May the Force be with your Lightsaber.

So I recently returned to Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast after not touching it for god only knows how long. Knowing, or at least vaguely remembering parts of the puzzles definetly makes the whole game go by faster. Not actually "solving" them right now isn't all that dissapointing (mostly because I still feel smart because I had figured it out once... or had seen someone do it once... or something). Not getting really frustrated at the harder parts is definetly a plus too (thank god Tavion didn't take dozens of tries this time).

Anyway, having never played any other star wars based first person shooters (man based at least, so I'm ignoring rouge squadron) I must say, I love lightsabers. They did a really good job of giving the player control over how they attack, without making it rediculously complex. Now I'll be the first to admit that it can easily degenerate into button mashing, with varying degrees of effectiveness, but especially with a force speed going on (everyone else gets slowed down) you get the time to actually think for a split second between attacks and really aim them. Most satisfying against other lightsaber-weilding foes, but certainly fun against stormtroopers too.

One of the other good parts associated with the 'saber though is how, especially early on, you aren't a god with it. A good chunk of the enemies use thermal detenators or tenloss disrupters, neither of which you can block with the 'saber and can really mess you up. They aren't impossible to defeat: you just need cover and a couple good guns of your own. It's nice that they can give you the 'saber (awesomely fun to use) and yet still force you to use the variety of more conventional laser guns and energy crossbows. Also, later on, your force powers become strong enough to be able to deal with these weapons without too much cover (unless they ambush you and/or catch you by too much surprise). By the very end of the game, I virtually never use guns: the lightsaber is just too good on its own. It finishes a logical progression from gun slinger to true jedi. The strongest jedi (good and dark) are 99% invulnerable to any and all gunfire, which makes sense and forces you to actually be better with the saber to kill them.

Anyway, what I'm basically saying is lightsabers are awesome, well balanced, and... well... c'mon, its a laser sword, of course its frakking cool. So go learn the ways of the force, and paint yourself a couple dark jedi on your 'saber grip.