Star Wars - Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Ages: Teen - Violence

The latest installment of the Jedi Knight series has you take on the role of a new student. Tired of having just Luke and Han taking the lead? Create your female character, human or one of the alien species; customize your lightsaber and go out and wup em. The useful Data Pad keeps you up to date on your mission objectives; the manual provides tips on lightsaber techniques. All is not fighting, "Size matters not, Use the Force". Between the releases of the Star Wars movies, Lucas Arts provides plenty of game play to keep Star Wars junkies on their toes.

Reviewed by: Editor - 11/03

Jedi Academy Review Vvzzzz-zzzzumm-vzzzzzh….. the Jedi students swing their lightsaber around, hitting the person or thing attacking them. As they fall, the student must move on, using their wits, skills and the Force to get out of complicated situations. This is just a normal day in the life of a Jedi apprentice. The point of the single player game is complex; the plot evolves as you complete missions, illustrating key events with video clips and messages. The plot itself is very well thought out; every little detail has an explanation, and all the thing you see are relevant to the story. You can create a character (the choices are limited, though) choose your lightsaber color and hilt, but your character, no matter what race or sex, will always be named Jaden Korr. Many NPC's (Non Player Characters) from the original Star Wars movies show up too. (Chewbacca is a memorable one) The multiplayer games are exciting too, but also complicated unless one has superior use of the controls. Since there are many players on the server at the same time, chances are you won't get much playing time unless you create a personal game.

The game play is very riveting and exciting, with an element of nervousness. New objectives appear so fast, it can be hard to keep up, but if you get lost, you can always pause the game. There also is the choice of whether you're character will be good or evil. The view of your character is almost always from the back, but you can change from first person to third person at the click of a button. The sounds were very good, but there is a limit to their selection, having mostly background music and the sound of guns and lightsabers. The stated age range, "T" for teenagers, is very accurate. Since there is a lot of killing in the game, it might be a little too much for our younger players. I thought that this game was excellent, and I would definitely play it again if I had enough time. For this game does take a lot of time, taking anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes for each mission. So although the game takes a while, it is rewarding and fun. On a scale of 1 to 1o, this game would rate a definite 8.

Reviewed by: Vivian B. Age 15 - 01/04