A fulfilling singleplayer portion and truly awesome multiplayer combine to make Jedi Outcast very strong in the Force.
The story is basic SW fare, with a cast out and disgruntled ex-Jedi trying to perfect a Force adept soldier and bring the galaxy to it's knees. Enter the dynamic duo of Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors, planet-hopping in a mad dash to save not only themselves but the entire New Republic. Like I said, it's all pretty standard stuff, but it's solid nonetheless. Jedi Outcast starts off relatively slow, at first presenting itself as a by-the-numbers shooter set in the Star Wars universe. You've got your basic arsenal of blasters, repeaters and Wookie bowcasters. The level design is satisfactory, although at times you'll be driven nuts by the maze-like layout or nonsensical puzzles that too often rely on seemingly nonexistent buttons or pathways. But once you get a hold of your lightsaber and get to sample some Force powers, the game takes on a whole new meaning. It's immense fun just to run down corridors and slice and dice Stormtroopers at will (for those of you like me, who couldn't for the life of them find out the code to enable FULL dismemberment, it is as follows: bring up your console, type in helpusobi 1, followed by g_dismemberment 3 and finish it off with g_saberrealisticcombat 3 and you'll be knocking off limbs and severing heads in no time!). After you get your trusty saber, you'll rarely if ever resort to conventional weapons for the remainder of the game. I don't know whether that means the conventional weapons suck or the lightsaber kicks ass, but in the end it's all about having fun.
Turning out to be even more fun is the multiplayer portion. For someone as dedicated to singpleplayer as yours truly, it's a marvel how quickly and deeply I fell in love with Outcast's multiplayer. It's all pretty basic, but getting to duel with lightsabers against a dozen other Jedis over the internet is truly a joy to behold. What makes it even better is that the community has fully endorsed it's own set of rules, such as holstering your saber and bowing before each bout.
Graphically Jedi Outcast is no slouch, with detailed levels and textures, good-looking models and terrific special effects, like rain drops evaporating as they hit your lightsaber. The game also manages to hold a steady framerate and it's not a big system hog. Also commendable is the animation. Especially during lightsaber fights the action looks fluid and effortless, adding to the atmosphere of Star Wars. The only time I found some real faults with the engine was during cutscenes. Close-ups reveal some shoddy facial work and somehow the animation turns all jerky and robotic. Still, you'll be hard pressed to find any real problems with the game. Like in all SW games, the sound world consists of the all-too-familiar John Williams score, redundant blaster sounds and nostalgic humming and whizzing of lightsabers. Still, Raven was smart enough to add some truly magnificent original music pieces, as well as hire a well-rounded and mostly excellent cast of voice actors. Even Billy Dee Williams found his way into the game!
Whilst Star Wars shooters are a dime a dozen, none stands prouder than Jedi Outcast. Raven has crafted such a fine package where all the pieces come together to create a truly memorable game that you'll want to come back to even years after release. While it isn't perfect, what with the slow start, rather bland weapon selection and annoying puzzles and confounding level design, Jedi Outcast gets enough things right to heavily outweigh the things that went wrong. And after you've gone through the great singpleplayer, an even better experience awaits you on the multiplayer side.