Retrospective Review: Jedi Academy

Star Wars Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Academy is a very special game.  It was very well received at it’s 2003 release and, amazing, six years on still has a committed and thriving multiplayer and mod scene.  Today, Jedi Academy is an entirely different beast to the one that Raven Software originally released.  The community and modders have crafted the game into something of their own the game something of their own.  To find out more about the evolution of the game, I asked friend and JA veteran Kyle what is is that keeps him and hundreds of others playing the game day to day.

When Jedi Academy (JKA) thrust itself upon the Star Wars community in 2003 it received acclaim from reviewers and gamers alike. Praised for its character customisation and personalisation along with the the innovative offering of multiple-endings it took its rightful place aside the other classic games the Star Wars universe had produced. Six years on however many would expect the community to be held together by a handful of die-hard fans. This perception comes largely from the hugely successful of console gaming scene which has exploded with popularity the past few generations thanks to Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.  The console market tend to flit from game to game without much thought for long running communities, only Halo3 and COD4 have really broken the barrier of a large and long term community so far this generation.  However, the PC is an entirley place, as World of Warcraft and Counter Strike can attest to. In my five years of play I can think of but two things that truly set this game apart from common, hack and slash games. The first, and most significant, is the community as a whole. JKA has been the seed for many strong friendships which, like the game, have lasted for years and in some cases expanded into ones far beyond the computer. Players meet through the roar of battle or the hundreds of strong, established clans this wonderful game has fashioned, and because of the nature of server lists and dedicaited servers, they come back to the same place again and again. Friendship isn’t the only feature that draws people back to the game time and time again. No, it is in fact a not entirely expected result of the game running of the familiar Quake 3 engine. This being the mammoth supply of independently created mods that have developed over the years. These range from intricate new character models and skins to hundreds upon hundreds of new maps to be explored. Most of the independently created mods dwarf the quality and variety of the already breath-taking creations of Raven. In conclusion, JKA has set itself apart from its 2003 competitors. Thanks not only to the strong innovative maps but the large and friendly community who inhabit it. My hat goes of to both Lucas Arts and Raven for crafting a world that has provided hours of entertainment for myself and thousands of fans of the Star Wars universe. In layman’s terms it’s the Chuck Norris of video games.

Thanks to Kyle for that summary of “the Chuck Norris of video games”; he goes by “itskylestyle” in the game itself, if anybody wants to seek him out and brutally murder him with a lightsaber, thermal detonator or laser blaster.

I’ve played the game every now and then, mainly at kyle’s but with it’s recent Steam release I decided to pick it up myself and get involved.  Single-player, the game hasn’t aged brilliantly, with the levels looking pretty barren.  However, branching mission structure, surprisingly solid AI, it’s not without it’s charm.  It’s also a great place to play around with force powers as they are deemed cheap and unbalanced (and rightly so) online; the AI stormtroopers tend not to mind though.  The fact that it’s pretty much just a sight seeing tour of the Star Wars universe certainly helps it keep you interested level to level. I’ve been going on about how much the game has changed due to mods post release, and the single player isn’t an exception to this.  My personal favourite single player mod is suitably entitled “bloody dismemberment”.  It makes your light saber do what a lightsaber would do in a game not constrained by a Teen rating, cut motherfuckers into chunks.  This entirely changes the gameplay, making saber fighting instantly more satisfying and far more deadly.  It also results, hilariously, in realistic mistakes.  Forget to sheath your saber when walking past a friend or a neutral and you’ll cut through them like butter.

As I have mentioned before however, multiplayer is where this game has really matured.  On release it was a simple death match scene, with people shooting, sabering and using the force.  Now, it’s almost entirely saber only, the community realising that’s by far the best part of the game.  There is also a honour system that every player I have come across abides to.  “Laming”, the  crime of killing a player when  their chat bubble is displayed or they have their saber’s sheathed is the main crime and people tend to get kicked after a warning for committing it.  This system means that you can have intense duels going on while other player are just jumping around the maps or chatting, all groups safe in the knowledge that the incredibly friendly populous of the game will let you get on with whatever you want, without intruding.  It is a truly rare thing, to be treated respectfully on the Internet and having a nice chat about your favourite smiths songs on a deathmatch server it almost surreal, a million miles from Hal0 3. Mods are also in plentiful supply on multiplayer, the most popular being a ,mod package entitled “JA+”.  The last time I experimented with anything “+” on my computer was years ago with “MSN+”, which destroyed my computer, forcing me to reinstall Windows 98.  JA+, I can happily, a far more joyous and Trojan free occasion.  It contains three main sections.  The first, a purely cosmetic saber customiser, allowing you to change the hue or lighting effect of your saber, or replace it with spears, katanas and other pointy objects (no, not like that you dirty Internet user).  The second is a potentially game breaking jet-pack, which allows you to effectively traverse any part of the map.  The third is a grappling hook, allowing you to zip around arenas like a saber wielding spider-man.  These possibly game-breaking methods of traversal are again, kept in check by the amazingly well mannered community, with them never being used in combat unless agreed. Overall, Jedi Academy is a game that has benefited from all of the plus sides of Internet gaming, with hundreds of mods and thousands of maps.  It has also gained a abnormally friendly and dickhead free following avoiding the normal lows of online gaming.  It’s unique gameplay and excelling online make it well worth picking up more than six year’s down the line.  Go and grab it from Steam now, and while you’re waiting for it to download, hit this shit up.

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