We got a new holy-crap-this-thing-looks-like-MegaMan-Lives-inside-it computer that runs ANY game with ZERO problem unless you're missing files. Recently I've had a sudden hyperfixation on Star Wars and, let's just say the reason I've been inactive is because said Star Wars phase has led me to... discover certain things about Jedi and the Force. Long story.
Anyway, so I decided to dig up my old copy of Jedi Academy for PC, installed and grabbed a clean install of a REALLY cool mod called Movie Duels. Basically it's a total conversion that replaces everything with what is essentially a PLAYABLE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE REPLICATED FROM THE GROUND UP AND AS CLOSE TO THE CANON MOVIES AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE! These guys whoever made this, they didn't leave ONE detail out, not ONE stone was left unturned making sure every mechanic and aspect of gameplay followed how it looked AND WOULD look in the movies as possible. Cutscenes are unskippable but for VERY good reason; they are 100% 3D animated replication of the movies!! From the tone spoken in each characters voices in the script to the dialog spoken, to props, backgrounds, scenery, ambient characters and background characters, WITH THEIR EXACT TIMING OF APPEARANCE AND BACKGROUND INTERACTION -- the list goes on and it even cleanly and smoothly flows directly into gameplay, and vice versa, meaning that where ever you're supposed to be when another scene takes place is ALWAYS accounted for, so it's actually possible to use both the game's movement physics engine AND the combat system -- which is ALSO programmed to mimic the movie as realistically as possible! -- to re-create some of the most iconic and memorable not to mention recognizable moments and fight scenes from the movies!
Now that I'm done hyping, let me explain why this game SCARED THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME last night. Our house has been undergoing repairs due to some wear and tear, they've mostly got a lot of the work done and all that's left is the kitchen; floor had to be taken out completely and re-leveled. We have the stove and sink plus counters as of today but everything else needs to stay moved out of the kitchen until they're finished.
Last night long after the contractor's team left, I decided to load up the mod I've been rambling about above (sorry!) and see what it was really all about.
I was greeted with a menu made from a cut-over-cut backdrop featuring still shots from the movie; Luke speeding across Mos Eisley Desert with Obi-Wan next to him, C-3P0 being confused by sand as usual, and R2-D2 being a chirpy boi . You get the idea.
Anyway, I started with the Phantom Menace just for no reason other than to have a starting point, and I chose Obi-Wan's side of the story after picking Light Side. Then I picked a difficulty, Jedi Knight, chose Obi-Wan as a playable character, and started. A mission brief screen explained the plot, and I spawned. Immediately after some loading and the scene from the movie that followed, I spawned in and was immediately ambushed by a few combat druids. Very quickly figuring out how to move around and jump and perform Jedi parkour like Yoda gone absolutely unhinged after sniffing whatever was underneath the X-Wing in Dagobah Swamp (whoa, dude, get off the ceiling!) and waving my lightsaber through druids like they we're made of melted Crisco, I found myself blocked by a force field, which after a bit of searching, was easily disabled by a control panel. I continued chopping Droid sushi until meeting a rogue Jedi who challenged me, which I actually didn't quite recall before because as much as I've seen of the movies, I unfortunately never got to see a good chunk of them so I'm probably leaving a lot out and the only reason I know about *this* part in particular is because of Movie Duels. Any way. So, regrettably I was overpowered (ow my arm) but when I clicked respawn... the game started acting strange. Keep in mind this is my very first time playing this mod so I have no idea how the game flow is actually supposed to be.
When I was given control again, I no longer saw Obi-Wan in the frigate. Instead I saw the behind-the shoulder view of a Jedi who was very obviously one with the Dark Side: his clothes were a dark, ashen black, only seeming to reflect light from his lightsaber which he held behind him so that the beam rode parallel to his arm, and even then, in nothing but faint shimmers. There were strands of stray, burnt and ruined cloth flickering from the braces where his sleeves started, even then seeming to ignore the air. Even the way he stood still seemed to emanate pure evil. I knew who this was; it was Starkiller from the Force Unleashed games.
I was in a volcanic landscape, on what appeared to be either a temple claimed by some branch of galactic government, as there were things like control panels and holo-projectors displaying maps and such - or a military base. There were doors on either side lined up and marked with numerical symbols, and when approached, text up top displayed which scene you were about to enter. Across from that were the control panels. They were unmarked, and lined up with wide gaps across from them. Out of curiosity, after noticing them, I decided to examine the one furthest to the end of the line-up. When aimed at, only one word appeared at the top: "JEDI". There was an icon to the side with an "R" meaning I could press R on my keyboard to use the control panel and see whatever it was programmed to do. So I did...
At first, the icon and text disappeared, and so did my health and stamina and Force gauge for a moment. Time continued as usual, lava still flowed and bubbled, spires still sprayed hellish geysers of magma and Starkiller shuffled impatiently like usual, only... I couldn't do anything while it disappeared. Move, turn off lightsaber, jump, say some kind of taunt, flick something away with Force Push... nothing happened. Then it all reappeared and I had control again...
But something clicked. A ring in my head made itself known, and it was so loud... loud enough to pierce my hearing. I could have sworn it was physically coming from behind my head. But not my own head, not the one sitting in the chair controlling this Starkiller. No, it was a strange compulsion to turn Starkiller around and look behind...
When I saw what was behind me, I nearly flew upwards into the top floor of my house, and I squealed so loudly I'm pretty sure I woke up a family of dolphins at the beach near where I live...
Every, single, one, of main characters from the movie who had the most important roles in the movie's stories, Jedi, sith, Force-Senstive and otherwise, BOTH LIGHT AND DARK SIDED, were standing in a perfectly orchestrated army line, and not ONE person was left out. Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Darth Sidius, DARTH, FREAKING, SIDIUS, Emperor Palpatine, Padre, Greece, Han-Solo, Chewie, heck, I even saw C-3P0 and R2, General Grievous-- EVERYONE. THEY WERE ALL STANDING THERE. AND THEY WERE LOOKING AT ME. ALL OF THEM.
I stopped dead in my tracks. They all had their weapons out, lightsabers and blasters alike. They didn't move an inch. Not even to wave or taunt with their weapons, or prepare some kind of Force buff, nothing. Then out of sheer curiosity, I ran at them just to see what would happen.
Like raging bees swarming an ignorant bear searching for honey, they all ganged and rushed at me. A murderous rainbow of vengeful colors made by lightsabers and lasers crossing over each other, tangling toward their target, Starkiller stood no chance.
That's when Windows showed me an error saying Star Wars Movie Duels has stopped working.
Anyway, so I decided to dig up my old copy of Jedi Academy for PC, installed and grabbed a clean install of a REALLY cool mod called Movie Duels. Basically it's a total conversion that replaces everything with what is essentially a PLAYABLE CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE REPLICATED FROM THE GROUND UP AND AS CLOSE TO THE CANON MOVIES AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE! These guys whoever made this, they didn't leave ONE detail out, not ONE stone was left unturned making sure every mechanic and aspect of gameplay followed how it looked AND WOULD look in the movies as possible. Cutscenes are unskippable but for VERY good reason; they are 100% 3D animated replication of the movies!! From the tone spoken in each characters voices in the script to the dialog spoken, to props, backgrounds, scenery, ambient characters and background characters, WITH THEIR EXACT TIMING OF APPEARANCE AND BACKGROUND INTERACTION -- the list goes on and it even cleanly and smoothly flows directly into gameplay, and vice versa, meaning that where ever you're supposed to be when another scene takes place is ALWAYS accounted for, so it's actually possible to use both the game's movement physics engine AND the combat system -- which is ALSO programmed to mimic the movie as realistically as possible! -- to re-create some of the most iconic and memorable not to mention recognizable moments and fight scenes from the movies!
Now that I'm done hyping, let me explain why this game SCARED THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME last night. Our house has been undergoing repairs due to some wear and tear, they've mostly got a lot of the work done and all that's left is the kitchen; floor had to be taken out completely and re-leveled. We have the stove and sink plus counters as of today but everything else needs to stay moved out of the kitchen until they're finished.
Last night long after the contractor's team left, I decided to load up the mod I've been rambling about above (sorry!) and see what it was really all about.
I was greeted with a menu made from a cut-over-cut backdrop featuring still shots from the movie; Luke speeding across Mos Eisley Desert with Obi-Wan next to him, C-3P0 being confused by sand as usual, and R2-D2 being a chirpy boi . You get the idea.
Anyway, I started with the Phantom Menace just for no reason other than to have a starting point, and I chose Obi-Wan's side of the story after picking Light Side. Then I picked a difficulty, Jedi Knight, chose Obi-Wan as a playable character, and started. A mission brief screen explained the plot, and I spawned. Immediately after some loading and the scene from the movie that followed, I spawned in and was immediately ambushed by a few combat druids. Very quickly figuring out how to move around and jump and perform Jedi parkour like Yoda gone absolutely unhinged after sniffing whatever was underneath the X-Wing in Dagobah Swamp (whoa, dude, get off the ceiling!) and waving my lightsaber through druids like they we're made of melted Crisco, I found myself blocked by a force field, which after a bit of searching, was easily disabled by a control panel. I continued chopping Droid sushi until meeting a rogue Jedi who challenged me, which I actually didn't quite recall before because as much as I've seen of the movies, I unfortunately never got to see a good chunk of them so I'm probably leaving a lot out and the only reason I know about *this* part in particular is because of Movie Duels. Any way. So, regrettably I was overpowered (ow my arm) but when I clicked respawn... the game started acting strange. Keep in mind this is my very first time playing this mod so I have no idea how the game flow is actually supposed to be.
When I was given control again, I no longer saw Obi-Wan in the frigate. Instead I saw the behind-the shoulder view of a Jedi who was very obviously one with the Dark Side: his clothes were a dark, ashen black, only seeming to reflect light from his lightsaber which he held behind him so that the beam rode parallel to his arm, and even then, in nothing but faint shimmers. There were strands of stray, burnt and ruined cloth flickering from the braces where his sleeves started, even then seeming to ignore the air. Even the way he stood still seemed to emanate pure evil. I knew who this was; it was Starkiller from the Force Unleashed games.
I was in a volcanic landscape, on what appeared to be either a temple claimed by some branch of galactic government, as there were things like control panels and holo-projectors displaying maps and such - or a military base. There were doors on either side lined up and marked with numerical symbols, and when approached, text up top displayed which scene you were about to enter. Across from that were the control panels. They were unmarked, and lined up with wide gaps across from them. Out of curiosity, after noticing them, I decided to examine the one furthest to the end of the line-up. When aimed at, only one word appeared at the top: "JEDI". There was an icon to the side with an "R" meaning I could press R on my keyboard to use the control panel and see whatever it was programmed to do. So I did...
At first, the icon and text disappeared, and so did my health and stamina and Force gauge for a moment. Time continued as usual, lava still flowed and bubbled, spires still sprayed hellish geysers of magma and Starkiller shuffled impatiently like usual, only... I couldn't do anything while it disappeared. Move, turn off lightsaber, jump, say some kind of taunt, flick something away with Force Push... nothing happened. Then it all reappeared and I had control again...
But something clicked. A ring in my head made itself known, and it was so loud... loud enough to pierce my hearing. I could have sworn it was physically coming from behind my head. But not my own head, not the one sitting in the chair controlling this Starkiller. No, it was a strange compulsion to turn Starkiller around and look behind...
When I saw what was behind me, I nearly flew upwards into the top floor of my house, and I squealed so loudly I'm pretty sure I woke up a family of dolphins at the beach near where I live...
Every, single, one, of main characters from the movie who had the most important roles in the movie's stories, Jedi, sith, Force-Senstive and otherwise, BOTH LIGHT AND DARK SIDED, were standing in a perfectly orchestrated army line, and not ONE person was left out. Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Darth Sidius, DARTH, FREAKING, SIDIUS, Emperor Palpatine, Padre, Greece, Han-Solo, Chewie, heck, I even saw C-3P0 and R2, General Grievous-- EVERYONE. THEY WERE ALL STANDING THERE. AND THEY WERE LOOKING AT ME. ALL OF THEM.
I stopped dead in my tracks. They all had their weapons out, lightsabers and blasters alike. They didn't move an inch. Not even to wave or taunt with their weapons, or prepare some kind of Force buff, nothing. Then out of sheer curiosity, I ran at them just to see what would happen.
Like raging bees swarming an ignorant bear searching for honey, they all ganged and rushed at me. A murderous rainbow of vengeful colors made by lightsabers and lasers crossing over each other, tangling toward their target, Starkiller stood no chance.
That's when Windows showed me an error saying Star Wars Movie Duels has stopped working.
