Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast

Review - Nick grabs his sabre and begins swinging wildly with this Xbox conversion.

Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast received generally excellent reviews upon its release last year, including a 92% award from this very site and reviewer. Yet opinion was in fact more divided than it would appear, with a number of dissenting voices expressing criticism of the game. I have long argued with Ferrago’s own Rich Clifford on this issue – he feels the game is poorly designed in places, and long will I remember the day he gloatingly pointed out that Edge had awarded the game a very poor four out of ten. When an opportunity arose to review Jedi Outcast a second time for the Xbox, I considered it an opportunity to take a more balanced, and perhaps relaxed, view of proceedings.

The plot begins several years after events from the original Jedi Knight, with Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors heading on a routine spying mission on an Imperial mining colony. It quickly transpires that the Empire is up to something sinister, and after a few twists and turns, Katarn decides to take up his light sabre once again. The game remains unchanged from its PC incarnation, at least in single player, although there are a few cosmetic differences. Most notably, the cutscenes have clearly changed format, and rather than using the in-game engine, developers Vicarious Visions appear to have captured the PC cutscenes using some grainy FMV – not an auspicious start, but thankfully the rest of the game is identical to its PC forebear.

Once again, the same disclaimer must be issued to those who begin playing this game. The first five levels, during which you have access to conventional weapons only, are the game’s weakest sections by far. They begin well enough, but by the time you have dispatched your hundredth storm trooper, you’re beginning to despise the sound of the blaster rifle, and ache for the pleasing hum of the sabre. In hindsight, it could be said that this pre-force period is too lengthy, but from a design standpoint it helps provide a contrast with the game’s later sections. As you mop up a platoon of storm troopers with consummate ease, you’ll think back and laugh at how weak you were before, and that provides what could be considered Jedi Outcast’s greatest strength – the power trip.

Controlling Katarn’s basic movements is only marginally more difficult with the Xbox controller than it is with mouse and keyboard, and Jedi Outcast could almost be added to the growing list of games that show FPS games to be just as viable on consoles. Almost, because unfortunately, controlling Katarn’s force powers is far more difficult to do with any degree of speed. The default controls are just as good as they were on the PC, but the Xbox controller lacks the options for button mapping that a keyboard has. It’s simply a function of fewer choices – the game play does not suffer overmuch and the controls can be compensated for, it’s simply more difficult to pull off rapidly sequential and different force moves.