Jedi academy is a 3rd person action game set in the popular Star Wars universe. Set after the movie saga the galaxy is still in a state of confusion though with the death of Darth Vader and The Emperor...it's time to rebuild thus Luke Skywalker and hero of the previous Jedi knight games Kyle Kattarn start a Jedi Academy to train a new generation of Jedi...sadly we haven't seen the last of the darkside yet and a new wave of sith have turned up with view to train a new legion of darkside followers and sieze power of the galaxy...add to that smugglers...rougue droids...the reminants of the empire..the return of the not so devoured by the Sarlaak after all Boba Fett and others you've got quite an adventure on your hands. You start as a young trainee admitted to the Jedi academy and through the course of the adventure you'll train as a Jedi and slowly improve from a simple learner to a full fledged Jedi master with all the force powers and lightsaber skills that go with it. A positive line throughout this game is the customisation options you are presented with, to begin with you can choose your characters appearence allowing you to choose the style of the young Jedi you'll spend the game looking at...as you gain force powers you can choose which powers you will develop from a vast listfrom acorobatic feats like force speed and force jump..power up powers like force defence and healing...or battling abilities like throw light saber and force push...or if you prefer a walk on the darkside you can learn powers like force choke and lightning. Once you qualify to use a light saber you can also select what colour and style of saber hilt you want...should it take your fancy you can even wield two sabers for those frantic battles. Finally as in many of the other Jedi Knight games at some stage of the game you can follow the light path of the Jedi or fall to the dark side to expierience a different story and alternate endings...all in all it's a varied title with good replay value and good options. Play wise it's a third person action title in which you'll be using all manor of guns...force powers and your trusty lightsabers...the game is split up into story driving missions split into chapters...complete all the missions on various planets and you'll unlock that chapter finale..then it's on to the next chapter..you'll visiit various planets and locations ranging from hi tech bases to mysterious temples theres a lot of variey to be seen and a lot of action to be had too from daring leaps across chasms...running from mutated rancors fire fights with notorious bounty hunters and intense battles with armies of sith students... While the gameplay can be exciting at other times the controlles can be fiddly especially with some complex jumps...in tems of the combat while sometimes fun it can be frustrating at times...thats the main problem with light saber battles you see one good hit and it's all over...sometimes battles are fought over long periods with force powers blazing and acrobatics all round..other times it's simply a matter of one quick flick and suddenly someone's in two pieces...of course it's frustrating where the one chopped into bits is you and it can lead to a long process of quick saves after a succesful kill to avoid too much relplaying after a death in many of the sith heavy sections. Presentation wise the graphics aren't ground breaking but it's certainly a playable affair with some nice scenery and impressive light saber animations. On a final point since the story follows on from both the previous Jedi Knight games and with the arrival of Luke Skywalker also the movie saga it's a great title to carry on the story for any big Star Wars fan. So nothing life changing but certainly a worthwhile title of a good standard which I'd recomend for any star wars fan.
Other Helpful Reviews for Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is not that different from it's predecessors. However some things have been added and removed to make the game even better. You'll discover them almost immediately if you have played the preque... Read Full Review
Star Wars games are great but there has never been anything like Jedi Academy. The story plays out well and has got loads of action. I would see Jedi Academy as a great game that is worth playing. Outcast was a great gam... Read Full Review
