Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe - Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Got another video game here. As you may be able to guess, it is a sequel to Dark Forces, which I previously covered.

Once again, you play as Kyle Katarn.

With a beard this time.

Oh yeah, as you can see, that image of our hero is a still from a live-action cutscene. If you weren't aware, there was a period in the '90s where it was cool for video games to have real live actors portray the characters in cutscenes. This was one of the games that got this treatment. And I'm actually a fan of it, at least in this game, which is the only one I've ever played that has this feature. The acting is fairly good, but the rest of the visuals in the cutscenes are dated, but I don't personally mind. And there's a tiny bit of what some may call "so bad it's good," but I just call it "the '90s definition of awesome."

In this game, Kyle is out to stop a group of Dark Jedi from reaching the Valley of the Jedi, which contains an area of high Force concentration, meaning that if the baddies get to it, they'll become super powerful. Oh yeah, and these Dark Jedi killed Kyle's father, so we've got a nice revenge story mixed into there.

You can tell just by this picture that the guy on the left is a real treat.

So there's a little more story in this one than the first. With that said, this game is an improvement over its predecessor in every respect. And that is definitely helped by the fact that Kyle gets a lightsaber and discovers his sensitivity to the Force - something that wasn't in the first one at all. So this is definitely more of a Star Wars product than the first one. My main complaint with the previous game was level design, a common issue I have with first-person shooters of the era. This game had a little bit of that as well, but I didn't have to run around for half an hour or consult a guide as frequently as I did while playing the first game.

Also something this game had, but the first didn't, was an alternate ending. There's a light side ending and a dark side ending. I got the light side ending because I'm a good boy. But I'll go back and play it again for the dark side ending at some point.

Speaking of these different endings, Kyle is a lot more fleshed out in this one, which is undoubtedly helped by the live-action scenes, in which he is played by Jason Court, who has since retired from acting and started making wine. And I really liked Court's performance, which remained the basis of Kyle's portrayal until the Expanded Universe was ended.

Spoiler alert: the beard stayed

Kyle's partner-in-crime from the first game, Jan Ors, is back and is also more fleshed out. Good performance from model Angela Harry in the cutscenes. Harry's performance also remained the basis of Jan's portrayal in further works. Interestingly, neither of these actors I mentioned ever reprised their roles despite their likenesses being kept. Court didn't even return as Kyle in the game's expansion pack, Mysteries of the Sith, which I will be covering later on (it's got Mara Jade in it, you guys!).

As for characters from the films? There aren't any at all! That isn't a bad thing, however. The Star Wars universe is big enough where you don't need to bring in any fan favorites. Take notes, filmmakers.

So should you play this game? I think so! If you are okay with playing a 20+ year-old game, have at it. This one is pretty great and it's got a fairly good story. And those cutscenes. You can't miss those. If they ever re-canonize Kyle in the form of something live-action, I hope they get Jason Court out of retirement to play an old man Katarn.