Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
| Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II | |||
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| Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II logo | |||
| Studio |
 LucasArts
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| Publisher |
LucasArts
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| Senior Developer | Justin Chin , Ray Gresko | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 September 30, 1997 October 9, 1997 September 16, 2009 |
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| platform | Windows | ||
| Game engine | Sith | ||
| genre | Ego shooter | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard , joystick | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | CD-ROM | ||
| language | English | ||
| Current version | 1.01 | ||
| Age rating |
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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is a first-person shooter released in 1997 , which is set in the Star Wars universe and represents the second part of the Jedi Knight series . In Germany, the title was shortened to Star Wars: Jedi Knight in order to distance itself from its predecessor, Dark Forces .
In the context of the films, the title can be found a few years after Episode VI . You play again from the point of view of the mercenary Kyle Katarn . During the game, Kyle gradually discovers his ability to influence the Force and has to use this power to kill several Dark Jedi. In contrast to the first part, this time you are able to use a lightsaber and the powers of power (e.g. moving objects). As in the real Star Wars saga, the hero has to choose between the light and dark side of the force. As in Dark Forces , his mate is the rebel Jan Ors.
action
The game is set one year after the events of Return of the Jedi Knights . The player takes on the role of the mercenary Kyle Katarn.
Katarn meets with an information dealer to find out more about his father's death. The vendor, a droid named 8t88, reveals that Katarn's father was killed by a Dark Jedi named Jerec. This is now trying to lead the collapsing empire to old strength. Katarn then travels to his home on the planet Sulon to find information about Jerec in his father's files . Upon his arrival, he discovers three dark Jedi, students of Jerec, who are about to steal cards from Katarn's house. He manages to get into the house undetected and secure one of the cards from intruders. In addition, he finds a lightsaber , an ancient weapon. Inspired by this, Katarn decides to become a Jedi. In preparation for his fight against the Dark Jedi, he is constantly expanding his powers.
Katarn then decides to take out Jerec. Jerec tries to restore the empire with the help of might-forces. In order to fight it, Katarn, accompanied by its pilot Jan Ors, searches for the stolen map in the neighboring town of Barons Hed. There he meets the droid 8t88, which is transmitting the data from the map to Jerec. Before Katarn succeeds in snatching the map from the droid, one of the Dark Jedi, Yun, appears in the room and destroys it. He then attacks Katarn, but is overwhelmed by it.
The droid 8t88 has since fled with his ship. Katarn and Ors take up the chase as they expect the droid to meet with his employer, Jerec. They follow him to a space station, where Katarn doesn’t meet Jerec, but two of his students, Pic and Gorc. Kyle manages to defeat both of them and secure the droid's head with the saved map.
The map leads him to Ruusaan. Jerec tries to get power-energy from a large tomb of old Sith masters. Upon their arrival on Ruusaan, Katarn and Ors are attacked by Maw , a student of Jerec. Katarn succeeds in eliminating him in a duel, but Jerec now takes his partner Ors prisoner. He tells Katarn to execute Ors and take Maw's place as a student. The player now has the choice of following Jerec or sparing his partner. This decides whether the player ultimately chooses the light or the dark side. If the player follows the path of the light side, he kills Jerec in a duel and frees the spirits of fallen power users who gave the valley its strength. If the player follows the dark side, he also kills Jerec, but only to claim the power of the valley for himself. Thereby he takes on the role of Emperor Palpatine, who fell over Endor, as ruler of the galaxy.
Gameplay
General
Jedi Knight is a first person shooter, but the player can also switch to the third person . The main part of the game is the campaign, which consists of 21 missions. In the course of the campaign, the player trains himself to become a Jedi knight and thereby gains access to new weapons and skills. The lightsaber , which the player receives at the beginning of the campaign and is thus used for the first time in a video game, has a special feature .
Unlike its predecessor, Jedi Knight includes role-playing elements. The levels are spacious and give the player a lot of playful freedom. During the course of the missions, the player has numerous opportunities in which to make decisions. These influence the orientation of the player in power . If the player acts unselfishly and spares life, he develops to the light side , if he acts aggressively, he follows the dark side . The player's orientation towards power influences his abilities and the course of the plot. The light side offers strong defensive skills, while the dark side increases the player's attack power. Which direction the player takes also influences the course of the plot, especially the ending.
Multiplayer mode
Unlike Dark Forces, Dark Forces II includes a multiplayer mode in which up to eight players fight against each other in a local network and up to four players over the Internet. The servers for the online mode were provided by MSN Games .
For multiplayer games, the player first creates a character whose exterior he can configure to a limited extent. Then he selects a ranking. The higher the ranking, the more power skills are available to the players. The player has two game modes to choose from. In Capture the Flag mode, players try to capture as many of the flags as possible on the map. In Jedi Training mode , players try to eliminate as many opponents as possible.
Development history
The development of Dark Forces II was led by Justin Chin and Ray Gresko, who also helped develop the predecessor.
A new engine, the Sith Engine, was developed for the game . It supports the use of 3D graphics to a greater extent than was the case with Dark Forces . It is one of the first games to use 3D hardware acceleration . It uses Microsoft Direct3D for this . The title also uses surround sound , which was also extraordinary at the time. The plot is mostly in cutscenes explains that play between the individual levels. These films were shot with real actors. The role of Kyle Katarn was played by actor Jason Court , his partner Jan Ors was played by Angela Harry .
By default, the game was only published in English. However, the players made their own translations, which at least Germanised the menus and provided the videos with subtitles. Some unofficial patches have also been released, which mainly add new functions to the multi-pier mode.
reception
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Dark Forces II received a positive response from the trade press. Metacritic calculated a meta rating of 91 out of 100 points for the Windows version.
Ron Dulin from GameSpot magazine gave the title a high rating. He praised the removal of weaknesses of the predecessor, such as the cumbersome storage system or the campaign that was too short. He rated the open level design as the main strength of Dark Forces II , which was a major innovation at the time. The negative side of the level, however, is the resource utilization. The textures are of poor quality in favor of a smooth game play.
Michael House from Allgame gives the game a lower rating. He named the optics as the main flaw of Dark Forces II . He described the graphics as rough and the surrounding textures used as boring. The graphics engine is far too far removed from realism. The playful design of the levels, however, is very good. The action also fulfills its purpose.
Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
In January 1998 LucasArts released the additional CD Mysteries of the Sith ( MotS for short ), the first and only expansion for Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II . In this, the player controls Kyle Katarn in the first five missions, then the plot changes to Mara Jade , a former imperial assassin who has since joined the Jedi Order and is trained by Kyle Katarn. She carries out various missions on behalf of the Republic until she goes in search of Kyle Katarn, who got lost during a trip.
The independently playable addition introduces new levels, weapons and opponents (e.g. the rancor), and the graphics engine has been improved. In contrast to the main game, the cutscenes were no longer realized with expensive film recordings, but with the help of the game graphics.
Mysteries of the Sith received good reviews and was named best game of the month by PC Games magazine .
Web links
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II at MobyGames (English)
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Star Wars: Jedi Knight 1.01 Update LucasArts June 1, 1998.
- ↑ a b c d e Ron Dulin: Test "Dark Forces II". In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , accessed August 27, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Calvin Hubble: Test "Dark Forces II". gamerevolution.com, June 5, 2004, accessed August 27, 2014 .
- ↑ MSN overview. Microsoft, accessed August 28, 2014 .
- ↑ Games that use Microsoft 3D. Microsoft, April 28, 1997, accessed August 28, 2014 .
- ↑ Interview with the sound engineer Dave Levison. gooddealgames.com, accessed August 28, 2014 .
- ↑ a b c Michael House: Test "Dark Forces II". allgame.com, accessed on August 27, 2014 .
- ↑ Michael Gantner: Fan patch for German-language texts. la-patches.gandimann.de, December 23, 2010, accessed on August 28, 2014 .
- ↑ Unofficial Patches. jkhub.net, January 18, 2008, accessed April 28, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Meta evaluation "Jedi Knight". In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed August 26, 2014 .
- ^ Meta-evaluation "Jedi Knight". In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed August 26, 2014 .
- ↑ PC Gamer 12/1997, p. 194.
- ↑ a b Michael Ryan: Test "Mysteries of the Sith". GameSpot, accessed August 29, 2014 .
