Fin Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 in Padawan mode, took me about 20 hours with a many reloads and without sleep . Lenghtwise a great game, and with one more mission I would call it almost perfect. Padawan mode is not difficult, but that's what it is for I think. Some early lightsaber fights proved difficult thought due to the lack of experience. What I like about the game, is that you never really need to backtrack in a lvl to flip a switch that you might have missed. If you're stuck, concentrate on where you are and not on what you might have overlooked. If you remember 3 things, you won't have real problems finding the right way. 1. You're a Jedi, you can jump high 2. You're a Jedi, you can move crates/minds/switches/walls with the force 3. Grates and barrels can be blown up The game itself, I still prefer the user interface of Unreal engined games over Q3A ones, esp. for configuring keys and the server browser, but that is on a minor point. I played the game at 800*600*32 on a Athlon1500+/Radeon8500/512mb/fast HD with everything maxed, but without volumetric shadows. They may look great from time to time but screw up things more then they improve. Slowdowns were there, but only seldom. Long lvl load times due to the very high texture settings bothered me, but I needed to go to the toilet anyway . The graphics ranged from dull to stunning. I really disliked the look of the swamp level and although I set the textures to max. I thought they could've looked better. If you have the chance, play SeriousSam:SE with all whistles and detail textures enabled you'll see great texture work. Even though StarWars is a world of metal and not of wood and stone, I think it can look better than it does. But the animations are the best I've ever experienced in a game that I played. How everything moved, how they got up if they stumbled, how they fell when killed. Amazing. So many variations. The level design was always filled with diversity, at least to me it never grew boring. The recreated sceneries seemed real, although I thought, that Yavin was more of a jungle planet rather than swampy and rocky. That did not fit to my memories. Great job on the sound effects and the music, how it changes when you enter battle and how every location has its own theme. Esp when you visit the Jedi Temple the 2nd time the music sent shivers down my spine. The mixture of in-game cutscenes and prerendered videos was a nice touch. Very well done. Regarding the weapons, well, I tried to play lightsaber/force only whenever I could. The only weapons I really ever used apart from the stormtrooper rifle where the bowcaster, the disruptor for it's zooming ability and a couple of thermal detonators. Not to forget that javagun for all non-living enemies. I found the repeater gun pretty useless and since I never felt the need to use the others, I left them on my back. A similar situation, from all the equipment that I carried I only used the bacta tanks and both goggles. I don't say that the stuff that I never touched is useless, but when you plan to play as much jedi-like as you can, and on padawan difficulty, you don't need it. Maybe it is the lack of experience, but so for I could not really find out how far I may stand away from my opponent in a lightsaber duel. Either we are almost so close we could be married, or I'm too far away to hit. What I also found lacking was that you cannot look at your enemy and say "I know how badly he is wounded". The only hint of a hit that you get is a different sound effect. The enemy AI was pretty good, too. I liked how they strafed and crouched in fights. That they ran when you killed too many of their comrades and when you pulled the weapon out of their hands they eventually picked up another. What I didn't like was the totally lack interest in self damage, esp. from the granade throwing ones. They had no problem to kill themselves. Another negative for me was the godlike sight of the enemies. In the NarShadda lvl you just need to hold your little toe around a corner and a sniper on the other end of the map will hit it in an instant. Sometimes they're so far away that you can't see them even when you use your scope. To conclude this, I am pleased to say that, for me, JediKnight 2 is the best SP experience since Undying. A nice story, the game looks great, sounds great, plays great and has just about the perfect lenght. Since I just found out, how to enable dismemberment in the german version, I'll put this to "on" and start the game from the beginning on a higher difficulty and in english. I hope that everybody who plays JK2 will enjoy it as much as I did. MoH:AA and RtCW can't touch this. May the force be with you. Needed playtime(not realtime) : Imperial Outpost : 1hr. longest time taken for : can't remember really, the lvl is just straight. Pretty well done introduction lvl, no complaints. Mining Facility : 2:20 hrs. took me a while to figure out how to board a mining car, beyond that no problems. Jedi Test : 0:15 hr. I had no problems there, the tests are very intuitively structured. ( Use one power, use another, combine 2 powers...) What I'd have liked to have was the possibility to enter the jedi saber sparring room. NarShadda : 3:00 hrs This was maybe the toughest lvl in the game in terms of "where do I need to go?". After I set back a little and thought about where I imagined I needed to go, I found a way. 2 situations in this lvl without a clue where to go. Bespin : 1:50 hr. Pretty straight up map, but it took me a while to figure out how to saber fight vs a skilled opponent. It was fun to force push the lesser jedis to the ground and cut them down while they tried to stand up. Asteroid : 3:00 hrs. It is just that huge ! And the stealth part is a not needed (as in otherwise dull gameplay) but welcome change in pace. The end boss was down in 30 seconds. I did not think that I used a tactic that hasn't been thought of. Doomgiver : 2:30 hrs. So many dead stormtrooper.... Yavin : 3 hrs. Very nive saber fights,but I'd wished for some Jedi to accompany me to take on even more "wannabe-jedis". I had some problems in the swamp part to find the right way. Water is not always shallow. The 2nd Jedi labyrinth took me a while, but only because I kept overlooking a switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neovsmatrix Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Were you able to get 3d sound in the game? I think Jedi Knights 2 supports only stereo, which is a very poor decision on their part, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makkoan Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Awsome reveiw!!! These types of threads just make me want it more!!! ONLY A COUPLE MORE HOURS!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaG|Kaiser Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Good review. I'm getting better with the saber, but in the bar portion of Nar, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. How do we increase our force powers? Is it done on a factor of use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neojin Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Nice review...but I have to ask, why 800x600 with such a nice system? And you still experianced slow downs in this mode? Is your Radeon not fully compatible? It sounds like you might have a problem somewhere. There is no reason why you could not run in 1280x with full detail. Perhaps there is a reason why I chose the G3 over the Radeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedimaster74 Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Thanks for the Awesome Review.. I can't wait to play this game. From what you are saying about the levels sounds awesome. By the way is their a training Tutorial for this game or is that during the game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ps2maddenman Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 "MoH:AA and RtCW can't tough this. " lol great review btw. 1nce again Fin is da man (even though you played on padawan mode.....????) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamrock Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 My thoughts : I completely agree with all your points! My only real gripe is the damn green-ugly-sniper-thingys. Like you say they have super vision. As for saber fighting, the single-player's saber battles rock the house! I'm playing on Jedi mode and they are pretty tough customers. Especially the 1st real Jedi boss. Compared to multi-player, the SP battles are more like the films with saber locks, lots of blocking and Sith Lord taunts, all in all a lot more fun! Buy this game, have your intelligence tested and have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fin Posted March 28, 2002 Author Share Posted March 28, 2002 Force power increase automatically. You get a message on the screen "New force powers" just like "new mission opjective" (dunno the right translation). Then you can go and look in your datapad for a highlighted one, since it does not actually tell you which power increased. I'm used to play everything at 800*600 kinda. I am very sensitive to framerates and get dizzy when they drop too low. There were a couple of low-downs, in the last map some quite heavy ones. But since the frame counter is not worth 1 cent I'm never sure how high the framerate actually is. Honestly I expected it to run better than it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedimaster74 Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Originally posted by Fin Force power increase automatically. You get a message on the screen "New force powers" just like "new mission opjective" (dunno the right translation). Then you can look in your datapad voor a highlighted one, since it does not actually tell you which power increased. I'm used to play everything at 800*600 kinda. I am very sensitive to framerates and get dizzy when they drop too low. There were a couple of low-downs, in the last map some quite heavy ones. But since the frame counter is not worth 1 cent I'm never sure how high the framerate actually is. Honestly I expected it to run better than it does. Give it a Patch or Two and I am sure it will run a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fin Posted March 28, 2002 Author Share Posted March 28, 2002 MoH:AA and RtCW can't tough this. I meant touch of course, not tough. I corrected that. Thx for the flowers to all btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaG|Kaiser Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 There is a portion where they give you the opportunity to play with the basic force powers. You are forced to use them to complete portions of one level, and it is specifically designed with those powers in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fin Posted March 28, 2002 Author Share Posted March 28, 2002 As for saber fighting, the single-player's saber battles rock the house! I'm playing on Jedi mode and they are pretty tough customers. Especially the 1st real Jedi boss. Compared to multi- player, the SP battles are more like the films with saber locks, lots of blocking and Sith Lord taunts, all in all a lot more fun! Yes, that's exactly my opinion. MP saberbattles turn into trying to backstab your opponent and running in circles like wild. On the other hand, the SP battles are intense sword slashing with calm moments, too, in which you and your opponent stand a couple of feet apart and just watch each other. So great ! I'd loved to have a couple of more fight along other jedi in the end, but you can't have everything, can you ? (I love how the enemy jedis rotate the saber over their hand, I wished Kyle could do that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishJedi Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 Thanks for the review -- you have a gift for conveying just the sort of information that actual gamers would want to know. (Unlike some 'professional reviewers' who just show off -- you know, "Well, the control system's config tweak reminds one of the F9 tornado spell used in the little appreciated Swamp Debutante Commando game of 1997" -- that sort of crap.) We all appreciate your sacrifice in playing the game straight through so that we would get your assessment right away. Though, if you were really dedicated you would have gotten a catheter and a big bag so you wouldn't have needed those toilet breaks, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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