In yet another chapter of the ongoing Star Wars gaming empire, you are a young trainee in the Jedi School of Lightsabers and Force Powers.

It seems that every new scene in this game has you running into one of the Classic Heroes of the storyline - Luke Skywalker, Kyle Katarn, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, etc. And each of the characters quotes their traditional lines - "I've got a bad feeling about this" ... "I sense a disturbance in the force" ... etc.

I'm a big, big fan of the Star Wars saga but I have to admit that it would have been nicer if they left those cameos as special treats, instead of making you feel like, even though you're a brand new trainee, you were plunked right into the middle of the most important characters in the rebel alliance!

The graphics are really great, with a lot of detail on faces and weapons. While it was nice that you could customize your main character, they only had 3 presets for male and another 3 for female - and they didn't match up. So while you could be a male Rhodian, you couldn't be a *female* Rhodian which is what I really wanted to be. There were only 3 faces to choose from and a few shirts. Most role playing games out there nowadays give you much more flexibility so this was disappointing.

You start out with simple training sessions to learn about lightsaber use, force pushes and pulls, and so on. Your master is Kyle, and soon you and Kyle are heading off planet to do various tasks for the Jedi.

While the game gives you a good mix of combat and puzzle, I have to admit I felt very much like Super Mario at times, working to jump-jump-jump up a series of blocks ... falling down if the jump wasn't timed just right and starting over again. The combat gets better in later levels but at the beginning it's easy for it to turn into a button mashing contest.

Definitely a good game for any Star Wars fan to get, but I recommend the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies for anyone looking for a real RPG experience. The character creation, development and combat feels much more rewarding in Galaxies. But those looking for a quick fix will find it here!

Buy Star Wars Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy from Amazon.com