I remember when Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast was still a pretty fresh game. I sincerely was going to spend $50 on it when it was a GameCube game, but it just never materialized. And I saw it pop up on the Nintendo Switch’s eShop for $5 or something like that. I was excited and cautious to play it, but it seems age has not been kind to this game. It was considered to be pretty cool back in the day.

I still remember the Xbox/PS2/GameCube generation being pretty good graphics wise back in the day, but this is definitely one the ones that look way better in your memory than what your eyes see now.

I had heard that it was part FPS and also a part lightsaber combat game. I know the shooting parts would come first, which I was looking forward to the least.

And boy is it flawed. This game was made before Halo really revolutionized the genre, as it really just feels like a slightly advanced version of Doom, but with Star Wars people. While it was advanced for the time, it’s straight up boring now. Especially as sometimes it doesn’t appear like these enemies are actually getting hit by deadly laser blasts.

And I will be honest, I was not a fan of running around a random spaceship area of whatever, trying to find key codes and unlock doors like Darth Vader made every military building an Escape Room adventure. Even chapter 1 is such a brutally difficult experience versus what it should be for an introductory level.

This would be better with Mouse and Keyboard controls, but I got beyond frustrated with this game. I hear it takes almost halfway through the game to get a lightsaber and I was not going to put myself through that. Some fans don’t believe it’s aged at all, but the nostalgia has clouded their judgment. Because in its current form, it’s about as insufferable as the 21st Century Star Wars fanbase.