Following in the footsteps of the highly acclaimed Knights of the Republic, Activision and Lucas Arts brings us another Star Wars adventure. Take on the role of Jedi recruit as you travel to the famous Jedi Acadamy to train in the Jedi arts and to ultimately become a Jedi master. However problems occur en route as your ship crash lands near the acadamy. Something sinister is afoot as a group of cult worshipers have harnessed the power of a destructive weapon and are attacking the acadamy. Your job is to help Luke Skywalker and Kyle Katarn stop this evil menace whilst rising the ranks in the acadamy by undertaking various missions spanning many planets.

Gameplay:
Jedi Knight Acadamy is an interesting mix of first person shooter combined with a 3rd person action adventure. The player begins by choosing a skin from a wide selection of male and female character types including non human life forms. Once you have helped the other jedi regain control of the acadamy you begin your training. Once complete the player has the opportunity to undertake various missions. Which can range from helping prisoners to finding a specific person or perhaps finding an item. The beauty here is that the player has the option to choose the order of missions to be undertaken adding a sense of freeform gameplay.

Playing Jedi Knight Acadamy is very easy, as mentioned earlier using any guns or grenades will switch the player view to a first person perspective enabling a more intimate view for accuracy whilst dishing out destruction. However using any lightsabers will switch the viewpoint to 3rd person whereby the player gets to see the moves being performed by their on screen character. As the player progresses through the game more abilities and powers become available and more often than not saber fights become more dramatic as jedi leap and bound across enviroments with the fluidity of highly trained acrobats.

The jedi powers that are gained fall into light and dark catagories and are most useful when facing difficult opponents. Each power can be upgraded, starting as basic level 1 to advanced level 3. My favourite being the force choke hold which enables the player to lift and move their victim over cliff edges or chasms of never ending depths. One can never tire of their screams as they plumet to their death. Alternatively with a weakened opponent one could simply choke them to death.

Another neat feature of the combat in the game is the power of the lightsaber. Kotor totally underpowered this weapon as enemies could take many hits from one before dying. Jedi Acadamy utilises the lightsaber's full power, which means one strike and your enemy is dead with perhaps an amputated limb lying next to the dead body. Certain Dark jedi are able to take some hits but overall it is possible to kill or be killed with one well placed strike.Excellent.

Graphics:
The graphics in the game are pretty standard fare with nothing too spectacular to make gamers go "wow". Although the colours and tones used all do a great job of recreating that Star Wars feel. Combat remains fluid even when there are multiple enemies on screen including some of the bigger foes like Rancors or AT-ST's. The devs did a good job here but I think most players as with Kotor, will be far more engrossed with the gameplay to care for how well the game looks.

Sound:
As with all Lucas Arts games the classic John Williams Star Wars soundtrack is present. Building into dramatic battle music when things get tough to being sombre and mystical when the action lets up. Excellent. The sound effects are all authentic too ranging from blaster fire to the ambient sounds of the various locales the player will be visiting. Overall the sound adds a lot to the atmosphere of games and Jedi Knight Acadamy delivers in all the right places.

Longevity:
Kotor was purely a single player affair yet still remains one of the best Star Wars games to date. However Jedi Knight Acadamy offers multiplayer gaming. 2 players can duke it out in split screen modes or up to 10 players using the system link feature.Xbox Live is also supported allowing player from across the globe to live out their jedi fantasies. The classic modes of play are on offer including the likes of deathmatch, CTF and duel modes.Also supported are siege modes which require team based objectives to be completed. These additions to the main game make Jedi Knight Acadamy an excellent all round package for fans and non fans alike offering plenty hours of play time.

Round Up:
Jedi Knight Acadamy is an excellent title offering some tense and great gaming moments. Some may feel that the Xbox's power is not being used here when looking at the graphics. However, overall the variety in the gameplay and the mission based story will help most players worth their salt overlook these issues. I would highly recommend this game to Star Wars fans and those who dont care for Star Wars will still find an excellent and engrossing adventure game. May the force be with you.

Pros:

• Choose missions
  
• Choose race
  
• Lightsaber combat
  
• Character cameos
  
• switchable First and Third person views
  
  

  Cons:
  

  • some dull graphics at times
    
  • some frustrating vehicle sections