BYTES REVIEW | The Force still flows strong in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Star Wars is one of the most successful sagas in theaters and it followed the same brilliant path in the gaming world. Despite having several excellent titles, surely one of its best known electronic franchises is Jedi Knight. Famous for introducing the FPS style into the world of the villain Darth Vader, the series was able to excellently combine incredible action with weapons of all caliber to defeat the Empire soldiers and powers of the Force to manipulate objects and get rid of opponents.

Despite so many positive points, there was an essential element that did not have a very pleasant mechanics and, that for any Star Wars game, it should have a prominent place in the arsenal of a Jedi knight: the lightsaber.

Fortunately, Jedi Academy came to give fans and players hours and hours of mind-bending combat, challenging enemies and a unique experience in the franchise’s history.

Adventures that never end … In a galaxy far away

The game is the third in the great hit series Jedi Knight and a direct sequel to Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast. Developed by Raven Software, published by LucasArts in the Americas and Activision in Europe, the title released in 2003 continues the story of young Jedi Kyle Katarn, successor to the best-known Jedi knight in the Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker.

Only this time, the game put the player in the shoes of one of Kyle’s apprentices, who needed to complete missions and develop his skills with the mysterious Force to become a true Jedi. Too bad, that main character, Jaden, would have to face more than just a few training robots or levitate a few stones to complete his training.

Set in the expanded Star Wars universe (which explores new worlds, races and events after the last film in the saga, Return of the Jedi), the game’s story deals with the adventures of Jaden Korr, Kyle’s Jedi apprentice, and your friend Rosh Penin.

As the padawan progresses in his training, he finds himself caught up in the middle of a fierce battle between the Jedi and a cult of Siths (Jedi who use the Dark Side of the Force) who, aided by remnants of the Galactic Empire, plan to drain power the Force of specific points in the galaxy to resurrect an ancient Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos.

The hero will also have to face several challenges and missions to complete his training and moral and ethical decisions will be present in his journey to question the player about what type of warrior he wants to become.

The Jedi Knight franchise was already well known for its unique FPS style, making the titles some of the best in their genre and presenting the player with an extensive arsenal of fictional weapons to suit all tastes and needs.

Although it is possible to use various powers of the Force such as pushing or pulling objects, strangling and releasing lightning bolts with the power of the mind, the series still sinned in the element that should have been the most important in a Star Wars game: light.

In this regard, Jedi Academy emerged to meet many requests from fans and brought the most incredible, agile and exciting fictional combats that LucasArts had ever produced in their games.

Since the beginning of the game, when Jaden receives his basic lightsaber, it is possible to make fantastic movements with the weapon to provide great and challenging duels. As the Jedi apprentice progresses through the game and his training, it is possible to choose different combat styles and customize his lightsaber, in the type of model (one saber, two, or the double saber), in the design and even in the color.

This made the experience of fighting much more interesting and allowed a different range of movements for each choice. Combine all this with the fact that you can use the powers of the Force during combat and the cool effect of slow motion during the final blow on enemies and you have one of the best lightsaber fighting games ever made.

Beware of the Dark Side of the Force!

In addition to being able to choose what their lightsaber would look like, Jaden and the player would have to make much more important choices throughout their training and journey. At different moments in the story, it is necessary to choose the type of action to be taken in a drastic situation and, depending on the choice made, the character was increasingly moving to the Dark side of the Force, which altered the plot of the adventure.

Jaden has the ability to choose the types of Force powers he wants to develop in his training and he can even use Dark Side powers if he believes they will help him in his missions, but the player must be careful not to abuse those skills because your masters will not see it with good eyes and it can become another factor that will change the hero’s destiny.

This greater interaction with the character and his story was an intensified point in the game. In previous games in the franchise, the player’s decisions also influenced the fate of the character and the story, but in Jedi Academy, the player can really feel connected to the character from the home menu where he can choose the race, look and sex of the hero until the final minute where he needs to make the most important decision of his journey.

But, for players who were not very interested in the story or the subjective side of the adventure, the game had an excellent multiplayer mode. In an environment that closely resembled Quake’s arena, players could freely choose their character type to battle in frantic combat until only one fighter remained on the field. The mode was excellent for practicing your skills either with weapons or with the lightsaber, or just hanging around friends with the most varied types of attacks.

A curious fact is that the graphics engine used in Jedi Academy is the same as in Doom 3. The development team did a great job adapting this computational model to the Star Wars universe, which allowed a game with bold mechanics but with a fluid gameplay at the same time.

Perhaps it was this engine that allowed the production of so many mods (adaptations of the game) made by fans, which added new and modifications to the game to make the story more interesting. But none of these unofficial additions has succeeded in making what was already excellent in the title better: mind-bending lightsaber fights.

Whatever your combat style or your sword model, definitely defeating a group of ten Siths has never been more exciting and fun.