After stealing the Death Star plans from the Empire and helping the Alliance strike a decisive blow to the Empire, Kyle Katarn is back in action in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. How will you use his dormant Force powers?

Graphics: 9/10

For 1997 the graphics were pretty decent. While Katarn suffers from excessive pixelization, he is well-drawn with human proportions. His body has realistic measurements, you can see his clothes (and beard) and his movement is quite fluid if your computer was strong enough/had a good video card – it’s in many ways superior to Final Fantasy VII, with its “pixelated Lego blocks”.

Your surroundings are well-drawn and very diverse. Although pixelated too, you will see walls with graffiti, brick houses, Imperial bases carved into mountains and many more. This diversity gave a nice touch to the game, although don’t expect to see grass blowing with the wind.

You can have two camera views: a Doom-view where you only see your weapon and your surroundings (in a limited way) and one view as if you had a camera following you, giving you a better look at your surroundings. The first view is usually better when you handle a gun as it gives you better aim – your first gun is actually auto-aim – when you shoot and when you need to look closer at something like a possible secret passage. The 360-degree view is better when you handle a lightsaber as you can see your opponents (human or robot) better and therefore face their guns better.

You have an impressive arsenal of eight different weapons (and your fists, which aren’t that useful). Guns use different kinds of “bullets”; you also have thermal detonators, land mines and a lightsaber. More advanced weapons (after the Imperial rifle) come with two shooting modes allowing for more diversity. For example, you can either have thermal detonators explode on impact or after a few seconds; your repeater gun will either shoot like a machine gun or three shots at the time; finally, your lightsaber will either slash once or twice – that second mode can leave you defenseless, though.

You also have a few accessories that will influence your surroundings in the dark. You can have a frontal lamp, with limited range and battery, which can attract enemies in the dark. Or you can use infrared goggles with more discretion – if you like the color green.

In addition, the game isn’t called “Jedi Knight” at random. As levels advance you will gain a total of eight powers: four neutral and four side-specific powers (plus a bonus one if you’re always faithful to one side). The neutral powers have a very nice design: you can run much faster, jump much higher, see in the dark (and at higher levels see your enemies when putting the map) and disarm your enemy form further away. On the Dark Side, you can throw certain objects to hurt someone (like Darth Vader does in Empire Strikes Back), choke them (and they DO choke) if they are human, use Force Lightning or throw Force Fireballs and destroy everything in sight. If you’re a true Sith you also get Deadly Sight but I’ve never really tried that power to talk about it.

The light side wasn’t done as well though, at least from Katarn’s perspective. He does get surrounded by light when he Heals and he disappears when he uses his Mind Trick, but Force Blind is merely a small green wave of the enemies’ eyes. But when HE gets blinded, everything becomes very bright and he can’t really fight. Force Absorption, too, didn’t get much attention unlike Protection (if you’re a true Jedi), where you get surrounded by a green bubble and become invincible to nearly everything but high falls.

Finally your enemies are well-drawn too albeit too pixelated too. That seems to make their movements too jerky like the Rohdians and the Tuskens. However, the three-eyed, er, goats move well and pack a lot of punch and so do the Siths you will face. They manipulate their lightsabers well, although their use of the Force is limited (they don’t even thrown objects are you and their lightning aren’t used often) except for those using the Light Side like Yun; he WILL blind you often.

Oh, this game also features many beautifully-acted cinematics with real actors (over 30 minutes in total, but each side of the Force has fewer minutes). You see one in the intro and after most chapters. Despite simple CGI, the acting is acceptable and the emotions look real. At the point where your path lies before you (Light or Dark Side) you will see different movies as you move through the game. The conclusion movie is quite different depending on the side you choose.

Music: 9/10

Although not “original”, the music in this game is excellent.

It consists of a collage of tracks from the original trilogy, but it is sometimes very appropriate. For example, you start the game in a bar so you hear music from the Mos Eisley Cantina. But after going out of that bar you hear darker music that’s appropriate for the dark, grey surroundings you have to go through. However, unlike Star Wars: Rebellion there seems to be less “appropriate tracks”. Why would the game play “The Fleet Enters Hyperspace” (from Return of the Jedi) when you’re in the vicinity of your house or “the Destruction of Alderaan” (from a New Hope) when you’re entering the village of Baron’s Head?

However the sound effects are pretty good. Your enemies, be they attacking, suffering or dying sound like the aliens you’ve always heard – the Tuskens were done pretty well. Even the R2 units sound like R2-D2! The few humans you meet do talk – although they usually don’t say anything useful – and you hear their pain should you attack them.

Katarn too produces sounds. He sometimes talk to himself to talk about a realized objective (“8T-88’s head is heavier than I imagined”) or about incoming event (“This gotta be bad for health” when facing a pool of acid in his father’s house, or “Let’s see what this saber can do” when he first wields it). You can hear his suffering when he get hit – like the Siths you face too. Stormtroopers and Imperial Generals have a few dialogues too.

Your weapons too sound pretty; no two guns sound the same. You can hear the click from your thermal detonator when you activate it, your Repeating Rifle shoots at deadly speed and the Concussion rifle sounds devastating. Your lightsaber too sounds great, although his single swing could have been done better – it “really” sounds like a lightsaber when he makes two consecutive swings. But turning it on or off was done well.

Addictiveness: 8/10

As a Star Wars fan, I immediately got hooked to the game.

The ambiance is very, er, Star Warsy, from the music to the enemies and even to the surroundings. It really feels like you are inside a movie fighting for your life and trying to save/conquer the galaxy – the movies help a lot with that too. In the beginning, it feels like you’re exploring the Coruscant slums, while when going back to your home planet you feel like you’re exploring a green Tattooine because of the Tuskens. There will even be times when you have to be in the water, and you CAN drown. In other words, it’s a nice addition to the very vast universe of Star Wars.

The difficulty level is reasonable, making the progression a moderate challenge. Granted, the Siths will pose a challenge but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Should it become too difficult (or if you’re just curious to see what’s ahead), you can you one of the many codes to advance your quest, heal or increase you Jedi powers.

Finally, because of the bonus Force point you receive from finding them all, you WILL want to find every secret passages. This will involve a lot of exploring…

Story: 9/10

Since the destruction of the second DEATH STAR, the Rebel Alliance has begun the difficult process of building the New Republic.

Seizing the opportunity for control of the galaxy, new rival armies arise.

The most dangerous of these are the DARK JEDI. Their leader, JEREC, seeks the legendary VALLEY OF THE JEDI.

Within this lost battleground he will find the untold power to destroy peace and justice in the galaxy...

(From the introductory scroll text)

You play the game as Kyle Katarn, a man who already served the Alliance by stealing the Death Star plans. He gets involved in this plot because his father’s friend, who gets killed in the introductory movie, was searching for the Valley of the Jedi too but got killed by Jerec’s gang.

He starts his adventure in a bar, looking at a hologram of his father and his younger self. He gets interrupted by 8T88, an informant robot who tells him that Jerec killed his father. He also talks about Jerec’s great plans for the Empire. He also stole a disk containing vital information for Kyle.

After getting the disk back (and help from his friend Jan), he dreams of his father’s friend who tells him about the Valley of the Jedi and about the importance of keeping it away from Jerec. After landing back on his home planet, he makes his way back home where he finally listens to his father’s message, but not before 88’s shuttle flew away from his home... He tells him about the road to the Valley of the Jedi (stolen by 8T88 minutes before he came in) and about his friend’s lightsaber, which he then receives from the home droid.

Will you be able to stop Jerec from getting the power of the Valley? Or will you simply want the power for yourself and become the next Emperor?

Depth: 9/10

This game is HUGE.

Just making your way through the first level will take you hours to explore, and even more if you try to look for all secret passages. But just the regular route will be enough to keep you busy, trying to make your way to 8T88’s ship. There are countless obstacles, vital bonus objects like shields, health packs and IR goggles and even a few bottomless pits – make sure you save often.

Also, the simple fact that you can face two different ending makes the game all the more interesting. You actually don’t choose your path per say; it merely depends on where your scale of morality stand once the “choice” comes.

If your morality is enough to the left (even if you started training with the Dark Side) you will remain a Jedi and defend the Valley from Jerec. But if you killed too many unharmed people and robots and trained into the Dark Side, you will try getting the power of the Valley for yourself. From then on movies (and even the mission statement before the start of the level) will change. For example, a Jedi will face Bock the Crude, whereas a Sith will face Bock the Nuisance – the dialogue box urges you to “show him the true might of the Dark Side. And at the end, you sit on your new throne and crush your father’s hologram since you don’t have an ounce of good in you. But as a Jedi you will build commemorative statues for your father and his friend Rahn.

But getting to the Dark Side is actually pretty hard. You basically need to kill every unharmed and pacific things you see. Otherwise, even if you kill one or two, your morality will still have time to re-center itself before the critical moment.

Difficulty: 7/10

During the first few levels the game is pretty challenging for people like me – I’m more into turn-based RPGs.

You have to be constantly on your guards as there may be enemies at every turn, and they spare no shots/punches to you. You also need to watch out for life-depleting obstacles like bottomless pits, mines and bouncing shots – the secondary fire option on the crossbow enables that. Also mind your ammunition since they are limited – and some guns use more ammunition.

As you start gaining confidence in the Force the game gets a little easier. You can even train with the same shooting droid Luke Skywalker uses in Hope. But be careful as it can eventually kill you if you are not careful enough.

However, deflecting shots from humans until after you confront Yun (unless it comes from a security robot) will still hurt you at times because you lack training. Speaking of Yun, confronting the Siths will be hard at first since they already master the Force – and the “weaker’ ones also master some of the Light Side. Yun, for example, can blind you and disappear; plus he jumps everywhere.

If you choose to be a true Jedi then the game is practically a given. Protection makes you virtually invincible, greatly facilitating your progress. Even by being a “regular” Jedi you have a few tricks up your sleeves: you can absorb Siths’ dark powers and you can disappear from dumb enemies like robot sentinels and stormtroopers.

You will have none of that on the Dark Side, and unless you can find “dark surges” – you can have one in your first Dark Jedi encounter after your critical decision – which gives you unlimited Dark Side power for about 30 seconds, then get ready to be powerless until you mana recovers.

Finally some secret passages are nearly impossible to find without a walkthrough. To this day I haven’t been able to find the lone passage in the Tower level (right after Barron’s Head).

Nevertheless, I warmly recommend Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight to everyone. The graphics are decent and the movies blend in well with the story, the Star Wars music give the game the right ambiance and there is plenty to explore everywhere. Plus, with the option of choosing two distinctive endings you will be busy trying to kill all those people in order to be seduced by the Dark Side.

So, will you defend the Valley of the Jedi from the Dark Jedis or will you try to best them at it and become the next emperor?