Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast

Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast is a first person shooter/third person action game hybrid released in March 2002 for PC, and November 2002 for Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube, and Mac OSX. It was developed by Raven Software and published by Lucasarts in North America, and by Activision for other regions. Publishing for Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube was controlled by Vicarious Visions. The first game in the Jedi Knight series to be powered by a Quake III: Team Arena-based engine, the game featured overhauled graphics compared to Dark Forces 2, and a heavily redone lightsaber combat mechanic which would serve as the backbone and appeal for the later entries in the Jedi Knight series. The Xbox version of the game is not compatible with the Xbox 360.

Development

Work began on Jedi Knight 2 when Lucasarts began a contractual arrangement with Raven Software in the spring of 2001 to produce the next entry in the Jedi Knight series. The crew at Raven Software began work quickly on a prototype level, which showed off the power of GHOUL 2 and their ability to make curved architecture for Imperial missions. The prototype level later became the Alzoc III demo mission, included with the console variants of the game and released separately from the PC version as a demo. This mission was to be shown off later in the year at E3.

Lucasarts was impressed with Raven Software's work, and development was soon pouring out. In the first version of the prototype mission, the Stormtroopers throughout the mission were actually the Klingon enemies from a previous Raven title, Star Trek: Elite Forces, repainted white for aesthetics. These were later refined to become the modern Stormtrooper model. Several other notable changes occurred at this point. For instance, Tavion was originally supposed to be male, with her model becoming the Jedi Trainer model. Originally, Raven intended for Tavion to follow a "Bruce Lee" appearance.

On May 17, 2001, Lucasarts announced that they were working on a new Dark Forces game. A few details were let out, including a list of locations to be featured in the game. The following day, Lucasarts gave a full demonstration of the game, showing lightsaber and force combat, as well as the abilities of companion NPCs such as Lando and Jan Ors. They announced that the graphical capabilities of the Quake 3 engine were improved upon, including a doubled polygon capacity. A few subtle details differed from the final game, including the heads up display and the animations. Some of the animations and sounds from Jedi Knight II (most notably, death animations) would later appear in Soldier of Fortune II.

In July, Pat Lipo noted that Rich Whitehouse was brought onto development to handle the multiplayer bots. Rich later developed the whole of the multiplayer experience, and became the sole credited multiplayer programmer. Rich would later develop mods for the game including Hydroball and HAPPYLAND.

There are a few inconsistencies between the console versions of the game and the PC version. The HUD is noticeably different, and, among other things, Trip Mines and other weapon and prop models (such as the Imperial shuttle, on the Gamecube version) looked completely different. On the console version of the games, cinematics are pre-rendered from the PC version of the game, and played back using BINK Video Player.

Several developers from Raven Software have made it publicly known that Jedi Knight 2 was, for all intents and purposes, their favorite game developing experience.

Reception

Jedi Knight 2 was very well received amongst critics, earning between 85%-90% on Metacritic depending on versions, with the PC version earning a 92%. It received an Editor's Choice award from IGN. Critics praised the lightsaber combat, mature storyline, and excellent (at the time) graphics. Critics continually refer to it as one of the best Star Wars action games out there. The puzzle sections of the game received mixed reactions, with some critics praising the puzzles for their addition of variety into the game, and some critics finding them frustrating for an action game to include. It was also felt that the game had a slow start.

The Gamecube and Xbox versions were not as well received by critics. Criticisms were directed at the clunky controls and the inability to see well in low-light situations. They were nonetheless praised however.