Star Wars: Jedi Outcast for the Xbox is great action game that will remind you why you started playing Star Wars games.
The story of Jedi Outcast picks up right where the original Jedi Knight ended. Kyle Katarn, fearing the dark side, has severed his connection to the force, and has returned to his mercenary ways. Fans of the series will also recognize the return of Kyle’s trusty sidekick, Jan Ors. The plot in Jedi Outcast goes something like this; a dark Jedi named Dessann, and his apprentice Tavion, have created an army of force infused soldiers that he intends to wipe out the Jedi with. And so, it’s up to Kyle to save the day once again. The story in Jedi Outcast isn’t going to blow you away, but it has enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. Particularly toward the end of the game as the plot becomes more fleshed out, and really gives you the sense that you’re fighting for something.
The gameplay in Jedi Outcast is definitely one of the games major highpoints. It just feels like it was designed with the Xbox controller in mind. The right and left triggers control primary and secondary fire while the left and right thumb sticks are used for movement. It’s worth mentioning that it takes a full 6 levels into the game for the player to finally get their hands on the lightsaber. This will undoubtedly put a lot of players off as the opening levels are slow and tedious corridor crawls fighting the same enemies over and over again. However, once you do get the lightsaber, Jedi Outcast takes a 180 degree turn for the best. The variety of ways to slice and dice your enemies makes you feel just like a Jedi Knight. You’ll obtain 8 force powers in Jedi Outcast. Most of these you’ve seen before like force push, pull, and speed. You’ll also be able to use several dark side powers such as force grip (which will allow you to constrict the vital organs of an enemy) or force lightning which will have you shooting currents of electricity at enemies. Never in any other Jedi game has these force powers felt so polished and easy to use. You’ll be able to pre-set 2 force powers to the black and white buttons and another when you click on the left control stick. It may not seem like a huge feature, but being able to use multiple force powers on the fly without stopping is invaluable.
Overall, Jedi Outcast’s gameplay is superb. It’s fun and highly recommendable.
Graphically, Jedi Outcast is disappointing. The in-game cut scenes look dull and the character animations look incredibly stiff. What hurts Jedi Outcast the most however is the dismal collision detection. Enemies will stick through walls, or they won’t react accordingly to the environment around them. Normally this wouldn’t be too bad, but Jedi Outcast contains quite a few jumping puzzles which demand precision. The outdoor environments are quite simply ugly, everything has a generated feel to it, which is strange considering the fact that the indoor environments actually contain quite a bit of style and variety. It’s only too bad that the developers didn’t equal their time on the indoor and outdoor locations. The framerate in Jedi Outcast stays at a good 30 frames-per-second although you can expect it to drop occasionally when multiple saber wielding foes are fighting on screen at once. It doesn’t kill the experience, but it can be frustrating.
If there is one saving grace of Jedi Outcast’s graphics its the lightsaber and force combat. Never in any other Jedi game, has the action looked so fantastically cinematic. Lightsabers will lock together in a shower of sparks while force lightning can leave an entire room of storm troopers sizzling with currents of electricity.
Overall, I can’t help but feel disappointed with the graphics in Jedi Outcast. Some of it is really good, but why couldn’t the developers exhibit the same level of polish as they did with the lightsaber combat?
The sound in Jedi Outcast is impressive. Most notably, the voice acting, Billy Dee Williams makes a cameo appearance as the intrepid Lando Calrissian while Jeff Bennett reprises his role as Kyle Katarn. As you might expect, all the famous Star Wars music and sound effects are here, lightsabers zinging, blasters firing, enemies yelling their same pathetic taunts over and over again.
The single player campaign in Jedi Outcast will take you around 10-15 hours to complete, depending on which difficulty mode you choose. There’s Jedi (normal), Jedi Knight (Hard), and Jedi Master (which is basically the same as Jedi Knight except your health is cut in half to begin with).There’s enough exciting moments in Jedi Outcast that you’ll definitely want to replay more than once, particularly toward the end of the game in which you’ll have allies who are Jedi.
This brings up the multiplayer aspect of Jedi Outcast. The first thing you’ll notice is the inert lack of Xbox Live support. This is probably the single biggest disappointment in Jedi Outcast. To make up for this, you can choose to play against up to 14 computer controlled characters that do their very best to move and act like real opponents. You also have a wide assortment of different game types to choose from. There’s the standard capture the flag, free for all, and team free for all. As well as a Jedi Master Mode which has everyone fighting over a single lightsaber. Overall, Jedi Outcast has a good amount of value. It’s not the best multiplayer game on the Xbox. But if you don’t have Xbox Live, then this is a game you should consider purchasing.
Star Wars Jedi Outcast is a great Star Wars game. The developers, Vicarious Visions, did an excellent job in using the Star Wars license to its fullest potential. It’s not perfect, but you don’t have to be a fan of Star Wars to enjoy it. And that is impressive. Is it better than the original Jedi Knight? No. But you’ll be hard pressed to find a better Star Wars action game.
Positive:
+ Fantastic gameplay
+ Robust multiplayer options
+ Excellent use of the Star Wars license
Negative:
- Poor graphics
- No XBL support