Jedi Academy, The Best Star Wars Jedi Game Ever Made? An In Depth 2023 Retrospective!
Vložit
- čas přidán 9. 06. 2024
- Today we are going to check out Star Wars Jedi Academy 20 years after its initial release in an in-depth retrospective review! Is this the best Star Wars Jedi game ever released? Let's get into it and find out!
Welcome to the channel! If you haven't already please hit that SUBSCRIBE button and help The channel get to 501 SUBSCRIBERS! When we get to 501 Subscribers I'm releasing a special video comparing the two campaigns of both Battlefront II games with a focus on the original 2005 classic that follows the adventures of the 501st Clone Legion!!!
For More Great Star Wars Gaming Content Check out my COMPLETE Retrospective Reviews of Star Wars Bounty Hunter:
• Should You Play Star W...
And Star Wars Republic Commando:
• Should You Play Star W... - Hry
The big buff disciples like the ones you fought with Rosh are apparently meant to be left over Reborn from Jedi Outcast, they've had their semi-artifical force powers for many years longer than any of the normal cultists and are thus substantially better at using them.
13:50 It's hilarious that you start out able to use a *Disruptor* which is a horribly illegal terribly painful way to kill someone.
And no scolding for using it, either!
@@ZacksRockingLifestyle They're also supposed to be really short range weapons, why Raven Software decided to make them snipers is unfathomable to me. MotS's sniper is just a scoped and stocked standard stormtrooper rifle.
@@DIEGhostfish I did not know that part!
39:44 The DEMP gun is basically in the game for this fight and the fight on Vjun against Vader’s droids. Those droids melt in 5-seconds or less, especially if you just hammer their spawn with the DEMP’s secondary fire at the start of the fight.
That’s kinda the fun thing about the weapons in this game; they ALL seem to have at least one valid use.
For instance, when using force sight, the E11 stops having a spread, and can basically be used as an automatic sniper without a scope, perfect during the prison break level. The Stuker drops those spacetrooper/dark trooper sorta enemies in 1-2 hits. The rocket launcher is pretty helpful for players that don’t take force lightning.
It’s possible… that I’ve played this game too many times!
Bro I had no idea about the DEMP gun but that makes so much sense! I mean electricity being effective against droids is so obvious now that I think about it lol! I had no clue man, thanks for the comment and insight!
@@BosskTheHunter dude, I’ve been playing the game on and off since it came out and I only learned about how the DEMP works like two years ago from watching a speedrunner. Agreed about it being obvious in retrospect, though. This game really relies on replayability for things like that. Most players won’t have the clairvoyance to, on their first playthrough, at least, pick the best weapons to take into each level.
@@ZacksRockingLifestyle Man that is so crazy the level of detail in this game that even after years, even decades of playing at this point, some of the games mechanics could still be discovered! Yeah I honestly never game the weapon selection screen two seconds of thought lol. 99% of the time I'm grabbing old reliable, the E-11, and the concussion rifle lol.
35:07 Wedge's cameo is very weird, because at this point he's a General in command of a huge portion of the Alliance's Fighter Command and running the Lusankya SSD.
Yeah it seems a little below his pay grade at that point but I guess game logic lol.
@@BosskTheHunter I could see him doing it to "Stretch his legs" but not without at least one wingman. He'd want to do *Something* to be active after so long driving a desk (Even if that Desk is on a Super Star Destroyer) but he's not so irresponsible as to fly without a wing. Since just ONE wingman increases effectiveness and survivability by like six times.
@@DIEGhostfish Or even just to personally see through a request from his old war buddy, Luke. "Sure, I'll go make sure more of your dumb jedi kids aren't getting killed."
@@UncleSikki True, but Wedge has been an instructor plenty of times, he *Knows* you don't fly without a wing, ever.
@@BosskTheHunteri feel like maybe hes just that good at and in love with being an xwing pilot and doesnt care about or even consider “pay grade” and would rather fight till he dies if anything maybe the wing is his personal vehicle as well and he just decided to take it out on a run like “eh screw it ill help out”
I wonder how many who played the game know where Marka Ragnos originates :) I love the interconnectedness of the old canon
as for the Force powers - I wish more fans understood that the videogame logic of "yea use any power, they aren't really indicative of your affilation" is absolutely not to be taken seriously when it comes to the lore and is only there bc of the Rule of Cool. Vergere's philosophy is the best answer to how the "sides" of the Force work.
"The rule of cool" I've never heard that haha! Yeah I agree. I mean I love that Kyle will bust out some force lighting at the drop of a hat but it doesn't make a ton of sense 😂
Not necessarily. As I understand it, Luke’s order was able to create light side variations of dark side abilities. Instead of Sith lightning, you get Force judgement
@@BosskTheHunter Nah, it makes sense. Kyle had 3 games (and an expansion) to explain he nearly fell to the dark side. So him blasting lighting is 100% lore accurate and I love him for it. Nothing is more fun to imagine than a jedi master who shoots lighting at their enemies.
The disney version of the Warlord Era is sadly *Very* toned down from the Legends version where each warlord had huge fleets, and where very early on even individual Warlords were actually more dangerous than the entire early New Republic, who survived on cunning and letting them fight each other.
Though by the time of the Jedi Academy game the remnant IS a lot closer to what's seen in The Mandalorian, it just took far longer to get that weak.
I 100% agree with you! I like the old timeline a lot better but Disney is clearly setting up this, the Remnant isn't actually fractured but one new Empire, narrative. Obviously just setting up for the First Order which is meh in my opinion.
@@BosskTheHunter I actually also do have some affection for the Late-Warlord era where they *Were* reduced to acting a lot more like the ones we see in Mandalorian, but there's no longer room for both.
I like how relatively cramped the Dreadnaut feels, and the slight hints of the old republic reds on the wall highlights. Shows that it's smaller and older, certainly no Star Destroyer.
Man your channel pops tf off. Goodxshit dude, love your videos
You are too kind brother and thank you for your support, it means a ton to me! I plan to keep bringing more and more Star Wars content so be on the lookout!
Nice video bro. Love the retrospective on all these classic Star Wars games. Great editing and references and you clearly have a deep knowledge of the SW universe. You definitely deserve for subscribers considering this quality of content. You got my sub for sure. I’ll be watching your career with great interest.
Thanks so much brother and sorry for the late reply I've been out of the CZcams game for a few months but I am back now and having a new review coming out this Friday March 8th 2024. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for the sub!
Bro this game was sick as a kid. I used to spend forever using codes to mess around too, killing rancors with hundreds of trip mines, constantly changing my lightsaber color midlevel and "there is no spoon"ing my way through the game lol
Hahaha for sure brother! It's definitely a classic and the variation of level design was nuts!
A fun video could be rating the concussion rifles of various games against each other. Since you've got DF1, DF2JK/MotS, the alt-fire of the IHR in Outcast/Academy, the new Stouker in Academy, the terrible LJ-50 Conc Rifle in Republic Commando, and the alt fire of the TL-50 (Canon pure blaster version of the IHR from EAfront) in EAfront 1&2.
I love that idea for a shorter video man!
The most powerful ability's choke because you can throw with it once upgraded, and even without the throw it causes the enemy to reset after they free themselves.
It is strong as hell but I always find myself almost exclusively using lightside powers lol
@BosskTheHunter True, but so many other games, make bodily telekinesis a neutral power that I treat it the same so long as I am not letting the choking part kill.
The Vader statue was destroyed in the Dark Empire 2 comic.
I honestly did not remember Vjun being in that comic at all when I read your comment. Apparently it's misnamed Djun in the comic so nice call!
Your anecdote about being blown away by the sight of a yellow lightsaber in DF2 is something that resonates with me.
I feel like a lot of us old school Star Wars fans felt that lol! I've heard people older than me talk about seeing Return of the Jedi for the first time and being shocked at Luke's green saber because they thought lightsabers could only be blue and red lol.
This game DOES contradict the New Jedi Order books a bit, it offhandedly gives Corran "Master Horn" an apprentice, but in one of the final stretch of NJO books he says he never had an Apprentice
IMO it's also kinda wonky with Crimson Empire bc Pellaeon, who is in charge of the IR at this point, is not a fan of Dark side Force users (cough C'baoth cough) and thus it makes more sense for Tavion to have thrown her weight in with any replacement warlord (Foga Brill of Prakith for example)
@@FHT1883 Prakith is too isolationist, Space North Korea.
@@DIEGhostfish 💀
@@DIEGhostfish it was hilarious when they got clowned by Lando and Lobot (and the Teljkon Vagabond) in Shield of Lies / Tyrant's Test
There’s nothing more fun as using force choke and force push to send your enemies off cliffs and into lava and chasms. It brings a smile to a face every time.
The choke is so op too lol!
Looking back at all Star Wars games I've known, I'd definitely say Jedi Academy is overall the best in my book. Even the vast SWTOR is second or third place after it, jostling with the original Battlefront 2.
It has the perfect blend of being short enough to beat easily yet so varied and with so many options that you WANT TO replay it again in other ways. I remember playing it for many months on and off, returning to it after breaks when I just wanted to have some fun, replaying entire campaigns or just some choice levels in specific ways. I adored saber duel-heavy levels the most, but I also loved using guns to take Sith cultists down for a change; I vividly remember having lots of fun replaying the Chandrila tomb level in many different ways in a row.
I definitely think it was a small stroke of genius for the devs to stick to the series' FPS origins while also building on the saber combat to make it a whole new star of gameplay. That way, you keep both flavours and can fall back on both freely - sure, sabers are OP as they should be, but nothing stops one from playing the game with heavier gun use if one so wishes.
I particularly loved using some fun skips and cheesy or silly tactics. Speedrunners nowadays use the shock orb rifle to OHK the final Coruscant robot wave and the robots on Vjun, and I spent entire playthroughs trying to rely more on Force Grip and trying to manage to throw Sith enemies off ledges, not nearly as fast but lots of fun. And ultimately it was a great level of overall challenge for all sorts of players - easy for big pros, sure, but a fun challenge that weaker players could beat too, and still great fun for middle of the road ones.
Plus, this game kickstarted my love for twi'leks with its Jaden twi'lek option... no need to comment there. And it had some of the last pre-Shepard Shepard voice actress performance back when she still did varied voices instead of just one.
To me I think KOTOR 1 is still top dog to me but I absolutely agree with you that the options of this game and the hundred different ways you can approach each encounter is absolutely incredible! Honestly like I say in the video this retrospective was daunting and I finally just accepted that there is no way I can cover all of the available options so I just have to present one of countless playthrough options and make it clear that just because this is how I did this playthrough you could take this game on in a completely different way. And yeah the alien selection for this game is incredible honestly! I can be a Rodian Jedi in 2003??? We don't even see crazy options like that now outside of mods lol. I would say as well that I think Jedi Academy is a slightly better game than Battlefront II 2005 BUT that games modding community is INSANE! You can play as any Star Wars character or creature or race ever with a little bit of searching on mod sights and it is truly epic!
56:36 I like to abuse force pull and short micro-chokes to beat this level without killing the Nohgri
On a more meta level of comment, the cut-ins from movies and shows you did for various moments were quite choice. Good editing fun. And it is just nice to have such a full retrospective of this game step by step.
One suggestion I'd make if you don't mind, though - sometimes it feels like you read through the script a tad too quickly, I can keep up fine but it feels like some parts, like, say, the initial Coruscant level ones, could use being spoken a tad less hurriedly.
First of all thank you so much and I'm glad you like the style man! Secondly, trust me I know haha. I am a straight Boomhauer if you're familiar with King of the Hill lol! I promise you I'm trying to slow down and not clump my words together but I'm trying to beat 30+ years of this southern mumbling mess that is my accent lol! I really appreciate the comment and the input and I promise I will continue to work on it!
The rancor in the Hutt Maze CAN be killed, but a new one will be released to replace it.
Liked and subscribed, I just want to say if you keep up the work and effort I know you’ll blow up this year. Shoutout to the algorithm for putting me onto such a good CZcamsr!! Proud to be one those subscribers before you blow up!!! Wishing you luck and will stay tuned sir.
Wow thank you so much for saying that I can't tell you how much I appreciate the encouragement! I'm so glad to have you on the channel and look forward to bringing you more and more Star Wars content!
Would love to see the OG Battlefronts (2004 & 2005), Dark Forces 2, Jedi Outcast, and the KOTOR games! Great video!
Thanks so much for the comment brother and I plan to get to them all! I'm doing Battlefront 2 when the channel hits 501 subscribers since it follows the 501st and I will definitely do the KOTOR games they are just so daunting to tackle lol!
Definitely interested the videos to come! I forgot to mention, really liked some of the background details you picked up on in Academy: the things on Zonju V being the rib cage to some dead large beast, the abundance of Ragnos status pointing to Taspir III indicating that was the Disciples HQ (makes sense now why they took Rosh there...), etc. I've been playing this game for nearly 20 years and still there are worldbuilding details I haven't picked up on like those ones you mentioned and I love that stuff; love finding those/getting those pointed out, after nearly two decades of playthroughs, it keeps it fresh and gives new perspective such a class! Also, love the knowledge/appreciation for the legends EU.
@@zacharyswan6836 well thank you again my friend! I will continue to preach the word of the EU I swear lol! As for the details something I learned making these videos is that when you play through a game, record all the footage, watch the footage to write the script which can be 8,000 to 10,000 words, then record the script reading, then add the video clips over the recording making sure they match what you're saying that by the time you're done with the process you learn so much more about these games and notice so many details. I never noticed those things either until this and if you look at the comments section there's plenty I didn't notice. There's really an insane amount of detail to some of these games and during this time when we were getting prime Lucasarts material they were making gold!
I love this game. Would have made a good movie. Episode 7?
It’s got a good story and I like the idea of the Sith Cultists being a smaller faction (almost like the Neo-Nazis to the Empire).
I loved the Disciples of Ragnos as a villain group, not just another retread of Vader/Emperor Palpatine.
Luke Skywalker is actually Luke Skywalker and not some crotchety old loser on an island. Plus we aren’t battered over the head with references to old movies.
It could definitely have been an episode 7 man! Hell make it 9 with a Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy trilogy!
Awesome retrospective again! Always coming with heat. Favorite channel. Can’t wait for the next video.
Ever heard of force combat?It’s a fan made Star Wars fighting game. In line with the older Mortal kombat games. It’s cool especially for fans like us and has good production value. You should check it out! Anyways can’t wait for the next video! Hopefully revenge of the sith game or maybe even dark forces or just the Jedi knight series.
Thanks so much as always my Bossk brother! I really appreciate the support and yeah by the channel poll the next video will be Revenge of the Sith! Force Combat sounds really cool and I'll have to check it out! Is it a stand alone game or an overhaul mod for another game?
It’s a standalone fan made game. There’s a lot of videos about it. It’s pretty awesome and made by one person! Has all the classic characters and more it’s about to get a huge update soon!
@@bigbossky4031 that sounds awesome, I'm gonna do some research on it now! Thanks for the heads up!
it have 3 usefull powers, and one of those is in one mission only, and the other is for about 3 missions. All you need is force lightning level 3, that takes you through whole game except for a few sith fights, where you can abuse platforms with grip to toss them off map. Force protection is used in one mission with the acid rain.
ALL the rest of the abilities can be ignored, except for some level progression pushes and so on. Dont even need to learn to use lightsaber. The force lightning kills everything.
Powered up force lighting is beastly in this game no doubt and arguably the most fun force power to use in the entire game!
Most powerful/fun abilities are Force Grip and Healing. Protection is useful too especially for one level.
yeeting enemies off platforms is hilarious
Jedi Academy’s story still holds up, as is its lightsaber fights. Though I can’t say the same about the game’s performance. Luckily, there is a fix for that! The fix, well, fixes the cutscenes. So, instead of having a frozen cutscene, we get the cutscene as it once was.
Yeah I definitely experienced some cutscene issues, specifically with sound.
Loved this game so much. This one really deserves a remake or a remaster. they really don't make amazing games like this anymore, especially when it comes to the StarWars IP.
Considering we just got the Dark Forces Remaster I bet it's coming, fingers crossed!
Fun to watch retrospective videos, JKA is great game, but full potencial you see only in multiplayer in term of saber fighting.
You can see on video or if it's you, its very casual fighting, even not inter-connected moves/combos...
But players need to download EternalJK mod to actually see running servers, because ravensoft shutdown masterserver (eye for servers), problem in multiplayer is netcode combined with old sv_fps 20 style and more, so hit-registration and blocks are what they're..
In term of graphic, JKA from beggining have a lot of hidden commands which can be unlocked via conzole, or mods, like saberglow etc, which looks game even better.
Yeah I had no clue how to get multiplayer going which is why it's not included in the review. I'm sure it's a blast to play though!
I just bought this again today for my ps5. 😁 cant wait to play it!!
That's awesome! Is it upscaled on PS5???
@@BosskTheHunter it looks pretty much the same, its a little smoother, but not a huge improvement. Still fukn awesome tho!
@@Azriel884 nothing at all wrong with the og graphics! Enjoy it my friend!
I think Rosh being an annoying little shit was made on purpose. Because when you have the chance to kill him, it takes the patience and restraint of a true Jedi to lay down your weapon.
It damn sure does because killing him is definitely the more fun option 😂
Idk if you know this but if you hit jump and attack at the same time you’ll do an aerial flip and lightsaber attack for the upper torso/head.. Think anakins attack if he was successful to the higher ground
Now that you say that I do remember that from playing the game as a kid but I completely forgot on this playthrough man lol! As you can tell by the video I was spamming the hell out of the side to side strafing lol. Thanks for the tip!
Good job on those Republic Commandos figurine collection. You got a Jango yet?
Thanks brother! They're a couple of my harder to come by figures and yeah I sure do. I actually have an entire display of just Mandalorian 3.75 characters and even have Jaster and Montross which are my most cherished figures as they've become insanely expensive and hard to find these days. Thankfully I got them when they first came out and were cheap.
@@BosskTheHunter Got one of those new Bad Batch series of 3.75 figures? I saw a few on Amazon, tempted to pick up a Fennec figure.
Mind Trick, Healing, Protection, Choke and Lightning was the ultimate build. Also you did not talk about using other lightsaber combat styles, did you forget about it, or it wasnt big enough for you?
That is a beastly build and I've never found myself swapping up combat styles anytime I've played this game so it was honestly an unintentional omission on my part and that's my bad.
There's Jar Jar Binks, aaaaaannnnnddd then there's Rosh 😂
I'll take Jar Jar any day of the week bro lol!
After the Battlefront games you should do Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast the prequel to this one
I definitely will! There's so much to cover and I'm clearly going in no set order lol!
@@BosskTheHunter Holy Moly I didn't think you'd actually reply I love your content keep up the good work sir
@@Wsnow22 absolutely dude! I'm sorry for the delay I got out of the CZcams creating for a bit but I'm back and I have a Retrospective coming out this Friday, March 8th at 4:00pm Eastern time. I hope you enjoy it and I really appreciate your kind word and support!
Academy and KOTOR are very close. Different genre so it's hard to say which is better, depends on your preference.
Honorable shout out to Bounty Hunter.
Bounty Hunter is just so unique and I adore KOTOR 1. I do think personally that Jedi Academy is better than KOTOR 2 but I do know there's a free mod that unlocks all of the cut content from KOTOR 2 that apparently takes the game to another level and people I know who have played it say that it makes it the best Star Wars game ever. I really gotta try it when I get the time lol.
@@BosskTheHunter The mod is good, but I'd still say it's a tie that depends on your preference. Hope you find the time.
PS: On a separate note, the Obi-Wan video game plays quite a bit different in controls but somewhat similar to Jedi Academy. What were your thoughts on it? Any chance of a video? Or is there one and I missed it?
I thought the level design on it was quite good. Sabre combat wasn't all that good though.
I bought Bounty Hunter at a convention a few years ago, but haven't played it yet.
@@jayive34 It's quite good, especially once you get the jet pack.
@@OtherDAS I will definitely get to the KOTORs and Obi Wan as well! It's such an oddity being solely an Xbox exclusive. So far I've done Bounty Hunter, Republic Commando, and Jedi Knight and I'm working on Revenge of the Sith for Xbox and PS2 as we speak
Whats crazy is this game is 20 bucks on ps4 and the second one is only 10 dollars lmao, so easy to play these games now..
Agreed! That's one of the best things about Disney owning Star Wars, they're going to give you things to buy lol.
You missed a chance to make a Tremors reference
Oh trust me I thought about it because that's a classic and easily my favorite Kevin Bacon movie but I try to keep my references and clips in the Star Wars universe.
Female Jaden Korr> Canon Male Jaden and Male Jedi Exile> Canon Female Exile.
I think Jedi Outcast had a better story but Jedi Academy was the better Jedi Simulator. But you should play the PC version not Xbox version
Oh I definitely agree and I plan to cover Outcast eventually as well. Kyle Katarn to me is basically Batman to me in that there's that old joke about always be yourself unless you can be Batman, then be Batman. That's basically how I feel about Kyle lol.
The shooting in Outcast and Academy feels so bad compared to Dark Forces, DF2 Jedi Knight, and MotS, even bringing back the Concussion Rifle they couldn't get it right. Better than the Republic Commando Conc rifle at least!
there's a lot of good in JA. but overall the game feels like a mess to me.
- the guns are barely functional due to tiny enemy and projectile hitboxes and VERY slow projectile speed, the ranged enemy AI units are boring to fight (they literally just sit there shooting and going 'ow!' when they get hit, and once in a while run a ways before settling down to shoot again)
- some levels are incredibly annoying (at least for me) like the slow, gimmicky 'save the elders from the arena' level and the 'collect ship parts from the sand' level.
- the best part about it is the epic lightsaber combat, but even that has flaws. in Jedi Outcast, the saber combat felt fair, balanced, and smooth. then in JA they added saber staffs, dual wielding, and single saber kata moves. all these have far too much spinning and flipping movements to them that kill enemies instantly, removing the need for careful and calculated strikes at enemies to slowly wear them down, which gives the player a sense of fairness and control in combat.
story-wise, it's just a big old mess. Rosh somehow becomes your 'friend' despite having as little buildup to that as rey did to beating kylo ren. Jaden goes out killing scores of enemies on each mission and never pays a 'dark side' style price for his actions.
I appreciate and enjoy JA, but man oh man did it have a lot of untapped potential and missed opportunities.
I hear you and growing up I had this on Xbox so I was playing with a controller and trying to hit anything with a blaster using a controller was basically a Stormtrooper simulator lol! It's still not great but with a mouse and keyboard it is considerably more manageable.
Personally, I hate that there was EU established after this. I'd rather Jaden Korr be left to the imagination, as with Revan and the Jedi Exile.
Mate was trying to listen to your vid in the background but had to turn it off, you need to bal
ance your audio sir
What do you mean exactly? I'm super un-techy lol
@@BosskTheHunter Some of the clips were way way louder than the rest of the video, almost blew my eardrums out lol