<review>

Ever wanted to wade into a group of decked out Storm Troppers, slash them all with your lightsaber, and emerge victorious? Well, with Jedi Knight II, it is possible! At first, you start off as just regular ol' Kyle Katarn, using weapons to slay his enemies and complete mission objectives. After a little twist in the story, he'll be using the force as his ally. Of course, he'll have a lightsaber, but the difficulty level will shoot up in time so that you aren't invincible.

Graphics: 8/10

Decent graphics, bullet holes, saber burn marks, authentic looking Storm Troopers, adequate lighting environment most of the time, explorable areas, complete with secret areas.

Only HUGE gripe I have are the mouths in cut-scenes. In an attempt to make the cut-scenes as realistic as possible, they show the teeth and tongue while the mouth is moving! However, as you will see, it looks absolutely crappy. The tongue sometimes makes its way THROUGH the teeth, and you can at times see through their cheek. Very ugly... not to mention the bad lip-synchronization.

Audio: 9/10

Music... *drool* Very nice Star Wars feel, although, it does get a bit repetitive if you are on a mission for a while.

Detailed sounds, sounds like the movie, if not better, sans the Bryar Pistol fire sound, which gets annoying. Enemies respond with... "Catch phrases" that don't always fit the situation, such as "Don't move!", while they are firing at you. Throw a thermal detonator in the middle of a large group, and they'll respond accordingly with sound, but not action.

Overall, no gripes about the audio.

Difficulty: 7/10

Weak point of the game. Attempted to play on Jedi Master... aggravation city. Point blank range, your blaster fire WILL MISS, while they hit you once and you die very quickly. Many times I've found myself cursing at the game as my blaster fire "hits" but passes right through.

Much easier on Padawan, but a bit too easy in most parts, with only a slight difficulty-spike in certain places, I.E. Sniper roosts, and AT attack scenarios.

Otherwise, the difficulty level suits the game very nicely.

Storyline: 9.5/10

Very nice storyline, although it doesn't really give too much of a background on what happened in the previous game, involving Kyle. Only gripe I have about it, otherwise, wonderfully constructed story.

Gameplay: 9/10

Difficulty level kinda knocked this down a point, but otherwise... very enjoyable game. Normal FPS face in the beginning of the game, but once you get force powers... it gets VERY interesting. Eventually, you can even run on walls, Matrix style. Multi-player is fun, testing your skills to their limit. Of course, as with a lot of Multiplayer games... well, you know. :)

Overall Rating: 9/10

Fun Factor boosted this up from an 8 to a 9. Overall, the game is a lot of fun and should be played through at least once on every difficulty level... just be wary on Jedi Master level... you might be throwing your mouse through the monitor...

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