Star Wars™: Jedi Knight™ II

The opening hours of Jedi Outcast belong to a man with a blaster. Kyle Katarn has a history with the Force, but the game gives you time to get used to firing from cover, finding the next door and making sense of an Imperial installation before it puts a saber in your hand. That order matters. A room full of stormtroopers means something quite different once you can send their shots back across it.

When Kyle returns to his training, movement becomes as important as aim. A jump opens up a route that was out of reach. A shove can buy breathing room when a corridor fills up. The pleasure of the saber is partly in the blade itself and partly in deciding when to put the blaster away. An enemy on a distant walkway poses a different problem from someone willing to meet you at arm’s length.

Multiplayer gives those same tools a different purpose. Another player can retreat, change weapons or wait for you to commit to a swing. The arena is a separate part of the game, so friends planning a session should open the multiplayer program. If somebody is playing through the first story mission while the rest are looking for a server, the group is in two different games as far as joining is concerned.

The GOG copy supplies the commercial game. JK2MV is a separate community option for multiplayer and uses original game data. Install the base copy first and keep its files available. Groups can decide together whether they want the original multiplayer environment or a server using the community client.