PC - Star Wars: Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Academy

Format
PC
Publisher
Lucas Arts
Developer
Raven Software
Country of origin
USA
Release date
19/09/03

Star Wars Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Academy

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
9th May 05

Star Wars Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Academy will very likely be working its way into peoples game collections as Star Wars Episode III soon opens in cinema’s across the UK. Why do I say this? Well for one the game can be bought for around 10 pounds and slightly less second hand, which makes it quite a lot cheaper than the “Official” Episode III game and Lego Star Wars.

Jedi Academy takes place ten years after the events in Return of the Jedi and Luke Skywalker and a handful of other Jedi (Including Kyle Katan the star of the previous Jedi Knight games) have set up an academy to train promising students to become Jedi, and become peacemakers of the galaxy . You play as Jaden Korr, a character where you have a somewhat limited control of sex species and appearance (see further down). Jaden made his/her own Light Saber without any previous instruction and so is being flown to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 (again you have some control over your Light Saber’s appearance) along with a bunch of other potential Jedi. The shuttle is shot at upon entering the atmosphere and makes an emergency landing however you and another student Rosh Penn are separated and have to make your way back to the Academy. On the way back you encounter enemies using a strange scepter on a temple, but are knocked out. Upon awaking you meet Luke and Kyle who later tell you that they were a cult dedicated to a dead Sith Lord and had somehow absorbed the dark force energy from the temple. This will not be your last meeting with this cult that’s for sure.

When you start a new game you can pick the appearance of your character from a number of species, three of which are male and the other three female. Then from a choice of heads, torsos, legs and color of clothes (or in one case skin). The choice is a nice touch but doesn’t really affect gameplay at all. Again styling your Light Saber doesn’t affect gameplay although latter you can change your fighting style to strong or fast and after that can change to having two Light Sabers or the Staff like saber (Like the one Darth Maul has in Episode I), which do affect gameplay a bit.

The first two levels are really a training exercise, the first helping learn how to use a light saber and the second teaches you about your primary Force Powers. After this your given a choice of five missions, upon starting a mission you get distribute a force point to any of the available Light or Dark powers (there are four for each side). These range from the Light sides Force Heal which is useful, or the Dark’s Force Grip. Admittedly the Dark Force Powers seem a lot more useful early on but is best to keep a balance.

Upon completing the first five missions (although you only need to complete four) the storyline advances giving you a mission and then afterwards another choice of five more. There are about 18-19 missions in total. The missions range from kill all the bad guys to disarming bombs and gathering ship parts. There is a fair amount of variety in objectives and these keep the game seeming fresh till the end. The levels are pretty big and only a few have more than one loading screen. There are also Checkpoints scatted through out so when you get past a certain point you’ll be able to restart from there (with the same amount of health you had when you passed mind), although on some levels the checkpoints seem a bit stretched out.

You’re given a choice of weapons to pick from before a mission, and you’re still able to pick others up in the level. But the Light Saber is what the games all about and it’s very unlikely you’re going to favor another weapon. Also it’s near impossible to defeat foes with light sabers without using yours (and there’s a enemy Light Saber user on almost every level).

The graphics are good; each level looks different from any of the previous ones, and the character models are fairly detailed although can go a bit wonky from time to time. The music is good, you can hear bits from the Star Wars films in the background music but not much else will catch your attention. The blaster sounds from enemies can get somewhat annoying after a while. The voices are done fairly well and if Mark Hamill hasn’t lent his voice to Luke for the game then I will be shocked. Also there’s a bit of humor in the game, you can often hear the enemies talking to each other, from Snow Troopers on Hoth who are scared of Wampas to ex-Storm Troopers telling their fellow lackeys why they left. Most of these conversations will bring a small smile to most faces wither they be Star Wars fans or not.

Jedi Academy is a great game, however it does have its fair share of flaws, A.I. in certain enemies is rather poor with some Dark Jedi falling off cliffs when jumping, this plus a rather steep difficulty curve in some of the later levels. The major downside however is the lack of puzzles. In the second level the game teaches you that some puzzles can be overcome by using Force Sense, and Push or Pull. While this is true, there are no major puzzles until towards the end of the game and by then you’ve forgotten that there could even possibly be a puzzle where you are.

Jedi Academy should be seriously considered by those who can’t afford the 40 quid for the newest Star Wars game, or those who want a nice bargain.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 9th May 05

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