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Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Walkthrough

This GameSpot Walkthrough to Jedi Academy provides everything you need to advance your character from a padawan up to a full Jedi Knight. It includes a full walkthrough, weapon and enemy listings, and tips on dueling and Force powers.

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By The Stratos Group
Design by Katie Bush

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is the fourth game in the Dark Forces series of games, which now ranks alongside Doom and Wolfenstein as one of the most venerable members of the first-person genre, even if it has shed the Dark Forces moniker. It marks a new direction for the series; after the events of Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Outcast, Academy is the first game in the series not to focus on the Kyle Katarn character; instead, for this game, you’ll be able to create and customize a character of your own.

In addition to the new character creation process, Jedi Academy offers a few new gameplay innovations, like a mission-based single-player storyline, new acrobatic moves for your Jedi, and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to choose dual-bladed or dual-wielded lightsabers. On the multiplayer side of things, Academy serves up 20 maps for its free for all, capture the flag, and duel gametypes, and offers up the new, objectives-based siege multiplayer mode.

The GameSpot game guide to Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is your one-stop resource for everything you need to know about the game, from the single-player walk-through (complete with every optional secret area), tips on dueling, using force powers, weapons, and even cheats. You may be a mere Padawan now, but this guide will have you on the road to Knighthood in no time.

Walk-through

Yavin Forest

You begin your little adventure by being stranded on Yavin after a shuttle crash, with only an annoying fellow Jedi wannabe for company. The poor fool doesn’t even have a lightsaber, so you’ll need to protect him until you reach safety. Luckily, there’s not much to worry about on Yavin except for some indigenous flora.

First things first: rescue Rosh by crossing the river and cutting down the tree with your lightsaber. You’ll need to use a horizontal stroke, so hit the attack button while strafing for the desired effect. After Rosh is free, start walking upstream, but be on guard for howlers. These little guys aren’t much of a threat, but they can stun you if you get too close. Take the opportunity to try out your lightsaber throw power, or just let Rosh shoot them with his blaster.

Rosh will open the locked door you encounter; apparently he’s a little better with force powers at this point of the game. You’ll need to make one more tree bridge, and then it’s smooth sailing until the end of the level, when you’ll hit your first real action. You’ll want to press the attack on the stormtroopers; you aren’t quite adept enough to block all of the incoming fire. After the stormtroopers are eliminated, you’ll encounter your first Reborn. Dispatch him with horizontal slices, and proceed on to the next level.

Yavin Training Grounds

You and Rosh will begin your training at the same time, in the Jedi Academy’s new and improved training grounds. Kyle is going to set up a few challenges for you, so that you can try out your force powers. Be sure you know how to access your force powers; the best way to use them is to bind each power to its own individual key, so you don’t have to scroll through them all when you want to use a particular power. Push and pull are both going to be used quite often during your travels, so you’ll want to have them quickly accessible on your keyboard.

Your first test requires you to take out a few training remotes. They’re small enough to be difficult to hit, but they won’t be able to hurt you very much, so take your time and eliminate them individually with vertical strokes of your saber.

Your jump power is the next one that you’ll utilize. Unlike most of the other powers, you don’t need to bind this to a special key; it’s automatically activated whenever you jump. Holding down the jump key will result in a higher jump, although at this stage of the game, that’s not saying much. Use your jumping prowess to cross the broken bridge. At the end of the bridge, you’ll come across a suspiciously discolored wall; use your push power to break it down and head through.

Your little friend Rosh will immediately sic a training droid on you in the next area. Get used to fighting these guys, as you’ll see a few of them throughout the game. Take it down in the same manner as the Reborn you fought earlier: horizontal, back-and-forth slashes.

In the next room, force pull the switch behind the grate to open the door, then use sense in the next room to find a few stones you’ll need to pull in order to create a jumping path to the upper walkway. From there, it’s a straight shot to the speed test. You’ll know you’re nearby when Kyle starts talking again. When you reach the outdoor area with two doors, activate your speed power and run directly towards either one of them. You might need to crouch as you get close to the door to prevent it from blocking you off; in any case, if you can’t get through the door, head back and try again.

Now that you’re done with your physical challenges, you’ll meet up with Rosh and Kyle. Having completed your training, you’ll be able to choose your first missions from Luke.

Tier 1

One innovation in Jedi Academy is the ability to choose the order of the missions that you’ll be taking; feel free to pick out any that interest you to begin the game with. For the sake of standardization, we’ll be treating them in the same order as the game presents them.

Before you begin your first mission, you’ll need to start further customizing your character, by choosing Force powers. These selections are permanent after you start a mission, so choose wisely. Force heal is a good choice to start off with, since health can sometimes be scarce, and there aren’t any portable bacta tanks for instant health boosts. Force grip is a useful follow-up, since you’ll be wading into more Reborn in the second tier of the game.

You’ll also be asked to choose weaponry before you head out on a mission. Your initial choices are restricted to the blaster rifle, bowcaster, disruptor rifle, and the DEMP Gun. For most of the missions in the first tier, the obvious choices are going to be the disruptor rifle and the DEMP Gun; you’ll find plenty of blaster rifles around, and, well, the bowcaster has been a terrible weapon since the very first Dark Forces game. Thermal detonators are the best explosives to choose for most missions; detpacks and trip mines are useful in multiplayer, but are less effective during the single-player game.

Mercenary Activity - Tatooine

Get used to the storytelling conceit of Kyle and your character heading off for a mission and then becoming immediately separated; it’s going to happen fairly often. Luckily, you get a little help in the form of a Special Guest Star in this mission.

After the cutscenes, you’ll find yourself and Chewbacca facing off against a starport full of the usual scum; Rodians, Weequay, and the like. These guys are not individually very dangerous, but you’ll quickly see that the game makes up for this by throwing half a dozen of them at you at one time, so you’ll want to dispatch them quickly and efficiently. From the starting point, you and Chewie will need to progress through the innards of the docking ring in order to get to your ships. There are quite a few enemies in the way, though, so don’t be afraid to take out a ranged weapon to deal with them.

Jump over these crates to find this secret area.
Jump over these crates to find this secret area.

Eventually, you’ll find that whoever’s running this place has locked a tractor beam onto your ship and the Millenium Falcon. Keep moving on until you return to the Raven’s Claw; there’s a secret area hidden behind some crates in a corner of that portion of the docking ring.

When you’re ready to proceed, move towards the door surrounded by the explosive crates; Chewbacca will be left behind, leaving you to complete the mission.

From there, it’s more or less a straight path to the tractor beam controls. Once you reach the control room, dispatch the Reborn and hit the switches near the windows to disable both of the tractor beams. When that’s done, take the elevator downstairs to meet up with Chewbacca again. Head back outside for one last fight, after which Kyle reappears and the mission ends.

Droid Recovery - Tatooine

Not much to comment on here -- this is another gauntlet level, this time populated with Sandpeople. At least the Tuskan raiders aren’t quite as monstrous as they are in Knights of the Old Republic. Their gaffi sticks can knock you down, though, so you might want to take the opportunity to unleash a bit of hot laser death on them before they can close to melee range. If you didn’t start the mission with a blaster rifle, you can pick one up near the first group of Jawas that you encounter.

The secret area lurks behind this ultra-secretive hidden door.
The secret area lurks behind this ultra-secretive hidden door.

Head along the canyon floor until you come to a structure. Proceed inside and take out all of the Tuskans that you encounter. There’s a not-so-secret area inside a door near the ramp that leads to the upper level here; you’ll know you’re there when you see a protocol droid lying on the floor.

Go up the ramp and head across the outdoor area to reach another Tuskan cave. You’ll have an uncomplicated journey from there to the clearing where the Sandcrawler was apparently waylaid by the Tuskan brigands; you’ll need to get inside. Once you find the ramp in the rear of the ship, use Pull to bring down the odd-looking crane that’s hanging above your head. Ride the crane up to the next level, clear out the Tuskans, then jump to the second level of the walkway and flip the switch. This will unlock the elevator on the first level here; Pull the crate that blocks the way and head up.

Shoot this pipe to cool down the lava.
Shoot this pipe to cool down the lava.

In case you’ve never played an FPS game before, that red material at the bottom of the pit in the next room is lava. In a bit of puzzle design recycled from the last level of Jedi Outcast, you’ll need to bust the leaky pipe near you to create a crust over the molten metal, thus creating a space you can walk over.

There’s another flame puzzle in the next room; head to the back of the room and time your jump to coincide with the cessation of the uppermost flaming jet. Flip the switch to disable the flames, then ride the elevator down to the cargo hold. After some maneuvering, and more pulling of crates, you’ll find the R2 unit you’re looking for. You’ll need to hit use on it to activate it; it’ll handily unlock an escape chute, letting you quickly return to the surface. After one more Tuskan fight, the mission ends.

Emergency Assistance - Bakura

Unfortunately, Kyle won’t be tagging along for this mission, but as you might be discovering, his presence isn’t exactly all that helpful anyway. As it is, the situation on Bakura isn’t anything you can’t handle by yourself.

The first room in the base also contains the first secret area. Take a right once you come through the door, then smash the grate that restricts your access to a couple of powerups.

Smash the grate and grab the items.
Smash the grate and grab the items.

Both of the doors here are locked; you’ll need to use the camera control to alert the guards to your presence before you can leave. In so doing, you discover that Imperials are attempting to destroy the facility. Why? Well…just because, apparently. At any rate, you’ll need to find and disable five bombs to prevent the mayhem; your sense ability can pinpoint each of these bombs, so use it if you ever get stuck.

Another secret area awaits you underneath the stairs after the stormtroopers unlock the door; you’ll need to crouch to reach the items. The top of the stairs reveals a fork in the road; head up the ramp and destroy the trip mines to reach the first of the five bombs that you’ll need to disable before the mission can be completed. Deactivate it, then head back to the fork and proceed down the long path to the exterior portion of this level.

Your first encounter with the dreaded camouflaged saboteurs will occur around here. These fellows pack laser pistols, but are mostly invisible from sight until they attack, and have a lot more health than their vanilla counterparts. Still, you have a lightsaber, and they don’t, so you shouldn’t have much trouble with them.

Keep moving down the hallway, past the control room and another dodge-the-flaming-jets room. Destroy the turret, then head into one of the ever-popular dodge-the-trip-mines-which-have-been-placed-so-that-you-can’t-shoot-them room. You can jump over most of the lasers quite easily, or just use the DEMP gun’s alt-fire to destroy them from around the corners.

Bountiful piles of loot await you behind the fuel cylinders.
Bountiful piles of loot await you behind the fuel cylinders.

Anyway, the room at the end of the hall contains an officer with a security key. Grab the key, then head upstairs to the second bomb. Once it’s disabled, head back to the ramp where the turret was placed, and unlock the door leading outside.

Just so we’re on the same page, hang a left once you pass over the bridge. Apparently your mere presence is enough to provoke spontaneous combustion on the part of the weaker-willed garrison here, if the completely inexplicable explosion in the nearby building is any indication. If you hug the wall to your left, you’ll come across another bomb near a few white fuel cylinders. Disable it, grab the security key from the nearby officer, then check around the back of the cylinders to find another secret area.

There’s yet one more secret area to hit outside; find the lift near the stationary turret that you passed earlier and ride it down. There’s an easily-found pathway leading to some items nearby.

Secret area number five.
Secret area number five.

Once you’ve disabled the exterior bomb, we’ll have to head inside the main building to find and switch off the final two. The locked door is near the laser turret. Proceeding inside, you’ll encounter the fourth bomb soon enough, on the bottom level of a room full of cyclotrons. There’s also a secret area here, on the middle level of the room.

Disable the bomb and take the lift nearby. The adjacent door will lead to the fifth and final bomb. Switch it off, then run the gauntlet of reinforcements that block your passage back to your ship. Once you reach it, the mission ends.

Merchant Rescue - Blenjeel

If you’re seeing this, you’re already dead.
If you’re seeing this, you’re already dead.

This is one of the briefest missions in the game, as the entire level takes place in an area about the size of a football field. Unfortunately, the merchants who sent the distress call have been eaten, and not by each other: in a rather flagrant appropriation from Dune, Blenjeel is populated by desert-burrowing sand worms. They won’t pose much of a threat to you, however, since you should be able to easily spot the signs of their passing on the surface of the planet. If you do find yourself needing to cross a spot of ground (which shouldn’t happen, since there are conspicuously placed jumping paths everywhere), you can use your Force speed power to reduce the chances of an attack.

Since the merchants are dead, your only goal here is to find four parts that you’ll need to repair your ship. In a rather astonishingly incredible stroke of luck, you managed to crash land within a few meters of the merchants' ship; since they no longer have any need of their dilithium crystals and plasma coils, you can guiltlessly cannibalize their ship parts for use in your own.

As with the bombs in the last mission, you can use your sense power to spot where the four pieces of equipment are, so track them down and return them to your ship one by one. All you have to do to repair your ship is place the item in one of the four red, empty slots; there are three in the first room of your ship and one in the main passenger bay. Get all four parts and return them successfully to end the mission.

Cult Investigation - Corellia

You can find items down here, if you don’t fall off the ledge.
You can find items down here, if you don’t fall off the ledge.

Turns out some terrorists are attempting to re-enact Under Siege 2 by taking over a train. It’s your sworn duty as a Jedi, and as a licensed Steven Segal impersonator, to stop them. Freeze your face into a hideous death-rictus, prepare lame quips, then start moving up the train.

Your first secret area is available immediately after you begin the level, by following the very narrow ledge to the right of where you start to a little alcove with a health and shieldpak.

All you need to do to find the secrets here is to drop down.
All you need to do to find the secrets here is to drop down.

From there, jump on top of the first tram car, then use the door on its front side to enter it and shut down the electricity that prevents access to the second car. Proceed forward from there. Once you reach the car loaded with crates, head to the upper level and jump over to the car where the Reborn awaits you. On the car after the Reborn, you can either proceed through the doors, or jump onto the roof, which contains a couple of medpaks and a large shield booster.

Eventually you’ll come across a large, enclosed car with two doors on either side. Ahead of this car is a dead-end on the lowest level, so you’ll need to head inside (take the door on the right side of the car) to get up top and proceed on the rooftop level. Once you’re inside the car, take the lift up, then shoot out the power junctions to drop the blue shielding. From there, grab the powerups, then smash the ceiling window and get on the roof of the car. Proceed forward until you’re forced to drop back to the lowest level of the tram, then look underneath the car with the large fuel cylinder on it for the second secret area.

You’ll need to walk along the side of the lead car before you can jump on top of it.
You’ll need to walk along the side of the lead car before you can jump on top of it.

Proceed forward until you reach the car with the bomb. Disable it, and the hijackers will implement their back-up plan, which for some reason consists of ramming the train into the next station, even though they’re all still aboard. Very spiteful people, these hijackers are.

Head to the front of the train towards the control car. You’ll know you’re there when the Reborn jumps off of the roof and attacks you. Once you’ve cleared the car out, head around the outside and jump on the roof; the level’s only secret area is on top of the car. After you’re done with everything, use the controls in the forward car to end the level.

Hoth - Exterior

Welcome to Hoth, home of bloodthirsty Wampa and sub-sub-zero temperatures. Luckily, you won’t be outside for too long.

The first secret area here is immediately behind your starting point. Head into the cave and take on the Wampa. They’ve toughened up a bit since Luke last fought one, and can take a heck of a lot of lightsaber damage, so you’ll need to hit-and-run for a while before it drops. The secret area is near a Tauntaun corpse.

When you’re ready to move on, grab one of the Tauntauns near your ship and run around to get a hang of the vehicle controls, which will come into play in a later level. The important thing to keep in mind is that your alt-fire will result in a boost of speed, which you can use to run down any snowtroopers that get in your way. Follow the marker lights into the little stormtrooper camp; if you want to avoid fighting them, just hit your Tauntaun boost and jump off of your horsie when you’re near the rocks that lead into the next little cave area. Another Wampa awaits; he guards a quasi-secret area in a little corridor behind where he stands.

As you exit the cave, you should run across a couple more Tauntauns nearby. Grab one and hang a left; heading right leads to a dead end. You’ll run across your first AT-ST in the clearing ahead; you don’t really have an answer for its firepower yet, so your best bet is to just ignore it for now. When you spot the boxes to the right side of the base’s entrance, jump on them and get over the wall before you get smacked around by the AT-ST.

This glass is saber-resistant, so you’ll need to Force push it in.
This glass is saber-resistant, so you’ll need to Force push it in.

Now that you’re finally out of the cold, take the ladder heading up. You can find yet another secret area here, behind a pane of broken glass that’ll need to be Force pushed.

Flip the switch beneath the blue panel to unlock a door nearby, then head back to the elevator and take both lifts down until you’re near the unlocked door, which leads to a rather linear set of corridors. Keep going until you wind up back outside, then take an immediate left for another secret area, guarded by a probe droid.

Hang a left past the Probe Droid for this secret area.
Hang a left past the Probe Droid for this secret area.

There’s a wave of snowtroopers incoming, but luckily for you, there’s also a turret nearby which you can use to mow them all down. You’ll find yourself in a large, open area with somewhat haphazardly placed marker lights. Hang a left towards the incoming turret fire if you want to end the level; elsewhere in the open area is a secret area with a healthpak and a few mines.

When you’re ready to exit the level, head back to the turret and go through the crack in the metal behind it. Fight your way through a couple more stormtroopers, then drop down the hole to proceed to the next part of this mission.

Hoth - Echo Base

This is where you need to go to pass on to the next level.
This is where you need to go to pass on to the next level.

After you drop through the hole, you’ll find yourself inside good old Echo Base. Move into the interior until you come across a room with two exits; hang a right to find another "secret" area that you could only miss if you really wanted to. The other corridor here will face you off against a turret; you might want to use your DEMP gun. If you brought it, strafe in and out from around the corner, firing from cover until the snowtrooper manning it keels over.

The path through Echo Base is surprisingly linear. Before the door that leads out of the medical bay, there’s another secret area to the left, half-obscured by shadow.

From there, it’s a fairly simple gauntlet through stormtroopers until you reach a Reborn who’s data-mining in the rebel computer. Take him down as well as the Wampa nearby, then charge up at the generators for the boss fight.

This area is easy to miss, if you’re not sensing for hidden items.
This area is easy to miss, if you’re not sensing for hidden items.

Alora is your first real challenge, but all things considered, she shouldn’t be much of a threat after you’ve had all this time to get used to the lightsaber mechanics. If you get into trouble, there are a few healthpaks and shield generators spread around the hangar that you fight her in. She throws her saber quite often; if you can dodge it, she’ll often overshoot and you can respond with a saber throw of your own. If all else fails, try to jump on her, knock her down, and spam saber throws at her while she’s lying on the ground for a quick victory.

Tier 2

After Alora runs off, you’ll return to Yavin 4, where you receive a promotion to Jedi Apprentice, which gives you a boost to level 2 in all of your Neutral Force powers. You’ll also get to choose a new lightsaber style, either fast or strong; strong is probably the best choice, as it gives you something of an advantage in lightsaber duels. Your weapon selection screen will also contain two new weapons, the flechette rifle, and the heavy repeater, neither of which is tremendously useful for the single-player game.

Rescue Mission - Nar Kreeta

Your mission here is to rescue the village elders; you’ll begin in a drainage pipe on the edge of the Hutt lord’s territory. The first secret area is behind your start position, but it’s a doozy to reach; you’ll need to jump from the edge of the pipe and move around in midair so that you land on top of the pipe, then jump along the rocks until you reach the small balcony with the secret items on it.

There are some tough jumps to complete before you reach this ledge.
There are some tough jumps to complete before you reach this ledge.

When you’re ready to infiltrate the Hutt’s lair, proceed down the pipe and smash the grate in the wall. Crawl along until you hear guards talking, then break through the grate at your feet and drop down into the hallway. There are a lot of enemies here; get used to using your newly-upgraded push power to disable them all temporarily, and kill them while they’re on the floor. Take the first right into the green power room. The second secret area is here; smash one of the doors to unlock it, then head down the hallway until you reach the formerly locked door. Unlock it with the security key that the guard drops, then head back to the main corridor and take the nearby elevator to the first of four observation booths that you’ll be visiting. Flip the switch to meet Fido.

After the elders are released from their cage, crawl through the window to drop yourself into the pit and approach them. The Rancor here is unfortunately and rather unbelievably immune to lightsaber damage, so you can’t kill it. Your only job here is to get the elders back to the main hallway. They know the way, but they won’t run if the Rancor is nearby, so you’ll have to distract it with your thrown lightsaber and get it to follow you around. If the elders find their way blocked off by the Rancor, they will attempt to find another way to the entrance, so keep an eye on them with your Force sense ability to make sure they don’t inadvertently wander back towards the Rancor as you lead it away from them. This group will be ejected from their cages directly next to the main hallway, so at least they don’t have to run far.

You’ll need valid ID to find this secret.
You’ll need valid ID to find this secret.

After you’ve escorted the first group of elders out of the death pit, one of them will give you a security key, which you can use on the door opposite the elevator to the first observation post. You’ll wind up in a bar, so booze up and riot! You should be familiar with the bartender, if you played Jedi Outcast; what you might not know is that he’s got a strongbox behind him that hides a very small secret area. Use your Force sense to spot it, then bust it open with your lightsaber.

Past the bar are three more observation posts, where you’ll repeat the same "protect the elders from the bloodthirsty Rancor" routine. After each group, you’ll need to return through the bar, which will magically respawn enemies each time, to find the next observation post; once all of the elders are safely returned to the Raven’s Claw, you can return to the drainage pipe, thank Kyle for all of his help, and return to Yavin 4 to choose your next mission.

Meet Contact - Zonju V

Yay, racing! You begin the mission with a swoop bike close at hand; take a moment to get used to the controls. As with the Tauntaun, your secondary fire button will engage a turbo boost, so put this to good use when you’re being chased down by cultists. You can also switch between front-firing lasers and your lightsaber, but you’ll probably want to stick with your lightsaber, since most of the opposing swoopers will be following you, rather than sitting around in your laser sights. Actually hitting anyone with your lightsaber is somewhat tricky, though; you’ll need to learn to slow down when they come up alongside you, but if you time your slices properly, you’ll be treated to some fine slow-mo deaths as the cultists smash into the canyon walls.

Anyway, from the beginning of the level, you’ll have a short race which will end when you run into a wall. Jump off of your bike and through the opening above to find your contact, who will die a snitch’s death almost before he has a chance to say a word to you. Spend three days in mourning and construct an elaborate sepulcher for his remains, then hop onto another speeder.

There’s little else from here to the end of the level except racing. Eventually you’ll run into a large structure, which you can either run through or bypass with your swoop. Either way, you should take advantage of the fresh swoops on the far side of the building for the long race to the finish line. From here, try to conserve your turbo boost, as there’s a jump near the finish line for the level that will require you to use it. If you hit it too early, then you may hit the jump while your turbo is recharging, and that will leave you in a pile of wreckage at the bottom of a pit. Not exactly the best design choice, since you’d need to be psychically aware of the jump in order to know that you should be conserving your boost, but that’s what walk-throughs are for.

Covert Operation - Kril’Dor

Not to be a nitpicker, but using an X-Wing to blow up portions of a Tibanna gas mining station would seem to make this a rather overt "covert operation." On the other hand, if the history of first-person shooters has taught us anything, it’s that the inclusion of a stealth mission into an action game is the best way to sap all energy from a game, so we’ll not complain too much.

Your first goal is to take the two elevators in the hangar near where you start. Take out the flight trooper on the roof, then head across the walkway to set the first beacon. The next beacon is nearby after that one blows up, on the hangar where you started. Again, if you ever have any trouble locating your next target, use Force sense to paint the target blue. You can only proceed to one beacon at a time, so there should only ever be one blue target on your screen.

Gripping the troopers and throwing them off the edge is great fun. Can you fly, Bobby?
Gripping the troopers and throwing them off the edge is great fun. Can you fly, Bobby?

From where you land after the hangar is destroyed, jump on top of the door and onto the roof of the garrison. Set the charge. Your next target is the communications satellite. If you have heal, you can drop down to the main level of the facility and heal the damage; if you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll have to return to the hangar and slide down to the lower level on one of the broken beams inside.

Unfortunately, the lower level of the communications array is locked, so you’ll need to find another way to get to the beacon point. Luckily, there is a building connected to the satellite via an upper-level walkway. Head into that building, which is apparently some kind of electrical station, and ride the elevators to the top floor. Get the rocket launcher from the weapons rack, then open the observation port and use your lightsaber to chop it open. You can find the first secret area before you blow up the satellite, by jumping on one of the ledges and taking it around to the roof of the command center, for some thermal detonators. Head across and blow up the satellite.

Jump up here and walk around to find the first secret area.
Jump up here and walk around to find the first secret area.

The next bomb needs to be placed at the base of the power generator, which is also luckily connected to the electrical station you were just in. Take the lift near the now-destroyed satellite dish back down to the main level of the facility, then jump on top of the semi-hidden ledge for the level’s other secret area.

Now, head back inside the building with the reactor, this time taking the elevators down. (If you have heal, you can simply drop from the main outside level down to the elevator that takes you to the beacon spot.) When you reach the bottom of the power generators, set the beacon, and then take the lift back up.

How did the troopers put this stuff up there, anyway? And why?
How did the troopers put this stuff up there, anyway? And why?

The last bomb needs to be placed in the command center, on the main level of the facility. The command center’s upper level is fairly well-guarded, with a Reborn and two ceiling turrets, so be prepared before you go inside. Force lightning, as always, is useful for disabling the grunts, as well as the turrets.

After setting the final bomb, more troopers seem to magically appear around the station; now they intend to destroy the gas reservoirs. Use your Force sense to track down all of the bombs, then return to your ship to end the mission.

Capture Crime Lord - Coruscant

The bridge connecting your landing pad to the crime lord’s mansion is destroyed as soon as the mission begins, but, luckily for us, we’re playing a computer game, and following the implacable logic of gaming, there’s always a convoluted secondary route to a required objective. You’ll find the beginning of said route by jumping to the building behind your landing platform.

As you move around the bend here, watch out for snipers; there’s one waiting for you on the ledge, one in a floating ship, and one on a platform overhead. Kill them all, then use the ship to jump across to the adjacent building. There’s a fairly straight path along the building edges, until you reach an area where an assassin droid is lurking behind a crate. There’s a secret area on the ledge above the platform on which he dwells; find it, then jump down onto the landing platform below. There doesn’t appear to be any way to avoid losing life here, so you’ll just have to aim for the tall stack of boxes to minimize it.

Shields aren’t going to be much help if you fall from a mile up.
Shields aren’t going to be much help if you fall from a mile up.

From here, there’s an elevator leading to some kind of odd pedestrian path that connects to absolutely nothing. We can at least laud the designers for thinking to include guard-rails; one would think that the city-planners of Coruscant regard deaths due to falling-from-two-kilometers-up as merely acceptable attrition, what with the blatant disregard for safety inherent in most of the buildings here. Luckily, falling is less of a problem for you than it is for your enemies; it’s terrific fun to combine a grip with a push to repel a thug off into the dark night below.

Anyway, you will eventually reach Lannik’s manor. Inside his estate, you’ll have what is likely your first encounter with Reborn twins. Don’t worry too much; this is simply a pair of Reborn, one with a lightsaber, and one without. The saberless Reborn will focus his powers on you while the other one attempts to engage you in saber combat. As you might expect, the one without a saber can be killed quite easily, so take him out first before dealing with the other.

Lannik himself is guarded by four assassin droids. The DEMP gun makes quick work of them; finish them off to end the mission.

Cult Investigation - Dosuun

As you discover shortly after the mission begins, this is a level modeled on the escape-from-captivity archetype. You don’t have any weapons to begin this level with, but luckily, you do have plenty of force powers, so use them often. You probably haven’t been using the first-person view very much, so get used to shooting and strafing; since you don’t have any way to repel blaster fire, you’re going to have to learn how to avoid it as best you can.

To begin with, jump out of your cell and grab a blaster rifle from the rack near the door. Head outside and start taking out the stormtroopers. When Rax, the cultists’ leader, appears again, he’ll be wielding a pretty fearsome new weapon called the Stouker concussion rifle. Avoid its fire at all costs. Close in on his position and he’ll withdraw, for the moment.

When you enter the next building, the entire facility will be placed on security lockdown. You’ll need to find some way to unlock the doors before you can effect your escape. First off, head into the room guarded by trip mines to get a security key, then head down the nearby hallway and open the locked door there. Head up the stairs and flip the switch, then find the now-activated lift in the same room and go up. From there, the path leads to the commander’s office, where you can disable the locks via the switch behind his desk. The rest of this level contains a barracks and armory, if you’re interested in picking up more ammo, but this shouldn’t be necessary; the weapons you’re picking up off of stormtroopers should be enough to last you for a while. There is more health in the armory, though, if you’re running low, but you will have to run through a dozen stormtroopers to get there.

There are two freshly unlocked doors on the lower level, one at the end of the hall, which leads to a small control room, and another across from the security door which you previously unlocked. The latter contains a secret area; destroy the explosive box on top of the crate and head through the opened passage to find a shield generator and some detpacks.

Since you don’t have a lightsaber to block incoming fire, this shield generator is going to be very useful.
Since you don’t have a lightsaber to block incoming fire, this shield generator is going to be very useful.

The room beyond this is the firing range. Flip the switch to retract the protective shielding, then use the turret to destroy the wall beyond. The clearing outside has a nasty surprise in the form of another AT-ST; you can’t do anything about it yet, so destroy the explosive boxes near the window on the far side of the courtyard and jump through. Repeat the process for the command room inside, then flip the switches to unlock the doors. If you wish, you can commandeer one of the nearby AT-STs by jumping on top of it, looking at its hatch, and pressing the use key. You should probably do so, so that it doesn’t bother you while you’re running around outside.

When you’re ready to proceed, head through the door near the AT-STs in the hangar and proceed up the stairs. Again, Rax will appear on a balcony and start to snipe at you; just rush towards him until he withdraws again. The next area is the hangar, where there’s a clear path to a command room with two officers inside. Flip the switch here and head down the lift to reach the final battle with Rax.

Once you enter the hangar and finish the cutscene, hang a right and take the small lift up to find a room with a Merr-Sonn and some health. Take the Merr-Sonn and finish Rax off from whatever vantage point you feel comfortable with. If you can get him into a spot where he consistently misses with his explosive fire, feel free to take out your disruptor rifle and pop a few shots into his head, but this will be difficult, since he constantly moves around.

Vjun - Exterior

Fun abounds on Vjun, what with the acid rain that will constantly eat away at your health, and the massive Stouker-wielding power-suit troopers who await you at every turn. You’ll get a chance to experience both of these right as the level begins. You can use Force protection to prevent some or all of the damage from the acid rain, depending on your level in that power, but the hazard troopers will be a different matter. They take a lot of damage, and their Stoukers can reduce you to pudding in just a few hits. Since Kyle is hanging around, though, you can let him handle the baddies; otherwise, mind trick is ideal. Don’t forget that you can Force push their fire back at the hazard troopers, but this is difficult under the best of circumstances, due to the speed of the projectile. Be sure to pick up the concussion rifles of the first few troopers for use, but be careful that you don’t fire it towards Kyle, because he will most assuredly send it back your way.

The first secret area is in the canyon below the first door; hop off of the walkway to find it. Head on through the door after disabling the hazard troopers. As with so many of the Imperial facilities that you’ve come across, there’s a straight path from your origin to your destination here, and there’s really not much you can do to get lost. Head on for a ways; after you fight the Reborn, you should run across a couple of doors leading to a small outside area, which you can scout for two more secret areas, one on top of the hallway you were just in, and one containing a belt of detonators hidden behind a smashable panel on the ground. There’s little else of interest in the area, so keep moving until you reach an exterior area with a covered walkway.

This is one secret area; there’s another one in the floor of this little outside area. Use sense to find it.
This is one secret area; there’s another one in the floor of this little outside area. Use sense to find it.

If you don’t want to bother with a long walk to the surface of the canyon, just drop down as soon as you reach the next outside area. There’s a secret area immediately to your left here, hidden behind a wall. Kill the troopers at the turret, then hang a left and start running down the canyon; you’ll be taking damage from the acid rain here, but luckily there are a few concrete overhangs you can wait underneath to recharge your force well, if you’re using heal to keep your health topped out. You can also use speed to reduce the damage that you’re taking in-between overhangs.

You’ll come to Vader’s castle eventually, but you won’t be able to enter it just yet. Keep on your path, and you’ll come to some more outcroppings, this time of the rock variety, which jut out from over the river; jump over them and around the corner. You’ll run into a bit of a complication in the form of a couple of TIE bombers, which are preventing access to the canyon beyond through carpet-bombing. Luckily, there’s a turret nearby which can be used to destroy them; you just have to make your way to it.

Head inside and let Kyle take care of the hazard troopers. You’ll now enter the courtyard you had to pass by earlier; there’s an oddly inaccessible non-secret area on the roof of the facility here which you can bust into with your lightsaber. You can’t actually enter it, for some reason, but you can pull the detonator packs if you really want them. You don’t get any secret area credit for finding this little cache, so feel free to skip it if you don’t particularly need more explosives. Head back into the facility via the unlocked door on the upper walkway, then proceed along the path until you reach the locked door leading to the turbolaser; Kyle will run off to unlock it, and you’ll encounter your first uber-Reborn. These fellows are fairly similar to the run-of-the-mill Reborn that you’ve been dispatching, except that they have a lot more health and enjoy Force raging for extra punch. Other than that, the same general dueling tactics apply to fights with them.

After you’ve dispatched the uber-Reborn, man the turret outside and destroy the two TIEs. Head down the canyon corridor to find the exit to the next level.

Vjun - Castle Basement

The first secret area inside Vader’s castle is in the area where you begin; jump on the sloped wall to the platform above the AT-ST to find it. The door to the elevator is locked, but fortunately for you, the castle’s defenders have left an obvious opening through which you can pass to reach a foundry. Kyle will take his own path from here; you can’t follow him, so head through the other opening and clear out the control room you find yourself in. There’s a secret area around the corner from the control room’s exit, but you’ll need to pull the gray crate away from the wall to find it.

This secret area is actually somewhat tricky to find, for a change.
This secret area is actually somewhat tricky to find, for a change.

From here, head through the other unlocked door and help Kyle take out the Reborn. If you have a high grip level, you can use it to immobilize the Reborn and let Kyle slice them while they’re defenseless. When they’re dead, lead Kyle back to the locked door near the control room, which he can magically unlock.

The small drama that ensues requires you to push or pull the three red pumps along the wall to drain the water from the room before Kyle’s strength runs out. Afterwards, climb the conduit to the ceiling level, where an assault droid awaits; dispatch it and head to the airtube ahead. There’s a secret area in the middle of it, on a ledge in the middle of the tube, though it’s nearly impossible to get to, since the air will lift you past it much more quickly than you can move laterally. All it contains are some healthpaks and a belt of detonators, so don’t stress if you can’t get to it.

Pull these mirrors to create an inverse flux field in the warp generator. Or something like that.
Pull these mirrors to create an inverse flux field in the warp generator. Or something like that.

At the top of the airtube, you’ll have to play dodge-the-laser with one of the beams. If Kyle gets stuck on his jumps in this little area, just ignore him; you can still complete the mission without his help. Time your run with Force speed and you should be able to get through the laser opening without a problem. Once you’re past the laser, jump on the rotating mechanism to reach the upper platform, where Kyle should be waiting for you. There are two doors here, but first head back to where Kyle jumped over you to find another secret area. Either of the doors eventually leads to a control room, which contains a lift leading to the top of the power generator. Be careful once you reach the top of the lift; one of the troopers here is packing a Merr-Sonn.

When you reach the top of the power generator, you’ll need to jump up to the very top of the chasm. Pull the four mirrors to create a power feedback, which destroys the machine. How this is intended to further your goal of accessing the castle is unclear, but it apparently works; although Kyle gets left behind, you will be able to head up through the now-fractured ceiling into the main area of Vader’s stronghold.

Vjun - Vader’s Castle

Clear the room that you start out in, then proceed through the green door. Wade through the Reborn and the troopers until you reach an area where two Reborn are talking about being needed in the "throne room." Take the lift up into a hangar area, where a couple more Reborn are waiting for you. Although you probably don’t need prompting to be maliciously evil at this point, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that you can grip the Reborn and drop them down the elevator shaft. It’s a long way down. After they’re dead, destroy the explosive crate to create a passage to the hangar.

From here, it’s mostly a straight shot through various Reborn enemies, including your first run-in with a dual-wielding enemy, until you reach a room where four pillars will retract into the floor. Use the panel near the pillars to begin a mini-gauntlet of mechanical enemies; once all of them are dead, a passage will open to a lift that leads down to what appears to be a massive entertaining room, though it’s hard to imagine Darth Vader ever having guests. As it is, his posthumous house raiders have taken the place over, and aren’t exactly giddy at the thought of Jedi interlopers.

There are a lot of Reborn here; your best bet is to simply ignore them and run to the third level; you can even jump from the second level ramp to the third level if you jump towards one of the corners. The only Reborn you have to kill is the uber-Reborn guarding the door to the throne room; if you’re having trouble with him, you can lure him back to the main living room and grip him off of the upper level to his death. Once he’s dead, head through the door to encounter...Rosh.

Rosh doesn’t go anywhere without his posse; kill them first.
Rosh doesn’t go anywhere without his posse; kill them first.

Rosh is flanked by a couple of uber-Reborn Dark Jedi, who seem to be more interested in observing the fight than in actually participating, although they will unleash their Force powers at you if you get too close. In a way, they’re the key to this fight: if you don’t dispatch them, they will heal Rosh whenever you knock his health down, which will make for a long and possibly never-ending fight, so you’ll want to get rid of them first. It’s tough to get close enough to use your lightsaber on them, though, so your first resort will be a Stouker or Merr-Sonn, or perhaps both, if you’ve been diligent in retaining weapons. The problem is that Rosh will push back any projectiles towards you, and attempt to pull your weapons out of your hand, so you’ll need to make sure he’s some distance away from both you and the Reborn before you open fire. You might want to use Vader’s little hyperbaric chamber as cover, and strafe back and forth before firing.

After both Reborn die, you’ll be able to take Rosh out. He’ll pack the usual assortment of Force powers, including drain and protection, so you’re going to want to rely on your lightsaber to bring him low. He’s not incredibly strong, so press your attack, and pick up the shieldpaks and healthpaks scattered around the room when you need to. If you picked the strong saber stance at the beginning of this tier, now is a good time to use it. It’s very important to make a new save game during this fight, for reasons that are about to become clear.

Tier 3

Your big decision upon reaching Tier 3 is between the three new saber options: you can either gain a new stance for the single saber, get a dual-bladed saber staff, or go for dual-wielded sabers. Your best bet is to save your game during the Rosh fight, pick a saber, then start a mission and try it out to see if you like it or not. You can also check the Dueling section of the Tips and Cheats chapter for a brief run-down on the differences between the three.

In addition to your new saber, you’ll also be able to add the Stouker Concussion Rifle or the Merr-Sonn to your weapons loadout before a mission. In addition, all of your neutral force powers will be raised to level three upon reaching the rank of Jedi Knight. Now that’s REAL ultimate power!!

Cult Sighting - Chandrila

This is another fairly enjoyable level, especially if you’re of the sadistic sort and enjoy pushing and gripping your opponents into vast chasms. Push the rock out of your way and start your journey. There’s not much to say about your path here -- there’s usually only one way to proceed down into the nether regions of the tomb, so get used to moving carefully, and quicksave often, just in case you do manage to fall into the bottomless pit below.

The secret areas here are denoted by glowing symbols near them; you’ll have to use Force sense to pick up on them, but that should be old hat by now. The first is across the way from the large cathedral-like entrance with the ornate staircase; you’ll have to jump on top of a nearby doorway to make the second leap to a little balcony, but watch out for the Stouker-wielding foe who’s waiting for you.

Jump up for a secret area, and a Stouker, if you didn’t bring one along.
Jump up for a secret area, and a Stouker, if you didn’t bring one along.

As you approach the cathedral, a cultist will detonate the bridge, but you shouldn’t have any trouble making it across. The cathedral contains not one, not two, but three Reborn - you might want to lure them out to the chasm to drop them into it, since taking them all on at once in successive duels will be difficult. Once they’re dispatched, activate your sense to see where you need to pull the door; you’ll need to stand on the glowing spot on the floor before the door itself will open.

Once you’re out of the cathedral area, you’ll have to drop down a few ledges to reach the Reborn who are waiting for you below. There’s another secret area right below the cathedral’s exit, though; look up and sense to get the symbol. There’s yet another secret area directly beneath that; jump to the semi-obscured doorway for a shield generator.

The chasm near these secret areas is a bit too far for you to jump, unless you hop on one of the nearby pillars first. There’s also a jumping path down to the right of the bridge. At any rate, yet another secret area is available on the higher of the two platforms that you wind up facing. You’ll have to make a couple of long jumps to get there, but at least it’s the last secret area of the level.

More difficult jumps are required to reach this secret.
More difficult jumps are required to reach this secret.

From here, proceed on until you discover another ornate, cathedral-like area. (Not to speak ill of the dead, but this Jedi sure didn’t think much of the order’s ascetic ideals; this place must’ve cost a fortune to put together.) This cathedral is the tomb of the Jedi, and is populated by a few Reborn. You don’t have to fight them, if you don’t want to, but you will have to penetrate the tomb, and use sense to find the two panels next to the Jedi’s sarcophagus. Use push to insert the panels into the wall; this will trigger a protection mechanism which will enclose the tomb once again. Make your way back to the lowest level outside to end the mission.

Cult Investigation - Tanaab

This is emphatically not a good thing to ever be a witness to.
This is emphatically not a good thing to ever be a witness to.

Again, not to carp, but these cultists certainly seem to be playing everything by ear. Upon sighting you in the spaceport on Tanaab, they immediately set loose their pet mutant Rancor, which immediately starts killing them. Don’t think that it doesn’t want to kill you, too; you’ll need to keep moving if you don’t want to wind up Rancor chow.

You’ll find an elevated area towards the rear of the first room with a switch on it; flip the switch to raise some nearby crates to the ceiling. Hop to where the crates were to find a path to the next room of the spaceport. Unfortunately, the Rancor will bash through the wall, so keep moving. Lead the rancor to the locked door in the rear of the second room; it’ll unlock and you can pass through to the third and final area. As with so many other situations, your best bet when dealing with the Reborn is to just ignore them; the Rancor will kill them all when it comes by anyway, so there’s no point in wasting your health in skirmishes, which will just make it more likely that the Rancor will eventually catch you and kill you.

You’ll need to backtrack a bit for this secret area. Jump from this position to the force field to find it.
You’ll need to backtrack a bit for this secret area. Jump from this position to the force field to find it.

Run down the corridor that starts out the third room, ignoring the Reborn, until you come to a switch; flip it and jump on top of the crates nearby. While you’re still atop the crates themselves, run back down towards the blue force field near where the Rancor busted through the wall. There’s a secret area next to the force field which you can jump to.

Now, head back to the main area of the room and look around for a conveyer belt towards the rear wall. Flip the switch near the door to the small control room; this will loosen up the storage crates above the conveyor belt.

You can’t kill the Rancor without first flipping this switch.
You can’t kill the Rancor without first flipping this switch.

There’s a secret area near the blue force field at the end of the belt, so if you’re really set on finding all of them, head down to the blue force field, grab the items, then run back to the head of the belt, using speed to get past the Rancor if it’s following you.

If you’ve flipped the switch near the control room, you should be able to finish the Rancor off now. You’ll need to wait around inside the control that overlooks the conveyor belt until the Rancor comes around; unfortunately, there are three Reborn waiting for you here, but you don’t have to fight them. Once the Rancor is standing on the conveyor belt, hit the switch inside the control belt, and the Rancor will be squashed against the force field. This will end the mission.

Dismantle Device - Yalara

Your goal here is to disable a "planetary cloaking device," presumably installed before the rise of the Empire, and presumably a lost technology, since it would’ve definitely been useful on, say, Hoth, or the Death Star.

Your path here will take you from the very lowest level of the facility to the top of the central spire, where the cloaking device resides. Despite what your character might say as the mission begins, there are quite a few people about, in the form of stormtroopers, Reborn cultists, and Noghri, an assassin race that Darth Vader used to employ. Noghri are about as tough as any other regular grunt enemies, but they possess poisonous weapons which can be quite annoying.

Head inside the structure near your landing platform and take the lift up to the next level, where Noghri and stormtroopers are engaging in skirmishes. Clear them out, then head through the door set into the rock wall. You’ll have to take the lift here down and disable the fan with the switch in the generator room before returning to the room above and jumping into the airtube. Ride the current up into another room populated by Imperials.

This floor is easily broken.
This floor is easily broken.

Head out into the hallway and into another firefight; kill everything that moves, while being careful to avoid the poison fire of the Noghri. Head through another power generator and airtube onto another level of the facility. Now that you’re back outside, you can resume your normal strategy of gripping and pushing your enemies off of the cliffs to the water below. When you find the stairs leading up, break the floor beneath them to find a secret area.

Once you’re at the top of the stairs, head outside, kill the enemies fighting there, then take the lift to the top of the cloaking device. You’ll need to set four bombs here before detonating the cloaking device and ending the mission.

Force Theft Investigation - Byss

Your investigation will be over before the mission begins; unfortunately, you’ll be captured by an Imperial Dreadnought before you can zoom back to Yavin. After Kyle starts attempting to melt his door, head through the nearby unlocked door and start your corridor crawling. There are a lot of enemies on board, as might be expected, but you shouldn’t have any trouble with them at this point, except in the case of the hazard troopers - the close quarters makes dodging Stouker fire quite a trick. You’ll want to disable them with mind trick, if possible, or attempt to strafe around corners to return fire without as big a risk of taking damage. You’re going to take some damage no matter what you do, but as long as you don’t die, you should have plenty of time to heal up between encounters; it’s not like the stormtroopers and other Imperials on board are going to be much of a threat.

Immediately past the first pair of hazard troopers, you’ll find the tractor beam controls. Disable the tractor beam, and Kyle will report on incoming fighters. You have to admire the single-mindedness of the Imperial Remnant: if they decide that it’s time for you and Kyle to die, they’re not above destroying the entire ship to make sure that it happens.

A previously locked door near the last lift you took will be unlocked now. There’s a straight path from here to the ship’s turret defenses, where you’ll need to use one of the turrets to shoot down the incoming TIEs. Once you’re done there, head back to the Raven’s Claw. A firefight ensues in the main hangar; Kyle seems bent on using nothing but a blaster to help you, so you’ll need to do most of the work by yourself. Kill everyone to end the mission.

Weapon Destruction - Ord Mantell

Kudos to the Raven artists for putting together a very nice Boba Fett model.
Kudos to the Raven artists for putting together a very nice Boba Fett model.

Your job here is to destroy seven caches of weapons, but you’ll run into a bounty hunter on Ord Mantell who’ll attempt to change your mind. And here we thought Boba Fett was dead - mea culpa, we suppose, since he’s emphatically alive and will try to kill you as soon as you land. Since Boba’s something of a large part of the larger Star Wars continuity, you will not be able to effect his untimely demise, so you should just ignore him for most of the mission. He packs a variety of weapons, including a blaster pistol and a rocket launcher (if you hear him firing these off, push them back towards him), and if you get too close, he’ll use a flamethrower which can kill you quite quickly. Just run away, do your thing, and get this mission over with.

Jumping and crouching will be required to get inside this well-hidden secret area.
Jumping and crouching will be required to get inside this well-hidden secret area.

After the destruction of the first weapons cache in the opening cutscene, you’ll need to track down six more of them scattered throughout the level. As per usual, Force sense will pinpoint their location; you also have a rare map in your interface screen, which may help orient you somewhat. So, continue on your rounds, and place the improbably large bombs near each of the weapons caches to destroy them. There’s only one secret area here, in the same room as the weapons cache near the hologram globe. You’ll need to crouch at the apex of your jump in order to reach it, since the opening above the crate is quite tiny.

When all of the caches are destroyed, head back to your ship and smack down Boba Fett. If you’re using sense to monitor his health, you’ll only need to knock him down to half a health bar or so to convince him that his efforts are in vain. As noted earlier, he does have a flamethrower that should discourage you from using your lightsaber, so whip out a rocket launcher or other ranged weapon and take him down from afar.

Taspir 3 - Exterior

Well, the fate of the known universe hinges upon events on Korriban, but Kyle wants to go to Taspir for the sake of one lunk-headed fallen Jedi. It’s stuff like this that made Jan leave him -- but you didn’t hear that from me.

A simple jump to this ledge reveals the first secret area.
A simple jump to this ledge reveals the first secret area.

This first level is a fairly straightforward jaunt from building to building; if you can remember where you came from, and head the opposite direction, then you shouldn’t have any problems with finding the correct path. At any rate, from where you begin, head into the doorway guarded by troopers. Your only currently operational path in this building leads across a bridge to an area with a couple of switches. Whichever one you pick will extend a bridge over the lava; find another switch there to extend a bridge higher up, then head back to the now unlocked door in the lava pump room.

Clear out this next floor, then head outside to find a secret area around the corner from the bridge. Kill the Reborn, and start heading up the interior of the next building. You’ll reach a broken bridge eventually; head back inside the building it’s attached to and push one of the crates underneath the broken grate in the ceiling, then jump up and head through to the control room. Kill the officer for the security key, then unlock the door and head outside. Proceed across the outcropping to the next building, but head around the back first for a series of jumps to a secret area.

Oddly enough, you can jump down there without any falling damage.
Oddly enough, you can jump down there without any falling damage.

Head up through the next building, being careful of Reborn attacks, then head across the bridge and proceed until you reach the next lava pumping station. There’s a secret area at the very bottom of this station; go there and then go back outside through the doors on the bottom floor, but grab a rocket launcher from the weapons rack beside the door first. This launcher will come in handy at the end of the next level, so preserve your ammo for it. As you head outside, there’s another secret area below the bridge that’ll require a bit of a jump. You won’t be able to come back to the bridge, so you’ll need to follow the other path that leads back to the top of the lava pump facility.

After the next bridge, you’ll come into a hazard trooper gauntlet. You have enough space here to push their Stouker fire back at them, and this is a handy way to kill them, but you can also just ignore them if you wish and keep moving on to the next area. From here, it’s a straight shot through a couple of structures until you reach a high bridge with an uber-Reborn on it. In case you’re wondering, this is the bridge you extended way back when at the beginning of the level. Head through the doors here to reach the inside of the facility.

Taspir 3 - Factory

After the short cutscene with Alora, you’ll find yourself in some kind of ore-processing facility. There’s more straight-path goodness from the starting point, until you reach a smelting room; this room will begin a small gauntlet of Reborn, but you can do the smart thing and simply ignore them, if you wish to avoid a fight. In any case, a door in the rear of this room will lead down to a cooling facility, where two more Reborn will take you on. Immediately outside this room’s exit, there’s a secret area on top of a pipe. In the next room, jump up on top of the immense generator, then jump from the walkway to find another secret area on the side of the room.

Another out-of-the-way secret area.
Another out-of-the-way secret area.

From here, walk until you reach the walkway near the satellite dish; there’s another secret area behind the dish. Be careful when you jump back onto the walkway, as it’s easy to bump into the dish and land in the lava below. Proceed through the doorway into the upper level of the smelter; the corridor leading away from here has yet another secret area, which you’ll need to jump onto some piping to find.

When you reach the factory, flip the switch to drop the force field, then hit speed to make it through the doorway before the field goes back up. You should see a short cutscene here, revealing Alora standing near a doorway beneath you. To reach her, you’ll need to walk down the conveyor belt a bit, jumping over any steam venting, then drop down to the conveyor belt beneath you. From here, jump above the nearby doorways to reach the lowermost conveyor belt. Take the elevator back up to the top level, then follow the last conveyor belt until you reach the exit from this room.

Head down the hallway and clear out the Reborn before the next conveyor belt. This little puzzle can be a bit tricky, and will require good timing on your part. First off, wait for the smasher to mold one of the metal ingots; you’ll need to jump through the smasher immediately after this occurs, or you’ll be electrocuted by the machinery. After you jump past the first smasher, you’ll need to wait for the ingot to leave the machine, then follow it through the force field-protected smashers beyond. Force Speed will be required to get you through the machinery without getting squashed; you’ll also need to pause in the middle of the machine and wait for the ingot to catch up again.

Alora awaits at the top of the next room. Fight off the Reborn that she sends at you, then take advantage of the shield generator at the bottom of the room before hopping onto one of the platforms coming out of the force field. Jump from the platform to the uppermost part of the room to begin another small cutscene.

The choice between the Light side and Dark side is now yours. If you’re curious, the Light side will have a fairly easier go of the last two levels, and both choices entail a unique final boss and ending. Regardless of your choice, you’ll still need to face Alora.

Alora has improved in fighting capacity since your last encounter, but then again, so have you. She now possesses dual sabers and improved force powers, as well, but then again, she doesn’t quite seem to be able to push away projectiles like most of her fellow Reborn; maybe it’s just beneath her. In any case, this is her Achilles’ heel, and you can use it to actuate her downfall in short order by using alt-fire rockets. Since she can’t push them away, they will almost always impact her, unless she jumps behind a crate, but even when she dodges them, she still usually takes splash damage from them. Between finding a safe spot, like the top of one of the fuel canisters, alt-firing rockets, and using your Stouker rifle, you should be able to kill Alora without any difficulty.

Cheap, yes, but very effective.
Cheap, yes, but very effective.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy a challenge, and want to dispatch Alora with your sabers and force powers, then be aware that she can’t be gripped into the lava below, and that your best bet is to hit-and-run: dash in until your health drops, then retreat to the top of one of the fuel canisters (where Alora was positioned during the cutscene) and heal up. She won’t follow you, so you can freely wait for your force reservoir to recharge and heal your way back to full health before charging back into the fray.

Whichever choice you make regarding Rosh, you’ll head off to Korriban after vanquishing Alora.

Korriban - Catacombs

The first thing to note here is the proliferation of Jedi and Reborn populating the level. If you decided to side with the forces of good in the previous level, then the Light Jedi will fight alongside you; if you chose to embrace your baser impulses, then you’ll have a tomb full of force-using enemies to look forward to.

Your Jedi teammates will be a big help here, if you don’t intend to slaughter them.
Your Jedi teammates will be a big help here, if you don’t intend to slaughter them.

Begin by heading down into the nearby stairwell. There’s a secret area in the foyer at the foot of the stairs; you’ll need to jump on top of the doorway and then make a couple of difficult jumps across the pillars above you to reach it. The next room contains what appears to be a tomb; Push the four statues into the wall to unlock the passage down.

The large room you descend into is the scene of more dueling between Jedi and Reborn. Push your way through the rabble to the large area at the bottom of the stairs, then use sense to look at the stones around the large door on the dais; match the stones on the floor to the correct trigger stones to open the door. (If you can’t decipher the symbols, then simply press the middle button on the left side and the top and bottom stones on the right side of the door. The door should pop open afterwards.)

The pillar through the doorway is a bit taller than you can safely jump, so you’ll need to make a path with the pull-able stones near the doorway. Once you reach the top of the pillar, leap off of it to the nearby hallway, and fight your way through the Reborn that appear there.

Head down into the excavation tunnel here to reach the catacombs, which leads into another lavishly-decorated room, also filled with Reborn. There’s a secret area in the ceiling, which you can see with your sense power. It’s a tough jump, since it’s so high; you might need to stand on one of the braziers for a second to get the necessary height. It’s odd that you’re getting rocket ammo here, since your rocket launcher is one of the many weapons which are useless against Reborn.

This is one of the toughest secret areas to reach.
This is one of the toughest secret areas to reach.

At the rear of this room, you’ll note another hole blasted into the wall; head through and jump up to reach another secret area with rocket ammo and a shield booster, then head down to the bottom for more fun with Reborn in tight spaces. At the end of the smallish rooms is your goal for this level; the large stones at the rear of the room are holding up one of the stone doors which you couldn’t open earlier, so smash them with your saber to unlock the door above you. After that’s done, you can try to walk all the way back to the beginning of the level, but it’s simpler simply to find and smash the large chains elsewhere in this room, which will open a fairly clear path back to the room with the now unlocked door. Head through to reach the exterior of Korriban’s surface.

Korriban - Valley of the Dark Lords

As with the last level, this exterior canyon (which seems to break continuity with Knights of the Old Republic’s representation of Korriban, by the way) is populated by more dueling Jedi and Reborn. You’ll need to make your way from your starting perch to the canyon’s sandy bottom, then proceed to your left. There’s a secret area in a cave below your first big jump here.

After that first jump, proceed around the corner of the canyon. There’s another difficult jump, but you can make it. Drop down to the bottom of the next pit to find a small tunnel network that’ll bring you out near the Imperial Lander. You can fight your enemies here if you wish, but you probably shouldn’t; you’re near enough to the end that you’ll just be weakening yourself for the final conflict. There’s one final secret area that you can reach by jumping on the rubble near the Acropolis-like structure in the middle of the level; it’s tough to get to, and not really worthwhile. Instead, head up the ramp to Ragnos’ tomb.

Inside, as you might expect, you’ll find a few Reborn who’ll attempt to block your passage to the interior of the tomb. Again, your best bet here is to just ignore them, or grip them and drop them into the lava. Past them are the forbidding doors to Ragnos’ inner sanctum, where Tavion awaits.

Regardless of your previous alignment choice, Tavion is going to be a mandatory foe here. She wields a normal saber, as well as Ragnos’ scepter, which gives her two special attacks: the first is a yellow beam of force energy which she’ll sweep across the room in a horizontal attack, meaning you can jump over it with ease, and the second is an earthquake-inducing force explosion centered on herself and radiating outward. The earthquake power stuns you and knocks you off your feet for a bit of damage, so you’ll want to jump backwards whenever you spot her blue charging-up signal. She’s not too tough to beat, even on the hardest difficulty levels, since she will rarely attempt to drain health from you. Wear her down by dashing in and out, and retreat to the top of one of the cat statues on either side of the room to rest up if your health drops too low.

When Tavion starts spraying, you’re going to want to jump out of the way.
When Tavion starts spraying, you’re going to want to jump out of the way.

After Tavion falls, your next enemy will either be a super-powered Tavion / Ragnos Hybrid, if you chose to let Rosh live on Taspir, or Kyle, if you killed Rosh. Either way, you’re in for a tough fight, so gird up and get ready.

Tavion, part two, resorts to the usual assortment of dark side powers, the most annoying of which is a semi-constant drain which she’ll pull out whenever you’re nearby. Don’t get too close to her without at least half a tank of force power in reserve; if she drains your force, and then grabs hold of you, she can drain all of your health and kill you without giving you a chance to respond. (The usual push will protect you from close-range drains, but only if you have enough force power to actually use it.) Despite the fact that she wields a sword instead of a lightsaber, she’ll still be able to deflect blaster fire and projectile weapons, so you won’t be able to hurt her consistently without a lightsaber of your own.

On Jedi Knight or Jedi Master difficulty level, Tavion’s difficulty increases drastically, as she’ll be able to spontaneously regenerate most of her health when she’s near death via some kind of drain power that doesn’t seem to require your health. When you bring her down low enough, she’ll raise her sword into the air and suck in ambient force energy, and the worst part is that she’ll do it four or five times in a row before you can actually kill her. This obviously makes for something of a long fight; there’s not much you can really do except suck off her energy, retreat and heal, and repeat the process until she finally runs out of super-drains and decides to die. Don’t neglect to pick up the shield generators and healthpaks scattered around the room in an emergency.

Tavion Jr.’s health osmosis power will make this fight last a long, long time.
Tavion Jr.’s health osmosis power will make this fight last a long, long time.

On the other hand, Kyle’s even tougher, subjectively speaking, of course. He’ll use absorb and protect almost all the time, so you’ll have to use your lightsaber if you wish to deal any damage to him, and even that will be drastically reduced by the protection. He only wields one lightsaber, but is proficient in all three stances, and can even pull one of your sabers away if you dual-wield. Although he doesn’t have a drain ability like Tavion does, he has a couple of maneuvers which can only be described as, well, Indiana Jonesish: he’ll grab your character, punch you in the stomach, then throw you into a nearby wall with a bit of a Force assist, or, alternatively, put you in a half-nelson before performing a picture-perfect two-handed throw that you should be familiar with if you’ve ever seen a bouncer kick a rowdy patron out of a bar.

When Kyle starts rasslin’, you know he’s playing for keeps.
When Kyle starts rasslin’, you know he’s playing for keeps.

Although Kyle sticks to his lightsaber and fists for most of his damage, don’t assume that he’s neglecting his force repertoire. He won’t whip out his nasty lightning skill, thankfully, but he does show off a truly scary proficiency in grip that rivals even your own. You’ll want to keep enough force in reserve to push out of a grip, because if he gets a hold of you, you can expect to take not only grip damage, but massive blunt force trauma due to a sudden lateral thrust into a stone wall. It’s a rather dirty fighting technique, but it’s probably one you’ve been using all game long, so you can’t complain too much.

In addition to all of this, Kyle will also heal himself periodically, in the same manner as Tavion and her super-drain. Also like Tavion, he’ll stop healing after regaining a couple of health bars worth of stamina (don’t forget that you can check your opponent’s health with Force sense). Given his arsenal of short-range attacks, the sensible thing to do is to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Just keep dashing in and out, working his health down, but staying out of dangerous situations and healing yourself when need be, and eventually you’ll take him out.

Regardless of your choice, you’re going to have one of the most difficult fights in the history of the Jedi Knight series, especially on Jedi Knight or Jedi Master difficulty. Good luck!

Force Powers

As in Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, but unlike Jedi Outcast, you’ll actually be able to choose which powers you wish to use in Jedi Academy, to a degree. Your Neutral powers will increase automatically after each tier, but you’ll be required to choose which Light side and Dark side powers you wish to specialize in. As with Jedi Outcast, you can feel free to dabble in both sides of the force, and, in fact, you’ll probably want to, to ensure that your character has decent offensive and defensive capabilities. Don’t worry about storyline implications in the single-player game; whether you choose Dark side or Light side powers, your ultimate force alignment will still come down to a single choice near the end of the game.

Neutral Powers

Your Neutral force powers are the toolbox that every Jedi needs in order to survive. These control your proficiency with a lightsaber, and your ability to manipulate yourself and your environment via pull, push, and jump.

Force Jump

Level 1: Jedi can jump up to three times normal height.
Level 2: Jedi can jump up to six times normal height.
Level 3: Jedi can jump up to 12 times normal height.

Jump is probably the force power you’ll be using most often, just out of necessity; most of the places you’re required to access in Jedi Academy are out of range of a normal, non-force assisted leap. Luckily, Jumping is the simplest power to use, since all you need to do is depress your jump key until you reach the desired height, then let go. If you find yourself just barely unable to reach a ledge above you, you can crouch at the apex of your jump to lift your legs up, thus getting another meter or so of clearance. Force use for this power is variable, based on the height; a jump of maximum height at level three of the skill will cost you 50 Force.

Force Speed

Level 1: Jedi can move 33% faster than normal.
Level 2: Jedi can move 100% faster than normal.
Level 3: Jedi can move 400% faster than normal.

Speed has a certain amount of utility, especially in avoiding traps and deadly environmental features, but it’s somewhat less useful when you’re actually facing off against living enemies. In the single-player game, this actually slows down time around your character, so that you’re able to act and engage opponents while they’re almost paused, especially on the highest level of the skill. It’s overkill, however, for most ordinary foes, since there are more efficient ways of killing normal grunts, and if you attempt to use speed while facing off against a Reborn, they’ll usually activate speed themselves, thus negating your advantage. Speed costs 50 Force per activation, and you won’t regenerate Force while it’s active.

Force Push

Level 1: One target enemy can be pushed over.
Level 2: Multiple enemies can be knocked down.
Level 3: Multiple enemies are knocked back, and take damage from collisions with walls.

Push is one of the most useful of all of the force powers, and should be bound to an easily-accessible key near your movement keys. In the early portions of the game, you’ll use it to disable a target enemy before taking them out while they’re on the ground; at level two, you can break up a group of enemies by knocking all of them over, giving you enough time to bypass them or kill a few of them as they’re getting up. Level three allows you to enjoy pushing stormtroopers off of high ledges, and the like.

Push can also be used to deflect incoming missile or explosive attacks. During the single-player game, you can use push to repel rocket fire, or incoming primary fire from a Stouker concussion rifle. At the third level of the power, you can even redirect the incoming fire back on your attacker.

In addition to its more mundane uses against non-Jedi opponents, push is critical in duels with Reborn, since it is usually the only way to break out of dominating enemy powers, such as drain or grip.

Push’s force drainage is dependent on the number of possible targets, but will not activate if you have less than 15 available force points.

Neutral Powers - cont.

Force Pull

Level 1: One target enemy is pulled off of his or her feet.
Level 2: One target enemy is knocked off his or her feet, and their weapon is pulled out of their hands and propelled towards the Jedi.
Level 3: Multiple enemies are knocked over, and all of their weapons are pulled towards the Jedi.

Pull is one of the most efficient grunt-killers in the later stages of the game: since stormtroopers and other low-level enemies aren’t able to sustain much falling damage, you can simply Jump over their heads, then Pull the entire crowd up into the air; after a short but probably unpleasant mid-air excursion, they’ll die once they hit the ground. This is rather force-intensive, though, since pull requires more force as the number of targets increase.

Force Sense

Level 1: Jedi can sense people and markers at short range.
Level 2: Jedi can sense people, markers, and objects at medium range.
Level 3: Jedi can sense people, markers, and objects at long range, and can sense health of nearby opponents.

This is Jedi Academy’s sole new force power for the single-player game, and it’s a useful one. Besides the obvious uses, such as tracking down secret areas, it’s perhaps best used to keep your eyes on critical mission objectives, which will usually be visible at any distance as blue outlines. This requires 20 force points to activate, and your force doesn’t regenerate as long as it’s active.

Lightsaber Offense

Level 1: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.
Level 2: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.
Level 3: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.

This is a passive force power, and thus is always active as long as you’re wielding a lightsaber. You won’t get any better at actually using a lightsaber with successive levels of this skill, but you will have a better chance to survive duels, due to the ability to parry incoming blows and break out of saber locks.

Lightsaber Defense

Level 1: Jedi can deflect projectiles coming directly at his or her front side.
Level 2: Jedi can deflect more projectiles in a wider arc.
Level 3: Widest range of deflection; incoming projectiles are likely to be reflected back to their origin.

This is another passive skill; you won’t have to activate any force power to be able to deflect incoming laser blasts. At its lowest level, you’ll definitely be wishing you had Luke’s innate prowess for defense, since even a single enemy’s blaster fire will probably impact you at least some of the time, but at the higher levels, you’ll be able to take on numerous foes with relative ease. Note that it offers you no protection against disruptor blasts, explosives, rockets, the secondary fire of the Imperial Repeater or the Flechette gun, or either firing mode of the Stouker Concussion Rifle.

Lightsaber Throw

Level 1: Lightsaber goes a short distance and returns.
Level 2: Lightsaber is thrown farther, and the Jedi can control its path in midair.
Level 3: Lightsaber homes in on enemies.

Sadly enough, this power actually becomes somewhat less useful at its third level, especially in multiplayer. Throwing your saber is a useful tactic, but one that’s not advisable in many combat situations, since you’re completely vulnerable while your saber isn’t in your hand. If your opponent is immobilized or knocked over, however, a saber throw to their location is usually an instant kill. Unfortunately, a third-level throw will not impact an enemy on the ground, unless it is used while you’re standing directly above him or her; instead, it will usually hover uselessly over their body for a moment before returning to your hand. You can’t opt not to go to level three in the single-player game, but you usually won’t want to pump this skill all the way in multiplayer games.

Light Side Powers

Force Absorption

Level 1: Jedi can absorb minor amounts of force energy projected at him or her.
Level 2: Jedi can absorb larger amounts of force energy.
Level 3: Jedi can absorb immense amounts of force energy.

Absorption is something of a situational power in the single-player game, since it won’t help you at all against non-Jedi opponents, and even against most of them, it won’t be incredibly useful except at its highest level. The ability to negate damage from drain and lightning is useful, as is the extra force power you gain from such absorptions, but this is still something of a passive skill. During the single-player game, at least, you’ll likely want to opt for something that will actually help you kill your opponents. In the multi-player game, however, absorption can make a world of difference when facing off against opponents who love to spam pushes and pulls, since it negates the effects of those Neutral powers, as well.

Force Protection

Level 1: Jedi absorbs 25% of damage from energy, projectile, and physical sources.
Level 2: Jedi absorbs 50% of damage from energy, projectile, and physical sources.
Level 3: Jedi absorbs 75% of damage from energy, projectile, and physical sources.

Again, a situational power, but one that can actually be somewhat useful, not because it reduces damage from blaster fire, which is usually going to be reflected, or missile fire, which is easily avoided, but because it does indeed work to reduce damage taken from lightsabers. If you’re taking 75% less damage than your opponent in a duel, and have comparable skills, then the odds are significantly tipped in your favor.

Force Heal

Level 1: Jedi can convert force points to health, but must remain stationary.
Level 2: Jedi can heal while moving.
Level 3: Jedi can heal more rapidly while moving.

This is usually going to be the first power you want to take to the third level, since healing your character is a bit more difficult in Jedi Academy than in previous Jedi Knight games. There are no portable Bacta tanks in this game, so all of the healing you get will either be in the form of instant medpaks, or via heal or drain. Drain is an able healer, but relies on the presence of enemies and a sizable force reservoir, whereas heal can be used while you’re hiding in a corner somewhere, nursing your wounds.

Mind Trick

Level 1: One enemy can be tricked into ignoring the Jedi for ten seconds.
Level 2: One enemy can be confused for ten seconds, or multiple enemies can be distracted by focusing force energy on a nearby surface.
Level 3: One enemy can be converted into an ally for thirty seconds, or multiple enemies can be distracted.

Mind trick is almost unique in that a single point can be very useful to you later in the game. Level three is useful if you want to pour points into the skill, since enemies can be converted into allies, or simply held still while you destroy them, but even the ability to convince an enemy to ignore you can be massively handy when you face off against the hazard troopers in the middle sections of the game. These guys are difficult to handle, even with your arsenal of weapons and powers, so sometimes it’s best just to bypass them as quickly as possible.

Dark Side Powers

Force Grip

Level 1: Jedi can hold one enemy immobile for five seconds.
Level 2: Jedi can immobilize an enemy and do damage over a longer period of time.
Level 3: Immobilized foe is damaged, and can also be moved laterally and vertically in space.

Maximizing grip will make duels with Reborn much, much easier. Though many Reborn will resist a grip, or push out of it after a couple of seconds, you can repeat attempts until it locks on, and usually a couple of seconds is all it will take to flick a Jedi off into the wild blue yonder, if there happens to be some yonder around. And the level designers seem to really enjoy putting yonder into the game, since you’ll often be fighting above yawning chasms, lava pools, bottomless pits, and the like, and if you can get your enemy off of whatever surface you’re fighting on and start that fall, you can kill them without getting your hands dirty. Of course, you’ll need to put three points into this power to actually use it in this fashion, but it’s definitely worth it.

Force Lightning

Even if you don’t use Force Lightning, you can expect to run across many enemies that do.
Even if you don’t use Force Lightning, you can expect to run across many enemies that do.

Level 1: One bolt emanates in a straight line from the Jedi.
Level 2: Multiple bolts issue forth from the Jedi in an arc.
Level 3: A very wide arc of lightning is created by the Jedi.

This is another good offensive skill, especially when dealing with weaker Reborn opponents or grunt troops of the Weequay / Rodian / stormtrooper variety. Again, not very useful at lower levels, but at the third level, you can spawn a death field that will absolutely destroy weaker opponents by the dozens. It’s also one of the few certain methods of dealing ranged damage against Jedi and Reborn opponents, although it won’t usually kill them outright. Lightning requires at least 25 force to be used, but works best if you have a full tank of gas to spend on it.

Force Rage

Level 1: Jedi takes 50% damage from all sources, cannot die, and has stronger attacks, but bleeds health while rage is active.
Level 2: Jedi takes 25% damage from all sources, cannot die, is 25% faster, and has stronger attacks, but bleeds health while rage is active.
Level 3: Jedi takes 10% damage from all sources, cannot die, is 50% faster, and has stronger attacks, but bleeds health while rage is active.

You’ll see a lot of uber-Reborn using this power, and it’s admittedly a useful one, even if the drawbacks are serious. Although it turns you into a killing machine for a short duration of time-- only ten seconds per activation--you’ll be slowed down for the following ten seconds, and it will slowly but surely eat away at your health for the duration. If you do switch it on, you’d better make sure that you can kill your opponent during the ten seconds of rage, because if you don’t, you’ll be at a serious disadvantage while you’re recharging. For the same reason, it’s usually best not to activate this power while you’re fighting three or more Jedi opponents: you’ll be much less able to defend yourself after the effects wear off, and thus much more likely to die.

Force Drain

Level 1: Jedi can drain health from one opponent when within range of physical contact.
Level 2: Jedi can drain health from an opponent from a distance.
Level 3: Jedi can drain health from multiple opponents from a distance.

This is the Dark Side’s vampiric equivalent of Force heal. Drain requires you to have a living target; its life force will be sucked from it, and transferred to you. At low levels, this is difficult to use in most situations, since you’ll be required to drop your defenses and concentrate on all that life-sucking, and will thus be easy prey for any nearby enemies. At third level, though, you can safely suck away from multiple enemies, in a similar fashion to lightning, albeit without quite the debilitating effects on your opponents. In addition to sucking health from your opponents, drain will also sap their force reserves, if they’re a Jedi or Reborn opponent; you don’t gain these drained force points, but at least they won’t be able to use them. Drain does have one small advantage over Force heal as a healing power: it allows you to exceed the normal cap of 100 health, and reach 125 health, although those 25 points beyond the cap will slowly seep away after you gain them.

Weapons

For the sake of discussion, we’ll talk about all of the weapons. Obviously you’ll be using the lightsaber more than any other weapon, but the others do have situational uses.

Lightsaber

It’s probably not going to shock anyone if we spoil the game and let you know that you will be using a lightsaber almost exclusively, right? Luckily, there isn’t any warm-up period before you obtain one, as in Jedi Outcast; in Academy, you start the game with a laser sword in hand, and indeed, it will be your trusty ally until the final battle.

For tips on actually using your lightsaber in battle, see the Dueling section of the Tips and Cheats chapter.

DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol

No real cowboy (or cowgirl) would ride the intergalactic range without a sidearm, and you’re no exception. In a pinch, your blaster pistol can be used to snipe at distant enemies; just move your cursor around until it turns red and snap off a few shots. The rate of fire is a bit too slow for it to be useful in firefights.

E-11 Blaster Rifle

The primary attack here is a series of loosely grouped laser blasts with a medium rate of fire; the alternate firing mode consists of very loosely grouped laser blasts, with a fairly improved rate of fire. Neither firing mode will be of much use to you, or at least, not enough use to make it worth losing the protective blanket of a lightsaber.

Tenloss DXR-6 Disruptor Rifle

"They’re animals, and I used my Tenloss DXR-6 model Disruptor Rifle on them from a safe distance like animals!"

Every game has to have a sniper rifle, and Jedi Academy is no exception. This being a sci-fi game, we get a particularly cool sniper rifle with disruptor technology. We can only presume that this was what Darth Vader was referring to when he told the bounty hunters he didn’t want his prey to be disintegrated, because that’s precisely what this gun does, given enough charge.

Before you fire on your target, you’ll want to zoom in with the secondary fire. After you’ve locked yourself in, you can press the fire button for a quick shot, or hold it down for a more powerful beam; if you let the disruptor rifle overcharge, the target will usually be disintegrated completely. In most cases, though, a single shot to the head should suffice. If you wish to move while you’re zoomed-out, you’ll need to crouch and strafe; if you attempt to move while standing, you’ll automatically be returned to your normal viewpoint.

Wookiee Bowcaster

It’s rare for a weapon to be useless in three successive games, but the bowcaster has managed to be completely devoid of utility since the first Jedi Knight. The primary fire here can be charged to unleash a spread of five bolts, while the secondary fire will let loose a single bolt that will bounce off of surfaces. Unfortunately, given the power balance in Jedi Academy, the ability to fire around corners will be meaningless against grunt-level opponents, whom you can dispatch just as easily with a lightsaber, and will still be useless against Reborn, who will deflect the shot whether you’re visible or not.

Imperial Heavy Repeater with Concussion Launcher

The primary fire here shoots out a dispersed, although rapid stream of particles; unless you’re at point-blank range, however, these don’t deal quite enough damage to kill even a stormtrooper in an acceptable amount of time. The secondary fire is actually somewhat useful: it consists of a charged ball of energy that travels in a parabola and explodes upon contact with a surface, or enemy. It’s fairly useful for taking out turrets and purely stationary enemies, but is a bit unpredictable for most other occasions.

Destructive Electro-Magnetic Pulse 2 Gun

Unlike many of the weapons here, which are mere also-rans when compared to your lightsaber’s lethality, the DEMP2 Gun actually has its own unique purpose, in that it’s dreadfully effective in disabling mechanical foes, like droids and turrets. The primary fire is a simple projectile that will severely damage mechanical enemies, but merely stun biological targets; the secondary fire unleashes a sphere of energy that damages anything within its radius. You can charge the secondary fire for more damage.

Weapons - cont.

Golan Arms FC1 Flechette Weapon

This is Jedi Academy’s version of a shotgun, in that the primary fire consists of a wide spread of small metal shards that ricochet off of surfaces if they don’t first impact a biological target. The spread is, however, a bit too wide for most purposes, since it doesn’t result in a kill unless you’re almost inside your target already, and if that’s the case, why aren’t you using your lightsaber? The secondary fire is a rather incongruous pair of explosive balls that can sometimes both impact a stormtrooper without killing him. Handy, indeed.

Stouker Concussion Rifle

Hazard Troopers are immensely dangerous, precisely because they wield Stoukers.
Hazard Troopers are immensely dangerous, precisely because they wield Stoukers.

This is the token new weapon for Jedi Academy, and it’s actually somewhat useful when treated with respect (and used at a fairly long range). The primary fire is a rapid-transit explosive, which detonates on impact and has a fairly decent radius of effect. Its power leaves something to be desired, unfortunately, since stormtroopers will sometimes survive its explosive effects, and note that Reborn and Force-using enemies will usually push the projectile back in your direction. The secondary fire is somewhat akin to a classic rail-gun; a beam of energy travels rapidly from you to the target, without an explosive radius, but also without the chance of reversal or reflection due to push. Most Reborn, of course, will usually dodge the incoming fire anyway.

Merr-Sonn PLX-2M Portable Missile System

Still the biggest and best weapon in your non-lightsaber arsenal, the Merr-Sonn comes into Jedi Academy essentially unchanged from its previous iteration. The primary fire mimics your prototypical FPS rocket launcher; a single rocket is dummy-fired and heads in a straight path towards whatever what was in your crosshairs. If this passes anywhere near a Reborn, however, you can expect it to get Pushed off-course, or possibly back towards you. The alt-fire requires a short lock-on period; if you hold it down while centering your crosshairs over a target, you will get a visual signal in the form of a red circle indicating that you have a lock. Release the secondary fire button at this point to release a homing missile that will seek its target with fair accuracy; if they hide behind a solid object, of course, the missile will detonate without harming them. Reborn and Jedi will still be able to push homing missiles away, so these are best kept in reserve for the toughest non-force-using opponents.

Thermal Detonator

For the single-player game, there’s no form of explosive as versatile and useful as the thermal detonator. This is your standard grenade weapon, save that you can choose for it to detonate on impact (secondary fire) or have it detonate after a short delay (primary fire). The timer detonation is incredible useful for dealing with enemies who are waiting around a corner, since the grenade will bounce off of walls and objects, but still detonate if it comes in contact with an enemy. Reborn enemies will be able to push explosives away, however, so don’t expect any cheap kills on your powerful enemies with these.

Trip Mine

You’ll see more than a few of these in your travels through the world of Jedi Academy; these are the explosives with blue-laser tripwires attached to them, which are usually planted in the most annoying possible place. The primary fire sets up a trip-wired mine, which is somewhat useful when you know where an enemy is headed, or intend to lure them into a trap, since most grunt-level enemies will wander into the wire without a second thought to their safety. The secondary fire sets the mine with a proximity trigger, which will detonate when an enemy comes within a short distance of the mine itself. Reborn will, again, push away mines, so you won’t have much luck luring them into traps, but these can be annoyingly effective, or just plain annoying, in multiplayer games.

Detonation Paks

These are the least effective of the explosive devices…for most occasions. The primary fire lays down a detpak, and can be used to lay down multiple paks in succession, while the secondary fire detonates all currently lain paks. As you might expect, Reborn and force-using enemies can push these away before they come into effective range, and they’re a bit of overkill against most non-force-using foes, but they can still be effective against the biggest enemies, such as the slow-moving hazard troopers. If you can find a well-traveled spot to place these in a multiplayer game, you can expect to get a few cheap kills before people start holding a grudge.

Enemies

The bestiary of Jedi Academy belies its original roots as an expansion pack to Jedi Outcast, which is to say that if you’ve played that game, you should be familiar with most of the foes you’ll be facing here.

Scum

Hopefully you don’t think that calling the Weequay, Gran, and Rodians of the greater Republic "scum" is a value judgment on our part. We’re sure that there are some fine, upstanding members of these races somewhere in the galaxy, but you certainly won’t find them in Jedi Academy.

There’s really not much to say about these grunts, who populate many of the earlier levels of the game and then fade away as your foes begin to count more Reborn among their numbers. Weequay and Rodians usually possess low-level weaponry, such as bowcasters, blaster rifles, and the occasional (and annoying) disruptor rifle, but they’re still nothing you can’t handle, save in massively overwhelming numbers. Use your lightsaber to block their fire, close the distance, and kill them. Gran will often pop up and chuck timed thermal detonators at you; when this happens, track them down and kill them before dealing with the rest of your foes.

Cultists

As with the scum of the universe, Cultists are generally poorly-equipped, in their non-Reborn incarnations, at least, although they will sometimes possess the odd Stouker or Merr-Sonn later on in the game. As with the other grunts, though, you shouldn’t have much of a problem with these guys, so get close and slice ‘em and dice ‘em.

Imperials

Troopers come in a couple of varieties in Jedi Academy, none of them worth worrying about very much. Whether it’s a stormtrooper, snowtrooper, or stormtrooper commander, you won’t have much of a problem with these fellows, as they normally wield only a blaster rifle or Imperial Repeater, neither of which are earth-shatteringly scary. Lightning, grip, lightsaber, push, pull; do what you will, these fellows won’t put up much of a fight.

There are, of course, any number of other forms of grunt-level Imperials, from the lowly, pistol-wielding Imperial pilots, to the sometimes dangerous camouflaged officers. None of these will be whipping out anything worse than a flechette weapon, though, so you shouldn’t need to sweat too much. You have a lightsaber, they do not, so do your job and clean house.

Flight Troopers

Flight troopers are a new complication in Jedi Academy: these guys are heavily armored, wield Imperial Repeaters, and…oh yeah, they can fly. The AI keeps them roughly tethered to your character, unfortunately, so you can’t outrun them in open areas very easily; you’ll need to use your considerable resources to take them down with a minimum of fuss. Unfortunately, their armor makes them difficult to kill; it’ll take a couple of direct rocket hits to off them, but at least they move too slowly to dodge the incoming fire, so an alt-fire rocket is usually your best bet if you manage to put a little distance between one of these guys and yourself. Otherwise, use your lightsaber throw while dodging their fire and wait for them to succumb to gravity’s sweet embrace once again.

Hazard Troopers

Hazard troopers are the hulking brutes in power armor, and usually arrive in pairs. You’re going to see these fellows in more than a few different levels of the game, so you’d better have a consistent plan of attack.

Of course, an ordinary trooper in a suit of armor wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but unfortunately, these guys almost uniformly possess Stouker concussion rifles, and, lest you need to be reminded, Stouker fire hurts. Yes, you can push it away, but the bolts move quickly enough to make this a difficult task, and even if you can deflect the fire, it won’t help you much in close quarters, where you’ll probably just push it into a nearby wall, where it’ll explode and hurt you anyway.

Needless to say, if you have the room to do so, you’ll want to keep a bit of distance between you and the hazard trooper, as well as give yourself a cushion between yourself and the nearest surface behind you, since the Stouker has a wide radius for splash damage. Keep strafing, to increase the chances that the Stouker will miss you. When it comes time to actually attack, a full reservoir of force points, converted to Lightning, can sometimes fell one of these foes, but usually you’ll want to use a Stouker of your own, or a Merr-Sonn, so that you can keep a safe distance while returning fire. If you have any points in the power, mind trick can be invaluable when dealing with hazard troopers; just trick them directly and hope you get far enough past them to be out of range when they wake up.

Reborn

Now we’re getting down to it. Your Reborn foes (so called due to the events of the first Jedi Outcast; you can think of them as simple Dark Jedi if it suits you) are obviously going to be the toughest enemies you face in the single-player game. There are a few different varieties of them, starting with the lowly apprentice. These non-saber-wielding opponents will usually be paired up with another Reborn, and will focus force powers on you while their teammate attempts to engage you in lightsaber conduct. They will sometimes have rather fierce lightning attacks with which to annoy you; your best bet is to return the favor and use lightning on them. They have much less health than do the regular Reborn, and will thus die after a few seconds’ worth of lightning. Failing that, close in on them and use your lightsaber to destroy them, but be warned that they will try to push and grip you around when you get too close.

Reborn are annoying when encountered singly; in groups they quickly become dangerous.
Reborn are annoying when encountered singly; in groups they quickly become dangerous.

The normal Reborn are simply upgraded apprentices, with lightsabers and much more health. As you may expect, they share many of your character’s capabilities, which means that, for instance, they will be able to deflect blaster shots with their lightsaber, or push back rockets that have been fired at them. In addition to the usual lightsaber combat tricks, they will also throw their lightsabers with some frequency, as well as resort to lightning or drain attacks as they ramp up in power towards the end of the game. Grip is usually your most efficient manner of killing Reborn; if you can grip an opponent and drop him from a sufficient height, he’ll die, even if he normally could’ve survived a jump of that height. They’ll usually push out of grips, though, so make your move quickly.

The fiercest of the normal force-wielding opponents you’ll encounter are the uber-Reborn, or whatever you like to call them. These fellows resemble a normal Reborn, pumped up with steroids; they possess bigger bodies, more health, and are more likely to mix up lightsaber combat with force powers than their weaker brethren. They’ll also be more likely to possess dual sabers or a saber staff. Gripping these guys is still your best bet, if you’re near a drop-off of some sort; otherwise, you’ll want to proceed very carefully, dashing in and out, avoiding their drain powers, and staying away from them when they activate rage. Your best option in a straight-up duel is to wait until their rage power deactivates; they’ll be slowed and likely weakened for around ten seconds after their protection ends. Take advantage of this time to land a killing blow.

Although this might sound pretty weak, one sure-fire method for dealing with Reborn is to simply run past them. Reborn aren’t the quickest enemies on the block, and they don’t follow you for very long, so if you’re low on health, or simply don’t want to waste your time fighting off yet another saber-using opponent, just jump over them and keep going. There’ll be plenty more Reborn in your path later on.

For more tips on dealing with Reborn enemies, see the Dueling section in the Tips and Cheats chapter.

Tips and Cheats

Dueling

Most of the challenge in the single-player game will come from your numerous run-ins with other lightsaber users, in the form of Reborn, or perhaps even other Jedi. Dueling isn’t an exact science, unfortunately, but Jedi Academy does give the player a few new tricks to use.

During the latter portions of the single-player game, or when creating a multiplayer profile, you’ll be asked to choose between using a single saber, duel sabers, or a dual-bladed saber staff. Each kind of saber has its own advantages and disadvantages, of course, and each saber has its own unique repertoire of moves. You’ll probably need to playtest a bit before deciding which one you prefer, but hopefully this section will help you survive duels while the decision process is still ongoing.

Common Attacks

There are some maneuvers that are common among all lightsaber types. The first, and worst, of these is an attack that targets an enemy on the ground in front of you. If you are facing a prone opponent, and press forward + attack at the same time, your character will attempt to leap forward and impale the opponent with your saber or sabers. The reason this is inadvisable is because the animation is unbreakable, and takes too long on top of that; as soon as you start this motion, you’re locked into it, and anyone nearby will get a free shot, if not more than one, before you can regain your footing. Most enemies worth their salt will roll out of the way of this maneuver anyway.

Another common move involves positioning enemies behind your Jedi, and attacking backwards. Each saber type and stance has its own semi-unique animation for these attacks, but since, like the stabbing attack, the animation is unbreakable, these moves seem to stand a much better chance of breaking through an opponent’s defense and hurting them. These moves have been weakened considerably since Jedi Outcast, however, especially in multiplayer, where a favorite tactic was to pull an opponent to the ground at your feet, turn around, and then swipe them as they were getting up for an instant kill. This form of "butt attack" is thankfully almost obsolete in Academy, mostly due to the fact that players aren’t locked in to a single rising animation, but can roll or jump up when knocked down. In single-player, however, rear attacks can still be quite effective; just be careful you don’t wind up getting sliced before you kill your opponent.

In general, however, most opponents will be brought low by a smart combination of horizontal attacks and in-and-out movement. Strafing while hitting the attack key will usually result in a horizontal slash of your lightsaber, which gives you a greater area in which your blade can actually hit your opponent. Repeating this maneuver while dancing in and out of your foe’s saber reach will usually result in a dead foe; it just sometimes takes a while.

Single Lightsaber

The single lightsaber might look like the weakest choice on paper, but two blades aren’t always better than one. Although you begin the single-player game with access only to the medium saber stance, you’ll eventually unlock the fast and strong stances, as well; multiplayer characters have immediate access to all three.

You can ignore the fast stance during duels, for the most part; while it has some interesting moves, such as the lunge (crouch + forward + attack), its blows are usually too weak to penetrate a defense, and will be parried off with ease. The medium stance is somewhat more useful, especially when you concentrate on the still rather rapid side-to-side swipes of the blade.

The strong saber stance is what will really be effective, in the hands of a player who has practiced with it. Although it is by far the slowest of the three stances, which makes it difficult to time your attacks so that they actually hit, strong blows will usually penetrate an opponent’s defense, thus hurting them whether or not they’re open to attack. You might want to combine this with a force power that speeds you up, such as speed or rage, for maximum combat effectiveness.

The single-saber katas, performed by hitting attack + alt attack in succession, are powerful, but unbreakable and expensive (each take up half of your force power). You’re best off saving these for last-ditch attacks when you’re mired in a crowd of enemies.

Dueling - cont.

Dual Lightsabers

I see your dual-wield kata is as useless as mine.
I see your dual-wield kata is as useless as mine.

Two for the price of one is usually a great deal, and dual-wielded lightsabers are no exception. For the most part, the usual strategy of strafe + attack works well with dual sabers, since your second slash gives you a marginally better chance of penetrating an opponent’s defense, but dual sabers also benefit from the dual sabers twirl move, which is a free attack performed by crouching, then pressing forward and attack. You’ll come out of the crouch and swing your sabers around in a dizzying whirl, slicing anyone in front of you. The best part of this move is that it’s not unbreakable, and that you can freely move around and retarget while the animation is ongoing, in single-player, at any rate.

The dual lightsaber kata is case of style over substance, unfortunately; while it’s really neat to look at, it’s expensive, with a very short range and a warm-up time that will let anyone nearby get away before the sabers start flying. Worst of all, you can spend 50 force points to begin the animation, but all an opponent has to do to stop it is push you.

Dual-Bladed Saber Staff

The dual-bladed lightsaber is probably the most difficult of the three options to use effectively, due to its lack of a saber throw, and its emphasis on kicking moves that are somewhat underwhelming, even when executed properly. The strength of kicking an opponent, at least an opponent in multiplayer, isn’t to damage them, however; the point is to frustrate them and knock them off of their game. Opponents can’t block a kick with a lightsaber, so if you manage to connect with a kick, they’ll always be knocked back from you. If you manage to repeat this ad nauseum (and it’s harder than it sounds), then you’ll often be able to convince your saber-wielding enemies that you’re not worth the trouble, or that they should whip out a rocket launcher and use that instead of a saber.

Kicks aren’t going to win you any battles, though; for that, you’ll need to actually use your saber’s blades. The most effective move here, aside from the usual slashing, is the saber staff twirl, which is activated by crouching, then hitting forward and attack. As with the dual sabers twirl, this move is free, and you’ll be able to move your character and keep yourself focused on an enemy while it’s ongoing.

One huge advantage of the saber staff is that, in addition to its dual-bladed goodness, you can also retract one of the blades and fight with a single-bladed saber by pressing the L key (by default). This will only give you access to the medium fighting style, but will let you throw your saber, and give you a dose of much-needed versatility.

Cheats

There is a fairly large number of cheat codes in Jedi Academy, most of which are held over from Jedi Outcast, though a few of our favorites from that game have apparently been nixed. Regardless, you can still enhance your game experience with the following codes, although it’s recommended that you play through the game at least once before you begin cheating.

Realistic combat is…well, it’s kind of gross, to be honest.
Realistic combat is…well, it’s kind of gross, to be honest.

Before you can input any of these cheats, you need to toggle on cheat mode in the console. The default method for opening the console is to hold down the left shift key, then press the tilde key (to the left of the 1 button, in the corner of your keyboard). Once the console is opened, type "helpusobi 1", without the quotation marks, and hit enter. This will toggle cheat mode on, and you’ll be able to enter any of the following codes into the console and reap the benefits.

Also, note that you can bind any of these commands to keys if you want instant access to them. To do this, open the console and type: bind key code. For instance, if you want to have the ability to instantly recharge your health at any time when you press the X key, you would type: "bind x give health", without the parentheses, in the console. After that, every time you hit the X key, you’d be brought back to 100 health immediately.

Cheat CodeEffect
g_spskill 0-3This code changes the difficulty of the game; you can enter any number from 0 (for Padawan difficulty) to 3 (for Jedi Master difficulty). You’ll need to save and reload before this takes effect.
d_npcfreeze 1This immediately freezes all NPCs in a level, allowing you to kill them at will. Enter the code again with 0 at the end to reanimate everyone.
give weaponsGives you all available weapons. You’ll probably need to save and reload to gain access to your new arsenal, especially if you use this code in one of the game’s earlier levels.
give healthRestores your health to 100.
give armorRecharges your shields to 100.
give ammo Gives you maximum ammo for all weapons.
give forceRecharges your force points to full.
Setforceall 1-3Sets all of your force powers, including Light side and Dark side powers, to the desired level. Set it to three to become godly.
godThis classic code makes your character invincible, although you can still die from falling into bottomless pits. Enter the code again to turn the effect off.
noclipActivates no clipping mode, which lets you walk through walls and fly. Enter the code again to turn the effect off.
undyingActivates undead mode, which gives you 999 health.
npc kill allAll characters other than yourself die. Note that this will sometimes trigger cutscenes, or end your game if you have a teammate that needs to remain alive.
victoryYour character will perform a victory animation, which varies based on your choice of lightsaber. This doesn’t actually do anything, but it’s kind of cool to bind to a key for multiplayer mocking purposes.
g_saberrealisticcombat 1-20This was everyone’s favorite code in Jedi Outcast, and it returns, albeit in a slightly changed form, in Jedi Academy. When this code is activated, your lightsaber’s damage will increase greatly, and the likelihood that a hit will sever body parts from your target will also go up. What’s more, you’ll be able to remove more body parts than just the hands; you may find yourself removing your foe’s arms, heads, or even chopping them in half. The effect has been muted somewhat since the previous game, though, so you might want to use a number higher than 1 to increase the lethality, and keep in mind that this does affect your enemy’s lightsabers as well, so be careful when dueling.
Map mapnameThis warps you instantaneously to the given map. For instance, to warp to the first level on Vjun, you would enter "map vjun1" in the console. Your force powers and arsenal will be unaffected, so you might need to use the above codes to adjust your power levels to make the level survivable.

That shifty-eyed Tauntaun at the back is just waiting to make its move...
That shifty-eyed Tauntaun at the back is just waiting to make its move...

There’s one more interesting code, which deserves its own explication. This is the "npc spawn" code. Using the npc spawn cheat, you can summon any enemy you wish, at any time, so if you want to fight against Alora on the first level of the game, you can, or if you want to find out who would win in a fight between Luke and the new Tavion, you can summon them both and have them duke it out. You’ll need to be inside a level before these codes can be used, of course, so find a good open spot, and start churning out enemies. Things can get pretty chaotic, so you might want to use the d_npcfreeze 1 code to stop all of the NPC movement while you summon in foes, then turn them back on when you wish to start the rumble.

The syntax is the same as with other cheat codes, so if you want to summon Kyle into a level, you’d go to the console and type "npc spawn kyle" (without the parentheses).

Npc Spawn (name)Character summoned
aloraThe first version of Alora, which you fight on Hoth in the single-player game.
atstYou’ll need to have enough room for an AT-ST if you want this code to work.
boba_fettNot a bird, or a plane.
chewieThe galaxy’s most famous walking carpet.
cultist_saberA lightsaber-wielding Cultist.
cultist_destroyerThis is some kind of odd, kamikaze cultist who’ll run towards your character and self-destruct. Doesn’t appear in the game itself, but it’s still in the code, so have fun.
desannThis is the end boss of the original game. Still one of the most challenging opponents available.
galakAnother opponent from the original game.
hazardtrooperThe Stouker-wielding super troopers.
jediFriendly Jedi.
jedi_randomA random friendly Jedi.
landoWorks every time….
lukeSkywalker. Luke Skywalker.
monmothmaLeader of the new Republic. Can’t fight worth a damn, unfortunately.
mutant_rancorYou’ll need space to summon one of these, and keep in mind that they’re unkillable outside of an "npc kill all" code.
ragnosThe ghost of Marka Ragnos, albeit sans intelligence.
rancorAgain, you’ll need some room for this big guy.
raxThe Stouker-wielding foe from the Running Man level.
RebornGeneric Reborn with a single saber.
Reborn_dualDual-wielding Reborn.
Reborn_staffStaff-saber-wielding Reborn.
Reborn_newNew, bulkier Reborn with a single saber.
rosh_peninThis is the friendly variant of Rosh, not the one you fight.
saber_droidThe saber-wielding practice droid.
saboteur This is the camouflage-using Imperial Officer, with a pistol.
snowtrooperThis is the Hoth variant of the normal Stormtrooper.
stormtrooperYour general grunt.
tavionThis is Jedi Outcast’s version of Tavion, so she’ll be a little easier than the Academy version.
tavion_newSpeaking of the Academy version of Tavion….

Multiplayer Cheats

If you’re running a server with friends, or just want to fool around with god mode in a bot game, you can use most of the cheats above, so long as you set your game up properly beforehand.

To begin with, you’ll need to load a multiplayer map with the devmap command in the multiplayer version of Jedi Academy. The syntax is similar to the map command for the single player game, but you will need to preface the devmap command with a forward slash, and you’ll need to point to the multiplayer map directory, so that the command will look like "/devmap mp/ffa1", to load the first Free For All map on the multiplayer map list. The list of maps are as follows:

  • mp/ffa1 through mp/ffa5
  • mp/ctf1 through mp/ctf5
  • mp/duel1 through mp/duel10
  • mp/siege_desert
  • mp/siege_hoth
  • mp/siege_korriban

After you’ve loaded a map, you’ll be able to enter most of the cheats listed above, except that, since commands entered into the console are regarded as chat during multiplayer, you will also need to preface these cheat commands with a forward slash. Keep in mind that everyone connecting to your server will be warned that cheats are activated, so if you intend to play around with god mode, you can’t cry foul when all your would-be targets choose to do the same. Still, it’s sometimes fun to load up a duel map and spawn in a series of challenging opponents for everyone to play around with.

Multiplayer

Playing Jedi Academy online is, and we say this without a trace of hyperbole, unlike any other retail multiplayer experience that’s currently available. The inclusion of lightsabers and force powers, as well as Raven’s trademark well-designed weapons, make Academy’s deathmatch and other multiplayer modes an incredibly unique experience.

This is true when comparing Jedi Academy’s multiplayer modes with those of other games, of course, but it’s also true when you compare the multiplayer functions of Academy with its single-player mode. If you attempt to leap right from the single-player game into multiplayer action, you’re likely going to find that your lightsaber moves and force powers don’t work in quite the manner that you expect. This section is intended to go over some of these differences, as well as give you a basic overview of the multiplayer game types.

Game Types

Free For All

Free for all, otherwise known as deathmatch, is the oldest and noblest of FPS multiplayer modes. The objective is simple: kill everyone else, and don’t die. You’ll gain one point for each kill, but you’ll lose a point if you suicide or otherwise manage to kill yourself, e.g. by falling into a bottomless pit.

Team Free For All

This is the same mode as free for all, except that all of the players will be placed on one of two teams, and you’ll be required to kill only the members of the opposite team.

Duel

Two men enter! One man leaves! That, in short, is the basis of the duel gametype, which pits two duelists off in a small arena, in which they fight to the death. The winner gets a point, and gets to fight again; the loser gets shoved to the back of the queue, and perhaps gives his or her opponent a point, if they chose to kill themselves rather than be spared the humiliation of losing. The other players on the server will spectate until their turn to duel comes up.

Power Duel

As with the duel gametype, power duel pits opponents off in a small arena, but in this gametype, there are three fighters; two on one team versus one on the other. Though it may seem like the lone fighter might be at a severe disadvantage, he will receive extra health and force powers before the match begins.

Capture The Flag

Another venerable multiplayer mode, the object of capture the flag is to penetrate the opposing team’s base, grab their flag, and return it to your own base. Complications arise, of course, in that your own team’s flag must be in place before you can capture the other team’s flag, and that, if you die during your transit, you’ll drop the flag, which the enemy will then be able to return to their base simply by touching it. Successful captures require a great deal of teamwork.

Siege

Siege is Jedi Academy’s new objective-based gametype, akin to the objectives-based gameplay of, say, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. The attacking team will need to complete a series of objectives towards an ultimate goal, such as infiltrating a base, while the defenders are tasked with, well, defending, or frustrating the efforts of the attacking team. There is a number of unique aspects to this gametype, such as the useable defense turrets, or the equippable jetpack equipment.

The key to playing siege is practice; the first time you play, you’re going to be in way over your head. After a few repetitions on the same map, you’ll learn what to do; in the meantime, just find someone who looks like he knows what he’s doing, and follow him around.

Multiplayer Combat and Force Powers

For the most part, combat in multiplayer games proceeds much as it does in single-player levels, although your pool of available acrobatic moves for each type of saber is somewhat smaller. In addition, lightsaber actions that were free in the single-player game often cost Force points in multiplayer, and often force you to stand still while their animation plays. For instance, the dual sabers twirl is a free action in single-player, and allows you to move freely about while you slice up your opposition, but in multiplayer, it costs 25 force points, and requires you to remain stationary until the animation is finished. You’ll have to practice and adapt to these changes; in the end, the players with the best grasp of the fundamental and free lightsaber motions will have the best chance of winning lightsaber duels.

In addition to the combat changes, almost every force power is tweaked and modified for the multiplayer game. These changes are listed below. In addition to the force power changes, be aware that your Force points recharge much more slowly in multiplayer games; you’ll need to save them for when they’re most required if you wish to live.

Neutral Powers

Force Jump

Level 1: Jedi can jump up to two times normal height.
Level 2: Jedi can jump up to four times normal height.
Level 3: Jedi can jump up to eight times normal height.

You’ll need to be careful with Force jump in multiplayer games; on the one hand, a high level of jump will allow you to reach places that other characters can’t, but if you jump around too much, you’ll quickly find yourself out of Force points.

Force Speed

Level 1: Jedi can move 25% faster than normal for ten seconds.
Level 2: Jedi can move 50% faster than normal for fifteen seconds.
Level 3: Jedi can move 75% faster than normal for twenty seconds.

Speed in multiplayer games actually does speed your character up, instead of slowing everything else down, as the single-player speed does.

Force Push

Level 1: One target enemy can be pushed over.
Level 2: Multiple enemies can be pushed backwards
Level 3: Multiple enemies are knocked back, and take damage from collisions with walls.

Push is critical in multiplayer, if only as a defensive measure. You shouldn’t expect to be pushing back very many of your online foes, since it’s easily resisted by an enemy with a minimum of force energy left in reserve, but possessing push will let you push out of grips and other immobilizing force powers, and will cancel some of your opponent’s attacks. If your opponent does run out of force energy, then push can be very handy in propelling them over a nearby precipice.

Force Pull

Level 1: One target enemy is pulled towards the Jedi.
Level 2: Multiple enemies are pulled towards the Jedi.
Level 3: Multiple enemies are pulled, and have a chance to be knocked down.

As with push, pull relies on your opponent being defenseless, but it does allow for some quick saber kills when you do manage to knock over your opponent.

Force Sense

Level 1: Other players are surrounded by a glowing aura, allowing you to see them in the dark.
Level 2: Players are surrounded by auras, and you can also see them through walls at short range.
Level 3: You can see players through walls at any range, and can dodge incoming sniper fire.

The ability to see your opponents is a fairly important one, especially when you’re able to see them through walls, but still, this power isn’t going to help you actually kill your enemy, or let you live any longer, and as such, probably isn’t worth allotting force points to. There are exceptions, of course; if you’re defending a flag in CTF mode, the ability to spot enemies at long range and give your other defenders a heads-up is invaluable.

Lightsaber Offense

Level 1: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.
Level 2: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.
Level 3: Jedi can use a Lightsaber and has a chance to break saber locks with opponents of similar skill.

This is a passive force power, and thus is always active as long as you’re wielding a lightsaber. This is obviously a critical skill in lightsaber-only duels, as well as on any server that allows only lightsabers. If you’re on a weapons-based server, it can be safely de-prioritized.

Lightsaber Defense

Level 1: Jedi can deflect projectiles coming directly at his or her front side.
Level 2: Jedi can deflect more projectiles in a wider arc.
Level 3: Widest range of deflection; incoming projectiles are likely to be reflected back to their origin.

Again, this is situational. Psychologically speaking, fairly few players are going to be using blaster rifles and other weapons, on the assumption that their opponents are going to be able to deflect them; whether this is the case or not, you will often be able to benefit from this assumption by reducing your lightsaber defense to zero. Games on servers that allow weapons still revolve around lightsabers, for the most part, except when players track down the rocket launcher, disruptor rifle, or Stouker, and lightsaber defense won’t help you with those weapons anyway.

Lightsaber Throw

Level 1: Lightsaber goes a short distance and returns.
Level 2: Lightsaber is thrown farther, and the Jedi can control its path in midair.
Level 3: Lightsaber homes in on enemies.

Having at least a point in this skill is usually advisable, since the ability to spam lightsaber throws at your opponent on the ground is a time-honored method of killing them. Level three is essentially worthless for multiplayer, unless your opponent isn’t armed with a lightsaber of their own.

Light Side Powers

Force Absorption

Level 1: Nullifies first level force powers, and returns some energy.
Level 2: Nullifies second level force powers, and returns more energy.
Level 3: Nullifies third level force powers, and returns a lot of force energy.

Although absorption only nullifies powers of a level comparable to your level in absorption, a first level of absorption will still reduce the effect of a high-level enemy force power, so it may sometimes be useful to spend a point here, if you know your opponent is a Dark Force user. A third-level absorption makes you virtually immune to force powers for the duration.

Force Protection

Level 1: 50% of incoming damage is taken from your force pool instead of your health.
Level 2: 75% of incoming damage is blocked; half of this amount if drained from your force pool.
Level 3: 87.5% of incoming damage is blocked; 25% of this blocked damage is drained from your force pool.

Otherwise known as mana shield, if you’re a Diablo fan. This power is incredibly handy on weapons-based servers, where you can expect rocket attacks with some frequency. It will also increase your longevity in duels, as well.

Force Heal

Level 1: Jedi gains five health immediately.
Level 2: Jedi gains ten health immediately.
Level 3: Jedi gains twenty-five health immediately.

Protection is usually going to be a better choice than heal, at least in multiplayer, where medpaks can be fairly easily found.

Mind Trick

Level 1: The Jedi is invisible to one enemy for five seconds.
Level 2: You become invisible to multiple enemies in front of you for ten seconds.
Level 3: You become invisible to all nearby enemies for fifteen seconds.

Invisibility is, again, something of a passive ability, which neither makes you more powerful nor less resistant to damage, so if you put your points here, you’d better be sure you can convert the ability to move unseen into a kill or two.

Team Heal

Level 1: Restores health to nearby team members.
Level 2: Restores health to team members in a larger radius.
Level 3: Restores health to team members in a much larger radius.

If you feel like being a team player, you can throw some points into team heal, which will let you trade your Force for 50 health to a single nearby friendly player, 33 health to two friendly players, or 25 health to three or more friendly players.

Dark Side Powers

Force Grip

Level 1: Jedi can hold one enemy immobile for five seconds.
Level 2: Jedi can immobilize an enemy and do damage over a longer period of time.
Level 3: Immobilized foe is damaged, and can also be moved laterally and vertically in space.

Grip is largely unchanged from its single-player form, but be warned that it’s much tougher to lock on to your opponents in multiplayer.

Force Lightning

Level 1: One bolt emanates in a straight line from the Jedi.
Level 2: Multiple bolts issue forth from the Jedi in an arc.
Level 3: A very wide arc of lightning is created by the Jedi.

Again, lightning is changed very little from its normal incarnation, but you can sustain your attack for a bit longer in multiplayer.

Force Rage

Level 1: Jedi Rages for ten seconds, with a ten second recovery time.
Level 2: Jedi Rages for twenty seconds, with a ten second recovery time.
Level 3: Jedi Rages for thirty seconds, with a ten second recovery time.

While rage is active, you fire weapons 33% faster, move twice as fast, take half damage from all sources, and cannot die. While you’re recovering, you move at 75% normal speed and fire weapons half as quickly. If you can time yourself accurately, though, recovery times shouldn’t be a problem especially on the higher levels of the skill; just do your damage, then start running with five seconds or so left. Your doubled speed will hopefully get you away from your enemies before they can get close enough to hurt you while you’re slowed down.

Force Drain

Level 1: Jedi can drain ten force points per second from one opponent directly ahead of him.
Level 2: Jedi can drain fifteen force points per second from multiple opponents in an arc ahead of him.
Level 3: Jedi can drain twenty force points per second from multiple opponents in a wider arc ahead of him.

Unlike the single-player drain skill, multiplayer drain converts your opponent’s force points into health for you. This can be doubly advantageous for you; if you manage to drain an enemy’s entire force reserves, they’ll be much more susceptible to powers like grip and pull.

Team Energize

Level 1: Restores force points to nearby team members.
Level 2: Restores force points to team members in a larger radius.
Level 3: Restores force points to team members in a much larger radius.

This is analogous to team heal, except that it restores force points instead of health. As with team heal, it lets you trade your force for 50 Force points to a single nearby friendly player, 33 Force points to two friendly players, or 25 Force points to three or more friendly players.

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