Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Peer review/Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

The article just passed its GA Review. The reviewer recommended a peer review to increase the quality of the prose. Bill ^{(talk|contribs)} 22:19, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Review from Guyinblack25

Here are the issues which stood out to me.

The lead

• I would reorganize the lead to follow the flow of the article. Start with introductory info, then mention gameplay, plot, development, and finish with reception and other notable tidbits.
• I would also expand it to three decent sized paragraphs. Feel free to include a bit more specific, but important details, as it will make the lead less vague.
• Missing comma:
  "It was developed and published by LucasArts, and released..."
• Clarification would help. Was the AI improved?
  "...developments to theimproved artificial intelligence."
• I would combine these two sentences to improve flow and reduce confusion:
  "The player initially takes controls of Kyle Katarn, the protagonist of Dark Forces II. L, and, later in Mysteries of the Sith, the player is given control ofin the game, Mara Jade, one of the most popular Star Wars Expanded Universe characters according to Star Wars Insider."

Gameplay

• If the gameplay is similar to the original game, maybe include a link to give the reader more context.
  {{see also|Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II#Gameplay|l1=Gameplay of Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II}}

Single-player

• Missing comma:
  "...primarily a first-person shooter, but offers the choice..."
• Disambig link: Light side → Force (Star Wars)
• I would reword to make it sound less in-universe:
  "...Mysteries of the Sith has a single, morally positive course for good."
• A semicolon would be appropriate here:
  "The player progresses through the game in a linear fashion.; there are fourteen..."
• In the sentence with examples of the weapons in the game, I would put the lightsaber first. I think that would improve the flow and decrease the chance of confusion for the reader.

Multiplayer

• Reword "lightsaber-only maps" to reduce gaming jargon. Maybe something like "...which only allow players to battle with lightsabers."
• If this is the only instance of "local area network", then the "(LAN)" part is not necessary.

Plot

• I think a link to the plot section of the previous game would help give the reader more context. Like the gameplay section above.
• I realize most editors try to keep plot sections short, but I think you can elaborate on some details. Right now, the details are sparse and I think it makes the sentences choppy. I'd say each paragraph could fit in 1-2 more sentences.
• I would also see if some sentences could be combined to help improve the flow as well.
• Trim to be more concise:
  "Mysteries of the Sith is set five years after the events that took place inof Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II."
• Just sounds more professional to me, your call though:
  "The story follows oncontinues from the "light side" ending..."
• Some grammar tweaks for simplicity and conciseness:
  "Like Katarn, Mara Jade is a formerly a member of the Galactic Empire, but has joined the New Republic to train to become a Jedi Knight."
• Some tweaking to make the flow less choppy:
  "Imperial forces start to attack the base andin an attempt to take oversiege it."
• Rewording to improve readability and give some more context:
  "Part of the attack includesThe base is being bombardedment by large weapons located onfrom two, nearby asteroids near by."
• Trimming and redundancy:
  "Katarn lands ontravels to one of the asteroids and destroys it along with the other asteroidthem."

Development

• I'd combine the first two sentences and rewrite the last part, just flows and sounds better to me.
  "Mysteries of the Sith was developed and published by LucasArts as an expansion to Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II., and requires tThe Dark Forces II CD ROM needs to be inserted when Mysteries of the Sith is loading otherwise the game will not start."
• I'd also wikilink CD-ROM for the less technically inclined readers.
• Same thing about combining and rewriting sentences here too. It makes the sentences more concise and improves the flow by giving the information in larger chunks.
  "LucasArts has extendedmade improvements to the 3D engine since its used in Dark Forces II. Improved features now by includeing colored lighting and shadows, and increased the number of textures and a higher frame rate."
• I would clarify the info about "new dialogue was recorded". Having never played the game, I assume this means none of the old dialogue was reused. Maybe something like "Though the expansion includes characters from the previous game, new dialogue was recorded for Mysteries of the Sith's scenario"
• The three paragraphs seem out of order to me. The first and last paragraphs focus on technical development while the middle one focuses on conceptual development. I'd switch the last two to improve the flow of the section.
• Add some context:
  "For example, iIf a player were to use Force pull to take weapons..."

Reception

• The mention of the GR and MC scores in the prose is redundant with the scores already in the table. I would remove them from the prose.
• The first part ("Overall") of the last sentence of the first paragraph implies that multiple reviews said all the comments in the sentence. But the placement of the citations attributes the specific parts to single reviews. I would either rewrite the sentence mentioning the specific reviewers, or find similar comments from more of the reviews and cite at the end of the sentence.
• There are a number of direct quotes used. I would paraphrase and summarize their words more.
• Trim redundancy and tweak verb tense:
  "Paul Mallinson reviewing the game forof PC Zone statesd..."
  • Past tense is used for commentary
  • I normally switch between "REVIEWER of PUBLICATION" and "PUBLICATION's REVIEWER" to avoid repetition.
• Some tweaking and trimming:
  "In contrast, Michael E. Ryan of GameSpot gave a different view, statinged that the game is uneven and the challenging levels are only at the end. This, which adversely affects the gameplay of Mysteries of the Sith adversely..."
  • I'd elaborate more on what was uneven for a general reader. Difficulty? Gameplay? Playtime?
• "Critics questioned why..." Which critics? Again, this is a statement referring to multiple reviews when only a single review cited.
  • Try to minor the format used for the "...particular praise for the new colored lighting effects.". This statement is a generalized statement attributed to two different reviews.
• The second instance of "Michael E. Ryan" doesn't need a full introduction. Referring to him by his last name is fine.

Images

• Overall, image use looks good. The fair use rationales could use some beefing up; mainly just using more descriptive and complete sentences
• The descriptions of File:Mystery-of-the-Sith.jpg and File:MotS-Cut-Scene.jpg could be elaborated more. Mention the characters by name, the game's title and platform, etc.

References

• TopTenReviews has yet to be shown to be a reliable source. I'd suggest switching the citation with a general one from GameSpot.
• Older reviews from GameSpot and IGN are sometimes considered unreliable because the sites had yet to establish their reliability. They're probably fine for just the reception section though.
• Adrenaline Vault and PC Gameworld look questionable. If you plan on taking this article to FAC or request A-class, I would prepare a information on their editorial review process and any other reliable sources that have cited/referenced/praised the sites or these particular authors.
• I would check out Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Magazines to see if there are any magazine reviews or features about the game.

Final remarks

• If you want to go for FA I suggestion finding a few things first.
  • Some print sources are more preferred for older games like this.
  • Find out what regions the game was released in and add it to the article.
  • Expand the development section as much as you can. The more real-world content the better chances at FAC.
  • This may be difficult, but try to find some sales figures.
• Another pair of eyes giving the article a quick copy edit would further improve the prose.
• The article is in pretty good shape, and looks like it could pass A-class after some minor polishing.

That's all I have time for right now. I'll try to finish it this weekend. (Guyinblack25 ^talk 22:58, 16 January 2009 (UTC))

Thanks for the review. The suggestions sound good and I've tried to get most of them, though I've not expanded the Lead and Plot sections yet. --Bill ^{(talk|contribs)} 12:56, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

There's some more. I'll finish the reception section sometime this week. (Guyinblack25 ^talk 06:06, 19 January 2009 (UTC))

Sorry for the disjointed review. There's the last of it; hope it helps. Keep up the good work. (Guyinblack25 ^talk 19:15, 21 January 2009 (UTC))

Comments by Noj_R

Lead

• The lead needs to mention gameplay.
• "one of the most popular" - Most popular might be considered POV. Consider rewording, like "Mara Jade, a popular Star Wars Extended..."

Gameplay

• "set objectives that the player"
• "continue to the next level." - Next sentence starts with "level", so lets eliminate derivative appearances while improving the prose.
• "Within each level, the player"
• "As well as including some enemies that featured in Dark Forces II," -> "In addition to reoccurring enemies from Dark Forces II,"
• "others can be used for non-violent activities" - Expand upon this. What kind of non-violent activities? How do they help the player?
• "Each type of character has advantages and disadvantages." - Expand upon this. What kind of pros and cons do characters have?
• "steal a ysalamiri" - a what? Explain it is a fictional creature and not bad salami like it sounds.

Plot

• This section is alright.

Development

• "For example" - Move this sentence before the previous one. This will make things more logical.
• "new dialogue was recorded for Mysteries of the Sith's scenario" - I know what your trying to say, but some readers may get confused. Try rewording to emphasize stock audio recordings from Dark Forces were not used because new audio was recorded.

Reception

• "The game has been described as a good..." - This sentence is a bit awkward. Especially when it gets to the "could also use improvement" bit. Try rewording, summarizing the section, but making it flow.
• "This adversely affects the gameplay" - Is this a quote? If it is, it needs quotations. If it isnt, it needs to be reworded and sound less like fact and more like an opinion.
• "General aspects of the gameplay were seen as improvements" - This sentence sounds like its referring to many people, but it has one ref. Please emphasize Adrenaline Vault who thought this.
• "The multiplayer side of Mysteries of the Sith was received positively" - Again, a general statement is made but only IGN is saying it. Please reword any other instances of this problem.
• "but did not escape criticism" - This is POV, please reword.

References

• Who is the Adrenaline Vault and why are they noteworthy and reliable?

Conclusion

This is a good article with some minor quirks. The article could use a copy-edit and requires attention be given general statements that are attributable to one source. I thank you for your hard work and hope you find my comments helpful. I look forward to reading this article again in the future. Cheers, -- Noj r (talk) 06:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)