The Continuing Adventures of Mara Jade was an excellent level series. I was very impressed with some of the architectural feats and the overall quality. Read on for more specific details.

The architecture, as I mentioned, had some very impressive aspects. The indoor architecture, though nothing stellar or phenomenal, was undoubtedly solid and quality. There were plenty of details like beams, pillars, consoles, shelves, stairs and other fine points. I also liked the fact that the level didn't feel blocky; there were a number of hallways with arched ceilings and areas with multiple stories overlooking one another to keep things interesting and decidedly non-linear. There was some variety in sector shape, though most were rectangular, as is the norm. Now, onto the outdoor architecture. This is where the level would really shine, if it weren't set in a dismal swamp that is. I was very impressed with the way the author created realistic terrain without looking shoddy or causing frame rate problems. Granted, on my powerhouse computer (700 MgHrz yehaw!) I don't have too many areas with low frame rates anymore. Throughout the swamp, there were many details such as small cliffs, sloping hills, swamp trees, caves, tunnels and underwater traps. All the swamp areas looked far from having vertically oriented walls and rectangular areas that are sometimes common in poorly done outdoor levels; these levels felt much more open and realistic, not closing in upon you. The Sith Temple was well done, with lots of pillars, statue niches, ramps, rubble piles, and other interesting tidbits. In conclusion for architecture, I must stress that I was quite impressed with the skill and dedication shown in making the outdoor areas; I know it is a lot of hard work, and I offer my commendations on a job well done. Texturing, too, was quite good. The swamps looked great for the limited number of texture selections available, although in places the green grass was a little bright and looked out of place. Indoors, there was fairly decent variety and I spotted very few stitching errors. Some areas, such as the end of the Imperial base, had textures that were used a little too often and became repetitious, but for the most part the level looked great.

Enemy placement was admirable. The swamps were filled to just the right capacity with swamp wampas, mailocs, noghri, dianoga, and dartflowers. I never had much of a problem with struggling to stay alive, I merely needed to stay on my toes. This is a good sign. Inside, the story is a little different, but not much. At times there were large numbers of stormtroopers and commandos that made life a little difficult, but there were sufficient power ups to keep the levels from becoming too difficult. The armored vests and revives were placed very well; I found them just when I needed them the most. In the Sith Temple, however, I think there were a few too many noghri. They became somewhat of an annoyance, as did the numerous Jedi. More on that later. Lastly, I noticed some things that I took special note of about enemy placement, the most important being that enemies were often given a small advantage such as elevation to give them a little help. It made the difficulty just right; not too easy to just run through and blast anything that moves, and not too hard to frustrate you and cause you to give up. The enhancements of CAMJ were great. There were decent cutscenes that almost exclusively showed action, not two people standing around chatting the other's (and my) ear off. There were new enemies, and a new type of power up that you need to beat the mission. The swamp was complete with the strange animal noises that are heard in MotS, and there were plenty of other ambient noises throughout the level series. There was, of course, the usual cadre of forcefields, doors, button doors, elevators, secret areas etc. to provide a decent base for the levels, and there were some other special features. I don't want to give away any of the secret workings of the levels if you haven't yet played them, so I'll let that description stand for enhancements.

The atmosphere was excellent; in the swamps, I had that eerie feeling that some sort of beast was stalking me, and often I was right. Sneak attacks from wampas and mailocs kept me alert and almost paranoid. I really got into the game, temporarily leaving my chair and being sucked into the experience...but only for the swamps and some of the Sith Temple. I must admit, I felt that the indoor areas were a little dull and much less interesting than the other settings of the series. Lighting was quite nice; the swamps had numerous dimly lit caves and passages, and the base had decent use of shadowing and some colored lighting. The gameplay, as I said before, was very enjoyable. I did have one qualm, however; the Jedi/Sith lightsaber fights were rather aggravating and boring for me. You had to fight the skeleton warrior types at least 3 times, and their lightning was constantly killing me. I think that a little less Jedi fighting would have made the third level much more fun, and less time consuming. This is mostly due to the fact that the Jedi took excessive amounts of damage to kill. Despite these little annoyances, the overall level series was great fun.

In summation, the Continuing Adventures of Mara Jade was an excellent series. I recommend you download it immediately and play it. The Jedi do get a tad annoying, but they don't detract from the overall quality much at all.