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By Brad Cook Right now on a Macintosh near you… It is a wonderful time for Star Wars games. Publisher Aspyr Media, coming off the successful release of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, now brings you Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This new game allows you to create your own Jedi and travel the galaxy. |
Encounter foes old and new as you assist the New Republic, which is still plagued by the Imperial Remnant and the Dark Jedi known as the Reborn. Hone your Jedi Powers and enhance your lightsaber skills as you complete your missions.
You will put your enhanced abilities to good use when friend becomes foe and Jedi turn on Jedi during the climactic battle in the Valley of the Dark Lords. How it ends depends on your decision to embrace the Dark side or the Light. But first you must make your way to the Jedi Academy and begin your training…
Elegant Weapons. Stormtroopers are no match for a Jedi equipped with two lightsabers.
A New Recruit
Pan down to the fourth moon of Yavin, where a shuttle screams in low over the same lush jungles that hid the Rebel base before the destruction of the first Death Star. Your character, Jaden Korr, gets to know a new recruit named Rosh before an explosion rocks the shuttle’s wing and causes it to crash. You set out on foot to Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy, encountering stormtroopers and a Reborn along the way. You realize that something is rotten on Yavin Four.
Meanwhile, someone has infiltrated the venerable, temple-like Academy building and stolen Luke’s personal journal. Using his entries as a guide, this person has begun visiting planets that are home to Dark Side power and siphoning off the Dark energy for their own purposes. You must find out who they are and what they want.
“Kyle Katarn was a great protagonist in four of the Jedi Knight games, including Jedi Outcast,” explains Brett Tosti, producer at original developer LucasArts, “but we wanted to explore a new character and how he or she handles the power and responsibility of the Force after training at the Jedi Academy.”
A Jedi, Like Other Players Before You
Unlike Jedi Outcast, in which Katarn had to regain his Force powers as well as his lightsaber, you begin Jedi Academy as a character adept in the Force and already equipped with a saber. You select one of five races — human, Rodian, Twi’lek, Zabrak or Kel Dor — and tweak your appearance to your liking. While you can be either male or female if you choose human, the other races have a specified gender, such as Twi’lek female or Rodian male.
Lucky We Found You First. A troublesome trio.
“The main lesson we learned from [the development of] Outcast was that the most compelling aspect of the Jedi Knight series is the ability to wield a lightsaber,” notes Tosti. “So this time we decided to give the player a lightsaber from the get-go. Judging from the feedback we’ve received, the change was a wise decision.”
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 Star Wars Jedi Knight Gold Pack available for online ordering 24 hours a day, every day. |
Your saber is also customizable. You can select from a variety of hilts and blade colors, and you can even wield two of them or one that’s double-ended, like Darth Maul’s weapon in The Phantom Menace. You begin the game skilled in the medium combat style, which is the middle-of-the-road option, but later you can switch to fast, which emphasizes quick attacks, or strong, which allows you to rain heavier blows on your enemies.
![The main lesson we learned from [the development of] Outcast was that the most compelling aspect of the Jedi Knight series is the ability to wield a lightsaber. So this time we decided to give the player a lightsaber from the get-go. —Brett Tosti](http://bradcook.net/games/articles/2003/12/jediacademy/images/quote2.gif)
Quicker, Easier, More Seductive
While many other adventure games place you on a linear path, Jedi Academy allows you to choose your missions as you help Kyle and Luke figure out who is behind the latest threat to the New Republic. Your journeys take you not only to such familiar planets as Hoth and Tatooine but also new places like Vjun, where Darth Vader kept a castle retreat. While the concept of Vader’s castle was developed and dropped during pre-production of one of the original films, Tosti says he’s “not exactly sure what the impetus was for that idea.
Not Enough Life on This Ice Cube to Fill a Space Cruiser. Except, perhaps, for the Remnant forces who have returned to Hoth.
“Vader’s castle was mentioned in numerous expanded universe references,” he continues. “And as much as possible, we wanted to tie into the classic trilogy, so the addition of Vader’s castle was a great way to do that.”
Trips to such places underscore the temptation of the Dark side of the Force in Jedi Academy. While you can develop such Dark side powers as Force grip (the choke move employed by Vader whenever one of his commanders made a mistake) and Force lightning (as shown when the Emperor took out his wrath on Luke in Return of the Jedi), Tosti points out that eventually you must “either choose the Light side or go down the path of evil.
And Who Have We Here? Lando Calrissian versus a Tusken Raider. Only in multiplayer.
“Once this decision is made, the game splits, giving you a different experience based on that choice. You will also have one of two possible endings.”
If you liked this game, check out:
Halo: Combat Evolved Red Faction Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Unreal Tournament 2003|
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