Of late, the company has stumbled with its experiments in adapting properties (like the Star Wars universe) to various genres. Even the most recent Monkey Island game made less of a splash, in part hampered by the replacement of insult swordfighting with Monkey Kombat. So it’s natural LucasArts would turn to one of its most acclaimed series.

It worked. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is a page out of the old, unstoppable LucasArts playbook.

The game starts slowly, with Kyle Katarn back in mercenary action with Jan Ors. Kyle gave up the Force after his Dark Side turn (in Mysteries of the Sith), though he’s still sympathetic to the New Republic. In fact, he’s helping root out Remnant forces — folks trying to bring back the Empire — when Jan is killed by a raptor-faced Dark Jedi. (He and Kyle are both Jedi Outcasts, hence the title.)

Kyle vows revenge, and the game kicks into high gear.

All this is stretched over a series of levels best ignored once one gets to the meat of the game. Kyle is Force-less during this time, so what’s left is a conventional shooter that often comes across as uninspired. I guess LucasArts had to provide a buffer for players to get back into the universe. The quality of gameplay in later levels, when Kyle has reclaimed the Force, is so much higher that I can’t think of any other excuse.

Truly, the Force makes all the difference here. Jedi Outcast boasts an impressive array of weapons, but honestly I can only think of two or three times I used them after getting the lightsaber. This time around, the player’s destiny isn’t decided by Force powers, so Kyle gets the whole shebang: Heal, Lightning, Grip, Pull, Push, Speed, Lightsaber Throw and the rest. This is a very good thing, because I have no idea how I survived without Darth Vader’s cool Force Grip before now. There’s just something compelling about grabbing a Reborn or Shadow Trooper and choking the life out of them.

Yeah, I’m evil. At one point, I managed to Grip a Shadow Trooper and throw my lightsaber, which literally cut the guy in half. Honestly, I cheered. Intoxicating, the power of the Dark Side is.

Shadow Trooper? Oh, right, the plot. Turns out the Remnant has teamed with the aforementioned Dark Jedi to artificially infuse troopers with the Force. Most of the Reborn just get lightsabers; Shadow Troopers get those plus black armor that resists lightsabers.

Obviously, that’s a bit much for Kyle to handle alone, so we get cameos from Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams reprises the role) and Luke Skywalker. There’s one great sequence where Luke and Kyle team up against a pack of Reborn — unfortunately, it would’ve been more effective in the endgame, where Kyle and some Jedi padawan must take out a gang of Reborn and Shadow Troopers while defending the Jedi Academy. Luke’s nowhere to be found. Wimp.

Speaking of Billy Dee, voice acting overall is great, and he in particular seems to have a good time with it. It’s time for this guy to make his comeback, a la John Travolta.

The storyline is fairly good, if predictable in spots. It never really explores the Dark Side as Jedi Knight did, but concentrates more on the action than decision-making.

Graphics are very good, and incredibly smooth even during frantic Jedi battles. On some levels, like the Yavin swamps, graphics are fantastic. You get rain hissing and sparking off of Kyle’s lightsaber, plus plants waving in the wind and water flowing. Never slowed down a bit on my 32 MB video card.

My biggest gripe? LucasArts, I had some kick-ass battles. Why not give me an option to record them? I’m enough of a geek that I’d play them back later.

Okay, okay, my biggest gripe is those first few levels. Honestly, they had me despairing about the series. I’m patient enough to soldier through, but I know plenty of folks hesitant to shell out $50 because friends got the game and then gave up before getting to the Force. I hope I can change their minds.

Jedi Outcast is a great entry in the series, and will I hope provide LucasArts with a great foundation for more quality games. Full Throttle 2 is on the way — is it too much to ask for another Sam & Max title?