About the Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

The Jedi Academy is a very close sequel to the Jedi Outcast. It uses the same engine and many game elements are identical. But even so, there is a few new things. They concern several areas. First of all, it is of course a new, quite elaborate story, even having an ending for both sides of the force, as was the case in the Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2.

The first completely new thing is the mission selection, which has not been seen in this version in the JK/DF series before. The game is divided into three groups of missions - Initiate, Apprentice and Jedi. There are five missions in each group to choose from. Completing four of the five missions offered is required to progress to the next group, however the player will likely attempt to complete all five missions as they give a reward in the form of Force skill points. A nice trick is the choice of weapons that the player can take to the mission, but in the end, the player uses a lightsaber for practically the entire game :-)

The second completely new thing in the JK/DF field is the character creation. There are reportedly over 2,000 character creation combinations to choose from. At creation, the player chooses gender and race, skin color, clothing, and sword color and hilt. The race can be selected from the following group: Human (Male, Female), Rodian (M), Twi'lek (F), Kel Dor (M) and Zabrak (F).

Additionally, later in the game, the player is given a choice between a single lightsaber, two lightsabers, and a double-bladed lightsaber. With the new options come two new fighting styles with the single lightsaber keeping the original three. There are new special moves added, some of the original ones are modified for easier control.

Another major novelty is the Siege multiplayer mode and a modified duel, hidden under the name Power Duel. In the Siege mode, two teams battle each other on a map, with one defending and the other attacking. The attacking team is tasked with completing certain objectives on the map if they want to win. Players can choose from several professions, each with some specific characteristics. In a Power Duel, two players can fight against another one who has minor advantages (more health).