Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

About Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (1997) is LucasArts' sequel to Dark Forces in which Kyle Katarn learns the ways of the Force and the lightsaber to stop his father's killers reaching the Valley of the Jedi, with light and dark side endings.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II in Depth

One year after Return of the Jedi, the Dark Jedi Jerec kills Jedi Master Qu Rahn while hunting for the sacred Valley of the Jedi, whose location was known to Morgan Katarn, Kyle's father, whom Jerec also murdered. Kyle, now a mercenary for the New Republic, learns the truth from the double-crossing droid 8t88, recovers his father's data disk and, guided by Rahn's spirit, finds a map to the Valley and Rahn's old lightsaber. With his partner Jan Ors, he battles Jerec's Dark Jedi, Yun, Pic, Gorc, Maw, Sariss and Boc, before facing Jerec himself in the Valley.

Primarily a first-person shooter with an optional third-person view, it has twenty-one levels with objectives. From level three, Kyle has a lightsaber, which also lights dark areas, deflects blaster fire and cuts through obstacles, and Force powers. Fourteen powers are split into light, such as healing and persuasion, dark, such as throwing objects and choking enemies, and neutral, such as jumping higher and running faster, upgraded with stars earned by completing levels and finding secrets. Sparing innocent characters and choosing light powers leads to the light side ending, while harming them and choosing dark powers leads to the dark. Multiplayer supports eight players on a LAN and 32 online through the MSN Gaming Zone.

Making Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Justin Chin, who had worked on Dark Forces, led development, making the Force and the lightsaber its most significant additions. The Sith engine supported Direct3D 5.0 hardware acceleration, making it one of the early games to use 3D acceleration through Direct3D, and its 3D sound was extensively tuned for immersion, while full-motion video scenes used live actors over pre-rendered backgrounds. It debuted third on PC Data's US chart in October 1997 and sold 247,036 copies in the US by the end of the year. It received universal acclaim, averaging 91 on Metacritic: GamePro gave it perfect scores, calling it "probably the most fun you'll have with a corridor shooter this season", and Game Revolution said "the use of the lightsaber is just awesome", though IGN found some levels linear, with "bald key hunts", and opinions on the AI were mixed. It has been cited as one of the best games of all time. Mysteries of the Sith followed in February 1998 and Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast in 2002.