Crush your enemies, see them driven before, and hear the lamentations of the Dark Jedi
Deep down, most every gamer has a deep desire to be a Jedi. The lightsabers, the snappy clothing, the mystic power to control minds – its all so temptingly cool. Once again, Raven brings forth delicious Jedi action in their continuation of the Dark Forces series. This sequel to Jedi Outcast, you no longer play as Kyle Katarn, though he remains a central figure. Instead, a new trainee Jedi, the unisexually dubbed Jaden, hunts down Evil Cultists™.
The new character builder allows you to select from a wide variety of species and clothing, and with 5 saber styles and 20 force powers (each with 3 levels of power) there’s an awesome array of potential combat styles to suit any player. The multiplayer promises fast and furious action, and lightsaber duels put the original Jedi Outcast to shame. On the technological downside, Raven didn’t offer any noticeable enhancement to the graphics or sound over Jedi Outcast. The Star Wars themes, good as John Williams made them, have appeared in too many games.
Jedi Academy is a more polished game in the action-combat sequences than its precursor, Jedi Outcast, but grates a bit due to the loose plot. Only 4 stages out of 19 missions make up the main story. This is due to the new mission-based structure of the game. Jaden chooses missions to take, and you only need complete 12 the 15 optional missions. Additionally, Jaden isn’t even a flat character – he or she has no character whatsoever. Given the depth of the action, you probably won’t care that the plot and characters are shallow, but some more time could have been taken in developing the story. The game is simply too short as well, and may require only 10-15 hours to win. Still, dollar for dollar, Jedi Academy offers more initial and replay value than any other action-combat game on the market.