The Game Mechanic – Savour My Saber

Lightsabers are bloody brilliant.  They’re good for all sorts, deflecting lasers, having epic duels, cutting the arms off cheeky buggers at the pub, you name it.

They’re perfect for video games too, for incredibly obvious reasons, we all want the chance to dive around with a lightsaber mauling stormtroopers.  So why is that lightsabers have only been done right in one series, a series that saw its last entry almost a decade ago?

I am, of course, talking about the Jedi Knight series starring Kyle Katarn as the lovable mercenary and masterful Jedi when he’s not feeling too mopey about his brush with the dark side.  The series wasn’t always about lightsabers and Jedi though, the first game’s saber count comes to exactly zero, and even the second and third games see Kyle starting off with only his trusty blaster pistol.  Once you’ve braved the game’s opening levels you’re treated to a pretty blue murder-stick and all the force powers you could ever want.

Of course, this blog is supposed to be all about lightsabers, so why the balls am I blabbing about games they’ve been in?  Well it’s hard to talk about lightsabers in videogames without having to directly reference this series given that virtually every other time we see lightsabers in videogame form they act more like batons than swords.  The Jedi Knight series is the only good example of lightsabers done right, and lightsaber battles to boot.  The mechanics based around the sabers are so wonderfully designed that even now, a decade later, people still log in to Jedi Knight 2 to practice their saber prowess.  Server browsers are chock-full of ‘Saber only’ servers stocked with people challenging one another to exclusionary duels to the death and groups duking it out in mad flashy free-for-alls.

In Ravensoft’s (now Attido Mobile) Jedi Knight 2 the lightsaber is given the respect it deserves.  Blaster-equipped foes will flat out run away from Kyle if he starts getting close with his molten-tube, deflecting their projectiles as he closes in.  Groups of enemies that would be impossible to defeat with Kyle’s assortment of guns fall easily to the skilled lightsaber wielding Jedi this game will transform you into.  It would run the risk of becoming boring if the enemies weren’t so versatile, with heavily armed enemies attempting to flank you as less well-equipped grunts draw your attention.  Thermal detonators (grenades) have to be evaded or sent back to sender via force push, and you have to be careful when attempting to finish off an enemy as Kyle can’t deflect incoming fire when he’s swinging.

It’s even better when you come up against dark Jedi, or “Reborn” as they’re known in Jedi Knight 2, who can deflect your swings just as quickly and easily as you can deflect theirs leading to epic film-style flurries of mixed attack and defense that almost has to be seen to be believed.  These guys can deflect projectiles and redirect grenades and rockets the same way you can, and are easily a match for Kyle as they scale to his strengths as the game goes on, keeping the challenge fresh until the final showdown with the big boss-man Desann.

I know I’m basically squealing about a great game right now, instead of talking about what I said I’d talk about but again it’s because everything that Jedi Knight is is how it should be, and lightsabers are an integral part of it, the very thing I’m talking about.  Why can’t we bring back this wonderful series and do lightsabers well?  They don’t bash into people like sticks, they slice like butter, they’re tools for unlocking doors, sabotage, and solving puzzles, they’re a complex piece of kit that takes hours of game-time to master, they make you feel powerful and in-control of any situation.

We all love lightsabers, so bring them back to us games industry!