adventure

Ok, so I got an eMac for christmas, and I figured that I'd better take advantage of the graphics card. So I went to the mac store and saw this and Halo sitting side by side. Needless to say, this is a predicament. I have always been a big Dark Forces fan, so I went with Jedi Academy. Boy was that a mistake. The only really cool thing about this game is the use of the lightsaber. Not only that, but the lightsaber is the only thing in the game that looks like it could have come from an FPS made post-doom. Aside from the lightsaber, the graphics are terrible. The game is really jerky, and about 2/3rds through, it becomes downright boring and I actually had to force myself to keep playing, hoping that the endless monotony would lighten up. (which it didn't.) The first few levels of this game are fun, but it goes way downhill after the hoth mission. Anyway after I had played this game for about two weeks, I traded it in for Halo, which is 10 times more fun, has infinitely better graphics, and runs beautifully on my machine.

This is a terrific first-person shooter and it's long -- so you get a lot of gameplay. While I haven't played any of the multiplayer games, I thoroughly enjoyed single player. There are plenty of interesting missions with a connecting storyline (a Lucas Arts strength ever since Dark Forces) and if you've played other Star Wars titles like Dark Forces, it's thrilling to see many of those same environments with better graphics, including your mentor at the Academy, Kyle Katarn! Before each mission you can select weapons to use in additon to strengthening your Force Powers, such as Healing, Grip, Force Absorption, Protection, Lightning, etc. By the end you've really customized your abilities. In one of the last levels you will choose the Dark Side or the Light, and this does affect the gameplay. You also get to ride a few different vehicles, which is fun, and I like that you can save anytime.

I do have a few minor complaints -- in the last dozen or so levels you must rely almost exclusively on the light saber, while I really like using a wider variety of weapons; the faces of players are oddly flat; and even though I met the system requirements I experienced slowdowns quite often.

If you like FPSs or games in the Star Wars universe, you will really enjoy this game for Mac. May the Force be with you.

I wish I could say I've personally played the Macintosh version of this game, but as I'm completely addicted to the PC version, I can say this game is addictive!

You basically hack and slash your way through mission after mission of Jedi action. I mostly like the dark side powers (wandering around choking stormtroopers to death is loads of fun, especially when you can slam 'em around afterwards). The storyline is pretty decent, the missions are challenging without being obnoxious about it.

As I'm thinking about getting a Mac (mostly to expand my knowledge of them), I figure the best way to get myself to use it is to load it down with some good games. I figured this one and maybe "Halo" would be good incentive.

For those of you who're interested, I dug up the system requirements (which don't seem to be posted at this time)

System Requirements: (from aspyr)

Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later
PowerPC G3/G4/G5, 500 MHz or faster
256MB of RAM
1.3 GB free disk space
3D Graphics Acceleration required (ATI Radeon 7500/nVidia GeForce 2 or better, 32MB of VRAM)
4X CD-ROM
Multiplayer Requirements:

Internet and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported
Internet play requires a 56Kbps or faster connection
733 MHz or faster recommended for Multiplayer