It doesn’t want to by anything like Jedi Outcast.
Apparently there was a lot of outcry from the gaming community about certain qualities of Outcast; This time around the developers decided to let go everything that made the great predecessor a good game.
Firstly, the decided to give access to the lightsaber since day one. Okay, I can understand that when people play a Star Wars title they don’t want to wait for getting their hands on Jedi’s weapon of choice (like it was in Outcast, where you had to wait for two long missions before the saber is available).
This situation was remedied in a rather stupid and deus ex machina fashion: You play as a new student in the academy (en route in fact) who has managed the impossible – created a lightsaber on his/her own. It’s pretty much stupid; first of all people don’t just know how to make sabers, even if they are gifted with the force. Second, since when do the Jedi begin training apprentices at age 20+? They don’t.
All of the above doesn’t really change the gameplay itself, and it’s really more important for the Star Wars fans out there (I do not consider myself one – I just don’t like stupid plot holes).
As for the rest of the story, it’s a direct continuation of Outcast, only that you don’t play as Kyle. This time the producers opted for a more unisex approach. This means that at the begging of the game you can choose your character’s gender, race, and even clothes.
It’s very nice that such a choice is given, only that it doesn’t go in pair with character depth. See, the protagonist has absolutely no personality whatsoever. Deeper into the game you have a choice, which toggles one of the game’s two different endings, but whatever you choose there are no reasons or motivations to be seen in the protagonist. He/she’s more like an empty shell than a real character; only the shell can’t be filled with anything useful.
Jedi Outcast had quite a lot of level puzzles, which were really nice. You actually had to stop and think if you wanted to go forward. In Academy the philosophy is don’t think, just go forward. Levels are constructed in a very straightforward manner. There is basically no need to ever stop and ponder your progress (did I check those doors?).
The thing that really kills the fun out of this game however is the customizable force powers progression. Before every mission you can allocate one point into a force power, either good or evil – neutral powers like jump or push progress after every big plot break. This system brings about a problem – you can make your character really powerful really fast. It’s no problem to have force lightning at level three, and before you know it you can send whole rooms of stormtroopers flying all over the walls. It simply makes to game overly easy, because the challenge dies really fast.
However, if you thought that Jedi Outcast was overly complicated where it should not have been, and you want to just get into the action with lightsaber in one hand and force grip in the other than this game provides it in huge quantities.
One the other hand if you loved Outcast you’ll inevitably get bored with Academy: It was very obviously dumbed down for a wider audience.