... an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy isn't exactly a sequel to last year's Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.  Greater than a mere expansion pack, but not as evolutionary as a traditional sequel, Jedi Academy might best be termed an enhancement.  Despite a new protagonist to follow, and a new evil plot to thwart (or join), the engine, combat, controls and practical feel of Jedi Academy is nearly identical to its immediate predecessor save one important distinction.  Where Jedi Outcast sought to tell an epic tale of a hero's self-discovery, Jedi Academy is all about hitting things with a lightsaber.  At once Jedi Academy is blatantly reminiscent of Jedi Outcast, but happily, a notable departure from frustrating jumping puzzles and too long spent with only a blaster at your side. 

Jedi Academy's venerable pedigree is on an order of complexity one might expect from a royal family.  Despite the direct line that can be traced to Dark Forces, Jedi Academy is related only in name; the first in the series that doesn't put the player into the role of former mercenary, twice jedi, Kyle Katarn.  Like its predecessors, Jedi Academy borrows the best of what's come before and trims the chaff, which mitigates the occasional feeling that you've done this all before.  And, that sense of familiarity is, at times, palpable.

Still, if there's a threshold at which I no longer derive pleasure from force gripping stormtroopers and hurling them into lava or an infinite abyss I've yet to find it.  On the most basic level, what works in Jedi Academy is its complete focus on putting the player primarily into the combat role of a jedi.  Perhaps a turn to the dark side might be inevitable for Academy's protagonist, as he/she is quick to swing first and ask questions later.  Bad for diplomacy, but good for gameplay, this is Academy's greatest strength, a series of barely connected but diverse single player missions that focus on dispatching Remnant forces and dark jedi cultists across numerous worlds.  Rarely ponderous, Academy dismisses the usual series of tiresome opening missions to earn jedi powers, and cuts to the chase.  You begin the game with a lightsaber.

The story behind Jedi Academy centers on a plot by the Cult of Ragnos who seek to drain the power of the force  ... blah blah blah, who cares?  You'll barely notice the plot as it unfolds between your in-the-field academy training - read: excuses to hit things with your lightsaber - and honestly you'll be all the happier for it.  This isn't Shakespeare, and it doesn't need to be.  Just assume someone somewhere is doing something bad, that they need a little forcible correcting., and that you're just the jedi with enough Force to do it.

Along with Academy's mercenary style mission structure, the game also reduces the scope and complexity of most of its levels, often centering each mission around a given theme.  From sabotaging an abandoned weapons cache, to a high velocity speeder joust, to exploring the wastes of Hoth astride a tauntaun, to fighting through a cadre of dark jedi while being pursued by a mutated rancor, the crux of Academy's levels are visceral and realtively swift missions framed by a few more traditional epic plot levels.

In many ways, Jedi Academy's altered focus dispatches with the nuances of Star Wars altogether.  As a jedi no real distinction is made between light force powers and dark.  In fact, you'll be encouraged to find a balance between the two, which means in the eyes of your teachers force lightning is every bit as 'good' as force heal.  Much of the mythos, that has been known to hamstring a game or two that's come before, is only tacitly adressed, and when it comes in conflict with keeping Academy fun and furious, gameplay always wins out.  If you're one to get caught up in the honor and reason of the jedi order, then Academy may prove disappointing.  If, however, you've always wanted to wield dual lightsabres against your foes, then you might just be giddy.

When it comes right down to it, this is a game about lightsaber combat, and Jedi Academy builds nicely off Jedi Outcast's system in both single and multiplayer.  By and large, the lightsaber battles have been extended with the option of wielding dual lightsabers or a double-bladed saber instead of the traditional single blade.  Different styles have varying strengths and weaknesses, from combat stances, to special moves, to saber throws and kicks.  Ultimately your choice may primarily be a function of aesthetics, as each style is viable and even optimal given the circumstances. 

Further the game opens up greater degrees of customization, allowing players the flexibility of choosing their avatar's appearance as well as that of their lightsaber(s).  With options to change hilts and blade color, Academy goes some distance toward giving your character a, perhaps threadbare, sense of identity.  It's a minor option, ultimately, but an appreciated one.

Visually Jedi Academy is born from the Quake III engine which retains surprising relevance despite its age.  A little weathered looking from time to time, generally the QIII engine, which as always is in expert hands at Raven, performs admirably.  The sound is also suitably satisfying.  Lightsabers go 'skzzzst' and 'fwooong' to the backdrop of John Williams soundtrack just like they should ... what more could you expect?  It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it's refined nearly to its theoretical limit.  Like the rest of Academy, Raven seems to have crafted a final technical statement on the Quake III lineage of games.

Though Academy includes two new multiplayer gameplay types, the class based Siege and Power Dual - a two-on-one gameplay type a la Qui Gon and Obi Wan vs. Darth Maul - they are window dressing at best.  Within the more traditional gametypes, and to my distinct pleasure, the dominating sabre attacks that so imbalanced Outcast's multiplayer modes have been properly adjusted, and generally speaking battles have become more intense and extended.  However, for servers without reasonable restrictions, Free For All matches still regularly devolve into Force Lightning spam mingled with Force Grip and Force Push into the multitudinous caverns across most levels.  It probably goes without saying, but your multiplayer satisfaction has more to do with the people who share your server than anything Academy does technically speaking.  The netcode is solid and reliable making Academy's performance on a server with adequate bandwith virtually flawless. 

In general Jedi Academy brings nothing significantly new to the table, but as our own Pyroman recently pontificated, that's not always the most important element of consideration.  Jedi Academy is a redefinition of the fundamental game we saw in Jedi Outcast, and that turns out to be a pretty satisfying revision.  In traditional Raven fashion, Jedi Academy's single player mode is a relatively quick, but pleasingly concise game.  Not for those who want to explore the serious jedi mind, but instead those who want furious saber combat across varied locales, Jedi Academy comes out of the corner swinging.  Ultimately Jedi Academy is most easily recommended to those who wished Jedi Outcast had started five levels in with Kyle Katarn staring down enemies, lightsaber in hand.  Like I said from the start, Academy is not a game about how you got your lightsaber, but what you do with it, and that's fine by me.

- Elysium