mmfan486
08-21-2005, 05:48 PM
I've just bought an Xbox and I've been playing this game a lot lately, and I found something I thought I'd share with you all.
Though it is by no means the best game I've ever played, it is definately one of the most fun and I'll tell you why. For those of you who don't know, Jedi Academy is part of a long-running series of FPS games that started of as Dark Forces and is now called Jedi Knight. I kind of missed out on the games in-between the first one and Jedi Academy, but this game involves the regualr use of a lightsaber which switches the game to 3rd person view. So I'd describe this game as Action/Adventure, if I had to pidgeonhole it.
Up until about 2 weeks ago I was a regualr PS2 user and even though I had a lot of action games, there weren't many that really did it for me. Jack & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank and Kingdom Hearts were all fun games but there was no escaping the fact that they were kid's games, really. (I'm 19, by the way.) Medal of Honor: Frontline, Conflict: Desert Storm and Splinter Cell were all very realistic in terms of attention to detail but they took themselves way too serioulsy, as did the Metal Gear games. The GTA series threw a whole world in your face that would take a very long time to get everything from. Don't get me wrong, they're all fantastic games and some of them I stuck at and even finished. But they were all missing something, I guess.
And I've now realised what it was, although I can't really give it a name, I can only describe it. Firstly, Jedi Academy is Star Wars! Stay with me here- a fictional universe people actually care about, extravagant creatures and races that were always just good/evil/comic/terrifying enough to do the job they were designed for, and worlds that are near enough to real environments to give us something to relate to, but not so real that we'd dismiss it as a parody of any real-life society. Secondly, it's fun! No sneaking around trying to get Stealth Kills, no puzzles you have to think too hard about and also it's one of the most hands-on approach to using the lightsaber I have ever seen in a game which can only be a good thing, really. Finally, there's a choice in what levels you actually play on to stop the game seeming too linear, but not so much choice that you wander around hopelessy lost and confused. And then there's the fact that it's broken down into levels in the first place; it's no bad thing that you can do one section and be able to say: "Right, I've done that bit now, let's stop and come back to it later." Other games do that, of course, but more subtley and I often find myself being drawn into the next section if it starts straight away.
The game isn't perfect. I think the presentation of the game was a bit rushed, for a start. And the fact that you could customise the appearance and lightsaber of the lead character would be much more rewarding if what you chose actually made a difference to the game. Also, though I don't claim to know how the Star Wars saga proceeds after the events of Return Of The Jedi, (the game is set 10 years after that,) the inclusion of the Imperial Remnant to me just seems like a crap excuse to put Stormtroopers in the game. But the difference between this and many other games I have owned or played is that I've actually really enjoyed it. That makes up for its imperfections.
I'm not recommending this particular game; how you feel about action games or Star Wars is entirely up to you. What I'm saying is that this title reminded me why I got into games in the first place: Because they're fun!
Though it is by no means the best game I've ever played, it is definately one of the most fun and I'll tell you why. For those of you who don't know, Jedi Academy is part of a long-running series of FPS games that started of as Dark Forces and is now called Jedi Knight. I kind of missed out on the games in-between the first one and Jedi Academy, but this game involves the regualr use of a lightsaber which switches the game to 3rd person view. So I'd describe this game as Action/Adventure, if I had to pidgeonhole it.
Up until about 2 weeks ago I was a regualr PS2 user and even though I had a lot of action games, there weren't many that really did it for me. Jack & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank and Kingdom Hearts were all fun games but there was no escaping the fact that they were kid's games, really. (I'm 19, by the way.) Medal of Honor: Frontline, Conflict: Desert Storm and Splinter Cell were all very realistic in terms of attention to detail but they took themselves way too serioulsy, as did the Metal Gear games. The GTA series threw a whole world in your face that would take a very long time to get everything from. Don't get me wrong, they're all fantastic games and some of them I stuck at and even finished. But they were all missing something, I guess.
And I've now realised what it was, although I can't really give it a name, I can only describe it. Firstly, Jedi Academy is Star Wars! Stay with me here- a fictional universe people actually care about, extravagant creatures and races that were always just good/evil/comic/terrifying enough to do the job they were designed for, and worlds that are near enough to real environments to give us something to relate to, but not so real that we'd dismiss it as a parody of any real-life society. Secondly, it's fun! No sneaking around trying to get Stealth Kills, no puzzles you have to think too hard about and also it's one of the most hands-on approach to using the lightsaber I have ever seen in a game which can only be a good thing, really. Finally, there's a choice in what levels you actually play on to stop the game seeming too linear, but not so much choice that you wander around hopelessy lost and confused. And then there's the fact that it's broken down into levels in the first place; it's no bad thing that you can do one section and be able to say: "Right, I've done that bit now, let's stop and come back to it later." Other games do that, of course, but more subtley and I often find myself being drawn into the next section if it starts straight away.
The game isn't perfect. I think the presentation of the game was a bit rushed, for a start. And the fact that you could customise the appearance and lightsaber of the lead character would be much more rewarding if what you chose actually made a difference to the game. Also, though I don't claim to know how the Star Wars saga proceeds after the events of Return Of The Jedi, (the game is set 10 years after that,) the inclusion of the Imperial Remnant to me just seems like a crap excuse to put Stormtroopers in the game. But the difference between this and many other games I have owned or played is that I've actually really enjoyed it. That makes up for its imperfections.
I'm not recommending this particular game; how you feel about action games or Star Wars is entirely up to you. What I'm saying is that this title reminded me why I got into games in the first place: Because they're fun!