Star Wars® Jedi Knight®: Jedi Academy™ (from publisher LucasArts and developer Raven Software) blends a roleplaying-style character-building system with the non-stop first-person shooter action long a staple of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series. Besides bringing a major graphical upgrade to the Jedi Outcast engine and a gripping story line that you’ll get to build yourself, Raven has also gone womp-wild on the multiplayer options, with new game types and XboxLive play.
But, the real meat of this series is the single-player experience, which will never play the same way twice. For the first time, you can create your own Jedi from scratch—whether he be alien or human—and (as the title implies) send him to school. No running around Kejim, Bespin, or Taris without a Force power or a lightsaber to your name. Here, you’re a Jedi from the outset.
But, you won’t be spending much time with lightsaber revisions and pop levitation quizzes. As soon as you get the basics in a well-designed tutorial level, set in and around Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, you’ll make Padawan. Then, it’s time to go study in the field with Master Kyle Katarn.
Jedi Basics Jedi Academy gives you the chance to customize your Jedi in a wide variety of cool ways, but a few strategies are important no matter what you decide to pursue.
Fight with Style Just because you only fight in defense doesn’t mean you don’t fight! You’ll get to build your own saber, and your first model will be a simple single-bladed variety. But, with only a few modifications, you can have a double-bladed saber with a 360-degree range of attack that can then breaks into two sabers—so you can throw one with the left trigger, while you hack away with the second. There are drawbacks to modified sabers, however. Some will prevent you from using certain Force powers. Once you’ve settled on the weapon style you’ll use, make sure the powers you choose can operate while your hands are busy.
Vary Your Stance Every lightsaber duelist has a choice of three stances for combat, each with different strengths and weaknesses. (You can shift your stance at the touch of a button.) Use a fast stance when you’re fighting a single enemy and need to make multiple strikes quickly or against hordes of easy-to-slice opponents. Use the more heavy-handed attack when fighting monsters like the rancor. Or, if you don’t want to ever worry about it, use the normal stance that gives you a little of both.
Keep Your Eyes Open Like in Jedi Knight and Jedi Outcast, you’ll need to use your Force powers to solve many of the puzzles in the game. You can turn on your Force sight for an assist if you can’t find the right block to push or pull, but you can save Force energy by just watching your targeting reticule. If you can use Push or Pull on an object, you’ll get a little blue swirly thing where your reticule usually is. And, odds are, if you can Push or Pull it, it’s part of the puzzle.
Take Sides With Kyle Katarn as a teacher, you’re not likely to get a lot of Skywalker preachiness. Kyle’s seen both sides of the Force and knows that each side is strong. You are a Jedi, so you can only go so far over the edge, but you’ll find that favoring either Dark or Light powers will give you different advantages.
Do or Do Not There is no try. You can give up on a mission and jump to the next one, but you won’t be able to make a habit of it. Eventually, you’ll have to go back to face whatever was giving you trouble. Take a cue from Yoda, and just do it.
