Is Jedi Academy Still Good 20 Years Later?

In this video, we're revisiting a Star Wars classic on it's 20th Anniversary

[masonmonroe]

The most underrated part of the this game is the fact that people online will literally take you under their wing like a Jedi master and train you how to reach the boundaries of the mechanics in order to be a better player which, in my opinion completely immerses me as being in a Jedi game

[LetsReinharder]

Ultimately, the question we have to ask ourselves is, "why should someone as weak as Tavion have the scepter? If anything, it should belong to me!" It's overwhelming ham, but a rare instance of the main character actually realizing how strong they are in universe.

[HVtux]

1996-2006 was the golden age of star wars games. So many classics across so many genres.

[_Seru_]

Still the best lightsaber experience in existence. It's shocking how nobody tried to replicate it in 20 years.

[patrickbateman]

Jedi Academy's lightsaber and force combat is the best. The control you have over your powers feels incredible, something I have not been able to experience with the newer titles.

[Fluff-glyr]

Hilariously, Kyle getting blasted with an energy beam from the staff, then being crushed by a massive pile of rocks is only his second most ridiculous survival of a lethal incident in this game.

I think it’s in Vader’s fortress when he’s standing right next to you at the top of a tall shaft and the ground he’s standing on explodes, causing him to fall for what feels like several minutes, screaming the whole time, then landing with an audible thud at the bottom. Immediately after suffering this undeniably fatal fall, he nonchalantly radios in and tells you that you’ve got to split up or something. Quite uncanny, very hilarious.

[fonjd]

Even after 20 years, there are features I’ve missed so much from this game when playing Jedi Survivor.
I finished it liked 6 times when I was a kid

[wargriz]

I love how each tier of your main powers feels like such a huge increase. You start by needing to point directly at the one one you want to block fire from, and making one guy need to readjust his footing, to being able to walk into a room deflecting everything and wrenching the weapons out of a squad of enemies.

[JD-gnoy]

Don't tell my kids but this video is a far better father's day gift.

[JHMJ]

Imagine the KOTOR games with Jedi Academy gameplay mechanics...

[penttikoivuniemi]

This has aged so well. I just recently played through JKA once again, and I realized how crazy good its mission design is. There are no repeats, almost all of the missions have a unique gimmick that makes sense and doesn't overstay its welcome, and many of them allow for pretty creative approaches. The one thing that's a shame is stealth is completely impossible, even with the mind trick power. I tried my best to be as much of a Jedi as possible when I last played it, avoiding killing and drawing attention, and realized the enemies all have a detection range rather than a cone of vision. Still, force pulling weapons out of the hands of stormtroopers to make them flee was kind of a fun challenge in and of itself.

Honestly, all of the Dark Forces-Jedi Knight games have aged surprisingly well, Jedi Knight 1 looks horrible but is just a really good game, Dark Forces 1 is actually probably the best "Doom clone" of all time, possibly even a better game than Doom itself, and JKO and JKA are just stupidly fun.

Funnily enough, as much as I love JKO, I feel it's the worst aged one out of them all... The pacing and much of the level design is weird, a lot of the time you are forced into annoying pixel hunting, and not being able to freely choose your Force powers like in all of the others makes it less fun to replay.

[Revan-N.]

Should've also mentioned those are the ONLY two Star Wars games that has a mechanic where you can lose your saber from grip or throwing it on purpose, but being able to recall it whenever you want. Which....I find surprising, but still without pretty much any competition is the BEST Lightsaber gameplay.

[maluo]

Oh God, I remember we only had a demo disc of this game for the longest time. And we played the shit out of the two available missions. I didn't even know English back then, but the line "The tractor beam is down Chewbacca, I'm on my way" from the Tatooine mission was just burnt into my mind.
Thank you for bringing back these memories :)

[FetterGockel]

Back in the days a friend of mine got so frustrated about getting eaten by those space worms, he never touched that mission again in any playthrough. He is (and already has been at this point) one of the smartest people I ever knew so when he told me about that I looked at him in total disbelief and said: "Dude, just use the force speed and you outrun those worms, they won't get you." He couldn't believe he missed that, I couldn't believe he missed that and seeing you getting eaten by that space worm I realized, maybe there are still people out there who are missing this and have a frustrating struggle with this mission. So yeah guys... use force speed to avoid getting eaten by the space worms.
Nice video by the way. Was the first one I saw from you and it fed my nostalgia. Have a nice day

[michaelburke]

IMO Academy and Outcast still have the best lightsaber combat which has yet to be topped. On top of that, the Jedi Knight series will always be my Sequel Trilogy.

[mgummelt]

Thanks for this video. I can’t help but cringe looking back at our work 20 years later (the ugly models, low-res textures, animation jank), but it’s a product of its time. I’m glad people have fond memories of it, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy will always hold a special place in my heart as a game developer, and I’m so happy the community has kept these games alive, improved on them and keep playing them. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane!

[AndrewTime]

I actually recently replayed both Outcast & Academy on PS4 & PC. I couldn’t believe how much better Academy aged. Both are fantastic, but Academy truly is a pure Jedi action adventure. Plus, its concept of being a Jedi in training is fantastic & I hope one day we get a new canon game that tries it, either in Luke’s Jedi or High Republic or early prequels.

[Cosmicglade]

The Movie Battles II mod really improves the lightsaber combat even further. I dare say perfected it

[SiLink]

It truly is my favourite multiplayer game of all time, I played it for so many years and it allowed me to meet my wife who I've known since 2005 from meeting on a server. I'll always have a big place in my heart for Jedi Academy. Awesome review! ❤

[heresjonny]

If movie battles isn't your kind of thing, the vanilla game is still alive too! There's a clan called JoF who have 200+ members and their server is full for a couple of hours every day, with decent activity the rest of the time too. The clan is constantly working on mods, maps, gamemodes, and events to keep the game alive and thriving. Within the clan there are also co-op missions on new custom maps that are fully functional, so not only can you get the old single player vibes, but you can do it with friends too. Definitely check them out!