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Jedi Knight Rundown

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Written by David Erlenbusch

Well, here we are, a month or two from the latest release date/guess of Dark Forces 2, Jedi Knight. And what do we know? What has Lucas Arts let slip about the game to whett our appetites? Well, not a great deal infact. After the press releases concerning X-Wing V's TIE Fighjter, we might have expected that LA would blitz us again with information. Instead, it seems that they have learned from their mistake with that release, as well as from ID's experience with Quake (the game which JK will inevitably be compared against). In both the case of XvT and Quake, the publisher generated so much hype around the games before release that they were doomed to fall short of gamers expectations, so LA's reluctance to provide wild claims and concrete statements may be understandable. But let's take a quick look at what we do know, or have made reasonable guesses about JK over the last year or so since the project was announced officially.

ENEMIES

Like Dark Forces before it, Jedi Knight looks like it is going to be long on varieties of enemies. Additonally, the sprite based enemies of Dark Forces have been replaced by some very nice looking polygon 3D characters for JK. So far we have gotten these confirmed from Lucas Arts (mostly through released screenshots):

Standard Enemies

Kyle uses the rail detonator to take out a TIE Bomber

"Boss" Enemies

Our dark Jedi cantidates are, in no particular order:

Rumored to make appearances

In all, it looks like JK, as does Quake, will provide ample cannon fodder of various skill and capabilities. The AI of the creatures has been improved, and they will now also behave more realistically, becoming bored and distracted while waiting for the player to show up, or getting thrown off the trail if the player eludes them for long.

WEAPONS

Dark forces had a large selection of weapons, each with it's own advantages and disadvantages. Jedi Knight will feature 9 weapons of mass destruction, and one "....for a more civilized age...".
  1. Punch/Kick - Although very low powered, the punch was probably one of my favorite Dark Forces weapons. This time out, LA has augmented Kyle's right hook with a solid boot to the head.
  2. Bryar Pistol - Returning from DF is Kyle's trusty small sidearm. The Bryar is accurate, if somewhat low powered. An excellent sniping weapon.
  3. Storm Trooper Rifle - The standard Imperial blaster rifle, not terrifically accurate, but it has a fairly good rate of fire.
  4. Repeater - Once again, the light but fast firing repeater rifle makes an appearance. Low damage from individual hits, but the number of bolts you can chuck out in short order with this thing more than make up for it.
  5. Concussion Rifle - Well, this will be a modified version of the long range weapon we came to know and love. Its performance has been trimmed down a bit from DF. Instead of an infinite range and massive, multiple target explosion, the concussion rifle has a maximum range of 30 meters, and a detonation diameter of 4 meters.
  6. Rail Detonator - Previously called the "rail gun", this apparently is the favorite gun of the LA beta testers right now. It operates in 2 different modes, impact or trigger. With the impact mode, the explosive bolt will detonate on impact with whatever it hits. In its secondary fire mode, the RD will lodge its explosive package into whatever it hits, much like a projectile version of Shadow Warrior's Sticky Bombs. The explosive will be triggered, however, like Duke Nukem's pipe bomb, from a remote detonator carried by the gun itself. This weapon has been sited as being effective against ships, enemies, architecture, and virtually anything else you might care to fire it at.
  7. Thermal Detonator - Another returning fan favorite from Dark Forces, the TD is back with a vengence! Possibly Dark Forces most unique and versatile weapon, and one which I STILL haven't seen equalled by ANY shooter on the market yet! Once again we'll be bouncing them off walls, tossong them through windows, and generally making a nuisance of ourselves with them. Two fire modes as before, a 3 second delay or impact detonation.
  8. Sequencer Charge - These bad boys will replace the I.M. mine from Dark Forces. They are possibly the most powerful explosive in JK, and can be used on the ground, or attached to doors to...um...dynamically alter your environment.
  9. Bowcaster - The wookie weapon of choice, adapted by the Tusken Raiders (okay...whatever...). The bowcaster will work in several ways, throwing an explosive quarrel in standard mode, and also firing as a "scatter-shot" weapon in secondary mode.
  10. The lightsaber - Yes, it's finally here! We'll get to pick up athe lightsaber that master Rahn has come back from the dead to give us, and start doing some seriously cool things. The LS will be able to carve into enemies in a myriad of ways, block blaster bolts, and carve up parts of the levels to allow access to areas beyond grates, walls, and so on. Lightsaber combat is going to be a skill to master, not a simple pick-it-up- and-start-slashing though. This is as it should be. The LS attacks will be determined by the players movement, combining left and right body moves with the attack to provide a good variety of attack types (slash right/left, stab, etc.). The LS is also looking pretty cool as far as it's polygon representation goes. The ignition animation is wicked, and the blade itself is actually partially transparent (or at least it WAS a few avi files ago...)so you can see through it!

A lightsaber vs a blaster toting gran...he'd better get some help. Also notice the cool industrial loading crane in the background.In this game, Kyle has chosen the dark side and its powerful rewards

Besides these hand held weapons, those players who choose to follow the quick and easy path of force training will be granted several dark-side attacks. These will include force lightning, hurling objects, and the mysterious destruction power. Additionally, all these weapons will, unlike in most shooters, be identifiable in multiplayer. You will actually see what weapon your opponent is carrying in the game!

ARCHITECTURE

The JEDI engine used to create the levels in Dark Forces has been replaced by the SITH engine which will be used to create worlds in Jedi Knight. This is a true 3D engine, capable of producing the same kind of 3D envirmnments as the QUAKE engine. As we still don't know much about how SITH actually works on a nuts and bolts level, it's difficult to say exactly what features it has. However, from studying the screenshots, and the snippets of info from LA, there are several conclusions that we can draw.

Texturing - With Quake, texturing is accomplished by selecting a single texture to apply to an entire object or "brush". While this is efficient, it leads to some unsatisfactory architecture. Ceilings and floors and walls all have the same texture applied to them. With Jedi Knight, that looks almost certain to NOT be the case. It appears that textruing will be as intircate and varied as the designer can imagine. Witness the screenshot below.

Some beautiful Imperial base architecture, and some very nice texturing in Jedi Knight

Dynamic Environment - As with Dark Forces before it, Jedi Knight will be distinguished from other shooters by its active and interactive environment. With games like Quake, aside from a few buttons to push, the environment is pretty much dead. Jedi Knight will feauture forcefields, destroyable walls and grates, and more with SITH.

Big Architecture - If you've ever tried to create a level for Dark Forces, you have more likely than not run into the problems of HOMing and JEDI's sector height limitations. With the advent of real 3D engines, HOMing is a thing of the past, and Jedi Knight will feauture enormously big and tall buildings to run amok in. While we can expect Lucas Art's levels to be excellent, logical, and visually mind-blowing, this also means level editors are going to be able to do a great deal that they couldn't in Dark Forces...I'm already salivating...

Kyle and some gorgeous architecture in this stone wrought recieving area, complete with mammoth cargo crates.

True 3D construction - Jedi Knight will utilize the powerful SITH engine's 3D capabilities to the max. The software allows revolutionary ability to build whatever the designer can imagine within the game. Although Dark Forces utilized a form of 3D architecture, it was really just a 2D engine with a trick added on which would allow some flexibility in the verticle plane. SITH is a revolutionary leap over this approach.

Check out the detail possible in the architecture of Jedi Knight... ...compared to a similar area built in DF's JEDI engine.
Light sourcing - A topic of some debate currently. Lucasarts originally said that JK would use light sourcing for its illumination of the levels. At the recently past E3, however, a Quake fan who had a chance to test-drive JK claimed that the lighting appeared to be sector based, like Dark Forces. This claim has swept around the web now, even though it seems hard to reconcile with some amazing screenshots from the game which seem to show light sourcing as being prominent in the levels (check out the various screenshots in this article). This discrepancy may be due to the game's being in beta at that point, and the feauture may not have been designed into the one playable level yet. We'll just have to wait and see...

Customizeable

Jedi Knight is going to be customizeable in a number of ways.

C Like programming language - One of the things which has made Quake so interesting is the ability for a player to fairly easily modify the game on a programming level. It is possible to create new enemy behaviour, new weapons, new effects, and a vast host of other feuatures using a simple C type programming language. LA has said that players will have the chance to alter the way the game works using a similar language.

Multiplayer appearance -LA says that we're going to be able to greatly alter how our multiplayer personae look, to best suit our own personality. We're also going to be able to alter the appearance of our lightsabers. Considering how the LA JK page goes on and on about the look of the 7 dark Jedi's saber handles, maybe this means the sabers will be customizeable to this degree as well. What'll I be sporting in multiplayer? Look for a big, scary guy in alot of black robes, and cloaks with a wicked purple lightsaber...

Multiple view option - In addition to the first person perspective popular with most shooters, JK will feature a "chase camera" view simliar to Tomb Raider's 3rd person perspective. This looks like it will be toggled at the player's desire right now.

Fully customizable controls - Assume that this means we'll be able to re-map the keys to whatever configuration we want, although I for one am going to set it up the exact same way Dark Forces worked anyways.

Expansive Game Universe

One of the biggest complaints about Dark Forces had to have been its low number of levels. The original DF clocked in at just 14 levels total, Jedi Knight will feauture a projected 21 dedicated single player levels, 3 Capture the flag levels, and 5 deathmatch levels, all 8 of which will be separate from the single player maps (much like the LA title Outlaws), for a total of 29 levels included in various ways with JK. The core 21 levels will be supporting a rich, dramatic storyline for which LA games are justifiably famous. This time out, Kyle will be in pursuit of 7 dark jedi who are attempting to unlock the secrets of an ancient Jedi burial ground.

While this is the main plotline, also expect some subplots to weave in and out of the game, such as Kyle's pursuit of his own past, and his struggle with the two oppsosing sides of the force, and his ultimate choice of his future as a jedi or dark jedi. Any way you like to play, JK is going to provide you with some very solid gaming.

Kyle makes some unauthorized modifications to an Imperial exchange coupling

Well, believe it or not, that's about it for our total knowledge of the game right now. Lucas arts has kept a lid on this game almost as tight as their parent company has kept a lid on the prequel films. One way or another, however, we'll know within a month or two all the rest we ever speculated about. And I for one can't wait.

COMING SOON!

Be sure to get back here next issue of Darkness Falls for a look into the world of the Star Wars prequel films!
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