Jedi Outcast, the sequel to such classics as Dark Forces, and Jedi Knight. You play as Kyle Katarn, the mercenary hero from the first game; but luckily he doesn't have to go at it alone. He has Jan Ors, the techno geek who will usually be there when you need her. You start off the game in their now trademark ship, reciving a transmission from Mon Monthma, and from there it really takes off.

Graphics:
Outcast is a huge improvement from it's predecessors. Dark Forces was a doom-like shooter and Jedi Knight was fully 3D, but very pixelated. Even though it's a huge improvement from the prequels, this is not at all the prettiest game on GameCube, yet it's not to shaby. Some critics have claimed they saw jerky frame rates, but I fail to see them; I find that the game is fairly fluid. Most of the control consoles through out the game will blink on and off, which adds a very nice touch, as there are a whole lot of control consoles. The lightsabre is also quite amazing. Litle graphical details such as the metal melting when your sabre touches the wall add to the realism (although the marks don't stay very long). One complaint of mine is that the jumping isn't all that realistic. Another small issue, is that the cutscenes aren't quite up to par with other Star Wars games; they sometimes look as if orange cellophane was placed in-between the screen and you. Other than that, I have no complaints.

Sound:
The lightsabre effects are right on; the John Williams' score from the Star Wars films plays just as if it was the movie. When the action picks up, the music picks up. You can even hear the troopers talking about going on vacation! Another nice touch is hearing the officers call for backup. One problem though, is the voice acting. It's wonderful, but I wish they would've shelled out a few more bucks and got the original actors from the movies. Although they did find pretty good stand-ins, it just doesn't feel right talking to a Luke Skywalker that isn't Mark Hamill.
3rd or 1st person perspectives


Gameplay:
This is where it sort of falls short for beginners. It took me a little over an hour to finally get used to the aiming (The button positions can also take some practicing too, but there are several control schemes, and you can pick the one that suits you). My suggestion is to play through the first level on the easiest difficulty level until you feel comfortable. The lightsabre duels are easily executed-once you learn how. One of the most fun things to do is to turn on your dark rage power and just hack at everything in sight. Another shortcoming, is that Jan Ors, cannot shoot! It's nice that she tries to help, but she is even worse than the troopers in the movies. On top of that, the mission fails if she dies, but that is a small shortcoming for it usually isn't a problem. Once you get used to the controls, gameplay is pretty sweet from there on out.

Multiplayer is there, with several different modes. The usuals are there: capture the flag, free-for-all, and team free-for-all. Also, some new Star Wars twists with a Jedi duel mode where players go about looking for force powers, but you can only have two at a time. My favorite by far is the Jedi Master mode in which you start of with just a simple blaster. You go out looking for the one lighsabre and all the guns and who ever finds it first gets all the force powers and is the only one with a lightsabre.

Upon telling a friend that I had Jedi Oucast, he asked me, "what are the Force powers like?". I'll say this, the force powers are nice and clean and you even get to use dark side powers such as choking and even lightning -how cool is that! "Good" force powers, such as speed and heal, round it off nicely. For those of you curious, here is a complete list of the force powers: jump, push, pull, speed, heal, choke, mind tricks, and lightning. All of the powers have three levels, for example, at level one, lighning will only get one guy for a short time, level two will shoot one guy continuously, and level three will hit several people continuously.
Excellent Game Overall


Overall:
Overall, Jedi Outcast is a tight game, but if you have a PC that'll run it you should probably get it for that instead of for the GCN. The controls are much better on the PC. If you're looking for something to do while waiting for Zelda, this should fill your gaming void nicely.