Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast (Collector's Edition)

The Good
The worst aspect of every FPS out there is the sole melee weapon your character is usually saddled with. Yeah, it's the "0" hotkey usually, which brings up a boot, an ax, a pitchfork or a taser, and in every case, the damn things are virtually useless. Running up to any opponent in any FPS with a melee weapon is the digital equivalent of suicide. Quake III even awards you a little medal if you manage to off someone with the gauntlet.
And then along comes Jedi Knight II. If you've played the original Jedi Knight, you'll remember that the lightsaber was a pretty cool little weapon, given that you could deflect oncoming enemy shots back at them. However, its utility was somewhat limited in that the deflection was random at best. Furthermore, your attacks with the thing were also limited, meaning that it was a curious off-and-on tool at best. All that has been completely changed for the better in Jedi Knight II. Kyle Katarn, your onscreen avatar, has been blessed with much more effective lightsaber defenses. This equates to the possibility of running into a room packed with stormtroopers without fear of taking much more than a scratch from stray fire. Even better, you get three distinct saber styles (heavy, medium and light), which gives you precise control over the ultra-cool device. Finally, Kyle gets an even spread of dark and light force powers, including healing, push, pull, choke and speed. The best parts of Jedi Knight II, at least for me, involved pulling a whole squadron of troopers off their feet, after which I calmly lopped apart their prostrate bodies. Sweet! Lightsaber combat is so good that Raven made sure to include plenty of duels with Dark Jedi. These duels are a blast, and I wish there were more of them in the game.
JKII also includes two features that I feel every FPS should: the option to switch from first to third person at will and slow-mo death scenes for you and for major opponents. I can't tell you how cool it is to see your enemies broken bodies do slow-motion death ballets after being on the receiving end of your blaster fire. Finally, the special edition packaging is just plain cool. Like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, you can get JKII in a collector's edition tin box, complete with both Dark Forces and Jedi Knight I and a nifty little lightsaber keychain. I wish more companies would expend this effort on packaging - hardcore collectors are willing to shell out more dough to get display-worthy copies of excellent games like this.

The Bad
I raved and raved about the lightsaber combat. For some reason, Raven makes you slog through three or four tedious, uninspiring missions before you actually get the saber. While your standard weapons are nice, nothing comes close to the saber in terms of pure fun. I also felt that the end boss was just way too tough. I'm not against games being hard - I do want them to be fair, however, and the final boss was anything but fair.

The Bottom Line
Another terrific FPS from Raven. You definitely can't go wrong with this game - buy it!