[Assignment 1] Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

I believe that JK2 it exhibits all three characteristics required to label it as having game feel. The game can be played in either 3rd person or 1st person. While playing from a 1st person perspective probably gives a more intimate feel with the player, but I feel that if responsiveness is high, playing in 3rd person can yield similar results.

The primary types of mechanics are:

  • Walking/Running
  • Jumping
  • Crouching
  • Rolling
  • Using (Interacting with levers/consoles, etc…)
  • Attacking
  • Aiming
  • Using Force Powers
  • Deflecting Enemy Fire with Lightsaber
  • Toggle Lightsaber On/Off
  • Lightsaber Locks
  • Wall Running/Jumping
  •  Change Weapons

With the exception of rolls and lightsaber locks, input is constantly accepted.  During any of the listed actions above, any of the other actions can also be executed.  Even while attacking, the player can move, jump, switch weapons, and crouch. While jumping the player can alter their flight path and also attack or use force powers. There are only a few small cases when a button is hit and because of animation that is currently taking place, it waits before execution. Such as rolling, flipping while jumping, or changing weapons. The effect this has is minimal on game play as the animation only locks you out for a split second since the animations in this game are relatively quick. – In fact I would say that you don’t really ever feel like you are locked out while playing. I feel that all of the actions fall under or very close to the 100ms threshold and the way that all these mechanics interact give the player real time control.

Deflection of lasers is done automatically when wielding a lightsaber. This is really the only action that your player does, which you do not control. But since you can not block/deflect and attack at the same time, this gives you a small sense that you are in fact controlling the action in that if you want to deflect enemy fire, you don’t attack or use any force powers. I think the way this was set up works well and gives illusion of control to the player.

The last exception to the rule is when you are having a lightsaber battle with an enemy and under certain circumstances your lightsabers will lock. During this struggle, the player must click the mouse button as fast as possible to try and overpower the opponent. While this is happening you cannot do anything besides click the mouse. No movements or force powers will be registered by the game.  Since you are very concentrated during this time you usually don’t think to move in this situation and therefore you don’t feel stuck, even though you are.

There is simulated space in JK2. You can bump into objects, walls, characters in game, and fall off things. You can also interact with in game objects through the use of force powers, such as using the force to pull an object towards you or pushing a grenade away from you while it is still in the air. Because of these interactions, movements, and collisions, the player experiences the simulated space directly.

This game definitely has polish. It won’t hold its own against a relatively new game, but when this was first released it was quite astonishing visually. The lightsaber effects were really great creating a bunch of neat sounds and particle effects when it interacts with different surfaces. Bodies can be dismembered with the lightsaber, and there are a whole slew of different animations when wielding the lightsaber – including three different fighting styles that change the animations.  All these things help emphasize the interactions between the objects in the game world.

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