Although the animation and impressive range of moves on hand is fun it is also frustratingly hit and miss, literally, the hit detection doesn’t always seem to register, most enemies will go down in one clean swipe as they should do where others will just stand there as if you are blowing them a kiss instead of being hit with 3 feet of burning plasma. In its day, Jedi Academy had the most impressive lightsaber combat available and it can still be admired today, blades clash and sizzle against each other as you duel against the disciples or deflect blaster bolts. As you progress you can unlock more combat options from various fighting styles to dual wielding and even get access to the infamous double-bladed lightsaber to embrace your inner Darth Maul. From the start you create your Jedi as either male or female with a selection of races and appearance options to choose from, you then have options for creating your lightsaber from hilt design to blade colour.
Jedi Academy is primarily played in the third person which is especially useful when waving your lightsaber around. Spending a fair bit of time with Jedi Academy is certainly a trip down memory lane to a time when games were “simpler” but challenging due to their designs, it’s easy to see how spoilt we have become with graphical fidelity and smooth gameplay over the years, especially when you compare Academy to the likes of Jedi: Fallen Order and to a degree, The Force Unleashed.
This is more or less a straight port not a full remaster, blocky animations and character designs, questionable hit detection, environments that look the same are all present. Though your character progression is to advance through the ranks at the academy from apprentice to Jedi Knight, your ultimate goal is to get to the bottom of a sinister plot put into motion by a Sith cult known as the Disciples of Ragnos who are bent on cheating death Palpatine style by resurrecting the ancient Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos.Īs much as Jedi Academy is a fondly remembered title and rightfully so, it’s important to remember this is a title from 2003 and it shows. From the basic ability to push or pull your enemies, you will also gain access to protective powers like healing and protection and more destructive powers like lightning and force choke.
Jedi Academy focuses on this aspect by putting you in the role of Jaden Korr.Īs Jaden, you become the apprentice of Kyle Katarn and must undertake a series of missions across the galaxy to hone your skills which grant you access to a wide range of light and dark powers. Chief among them was the story of Luke Skywalker creating a new Jedi academy to train a new generation of Jedi. Emerging out of lightspeed on March 26th with the sudden announcement that they have ported Jedi Academy to Nintendo Switch as a follow up to their previous port of Jedi Outcast, but is this outing from 2003 a dose of classic action that we remember? Let’s take a look.īefore Disney acquired the Star Wars rights and set about creating their sequel trilogy, the events that followed “The Return of the Jedi” were crafted into some much-loved books and games.
Though it looks unlikely that we will be getting any “new” Star Wars games on Switch anytime soon due to the current license holder being greedier than a Hutt Cartel during a depression, fans of a galaxy far far away have a new hope in the form of Aspyr Media. Like it or hate it, Star Wars is one of the most famous brands in the world and its reach extends to just about every form of media you can think of, especially video games. Of all the great titles and licenses available on Nintendo Switch one core franchise remains noticeably absent, and that franchise is Star Wars. A long time ago on a gaming platform far, far away…