screen. This doesn’t do much for the immersion. Another gripe is that Han, Chewbacca, and even Princess Lea get involved in the action, which seems not only unlikely but unimaginative. It makes the game seem smaller somehow, not better.
But the real point of any Jedi Knight game is the lightsabre battles, and JK:JA serves them up with class. The force powers haven’t changed much from previous games, and this is actually a good thing as they worked well as they were. The option of choosing twin or double handed lightsabres (a la Darth Maul) is perhaps the only big change, and a nice addition. I chose twin sabres and kicked butt (you always have the option to wield just one if you choose) but the dual handed sabre is also particularly nasty. I know this because some of the dark jedi you come up against wield them, and they are quite difficult to defend against.
As usual the action is very linear, but that is the nature of the Jedi Knight franchise. After only 30 minutes of playing I could feel the righteous romance of the Star Wars universe sucking me in again, and my dual sabre wielding female Twi’lek felt an almost natural exension of me. I was all deadly arcs of yellow crystal light and Force-boosted athleticism. I’m telling you, there were moments when I was the light sabre.
That must say something about how much fun the full game will be, though it could also mean I have an unusully high midichlorian count.
posted by monty · at 7:16 pm · filed under Reviews
KOTOR lets you have doble bladed lightsabers, weild two light sabers (Short or Long, or long and short if that is your preference). And also you are able to carry two blasters.. Cool.. once you’ve had KOTOR it’ll be hard to go back to something that aint kotor.