Star Wars Dark Forces

"Star Wars leads the way again"

There was a time in my life when all I played was LucasArts games. I bought all the individual games I could find, as well as the archive packages. Dark Forces was in one of those archive packages, and like the games found alongside it, it truly represented the pinnacle of LucasArts' non-stop turnstile of outstanding games. While LucasArts has slipped in recent years due to staff changeovers and rushed Episode One games, at this point in time LucasArts dominated whatever gaming genre they chose to invest in. Dark Forces is proof of this.

Whereas the Star Wars movies led the way in terms of special effects, Dark Forces updated the 'revolutionary' game engine of the time with improvements that have now become the rule. For the first time, players could jump, crouch, and aim up or down to hit opponents instead of firing in their general direction. It also introduced another staple, the 'mission objective'. Instead of blasting their way through levels, players now needed to find certain items or solve certain puzzles as well.

What ties everything together is the use of the Star Wars license. The story features a mercenary named Kyle Katarn who has been hired by Mon Mothma to find and destroy the Empire's new superweapon, the Dark Trooper. His quest takes him from sewers to mining planets, from Nar Shaddaa to Imperial City. Kyle must face hoardes of Stormtroopers, Grans, Probe Droids, and even Boba Fett. Weapons at his disposal include blasters, the Stormtrooper rifle, thermal detonators and assault cannons.

The graphics were revolutionary for their day (1995), but today they look poor. Very poor. The game is sprite based, which means its really a pseudo 3-D environment and enemies are two-dimensional. This is tolerable, but Dark Forces also features some of the repeatedly darkest and muddled textures I've ever seen. Yes, Kyle is assaulting Imperial Bases, but does everything need to be a sterile blend of blacks and greys? Luckily not all of the levels are Imperial Bases, but enough of them are that you'll get sick of it.

The game's sound is pretty good. The music is in MIDI, which is what all games used back then. However this is the Star Wars theme, which would sound good if played with sticks on a toilet seat. The newly composed Dark Forces theme is truly worthy of John Williams, as is the music in the finale. Plus all the music is interactive; the music changes after certain events in the game have been triggered. Besides music, the sound effects are well sampled and add atmosphere to the game. Voice-acting is well done too. Sound was always LucasArts strongest area.

Gameplay is what truly makes a game, but while Dark Forces has lots of gameplay, it doesn't rise above its aging graphics environments. Shooting Stormtrooper after Stormtrooper can get very repetitive. Characters like Bossk come in every so often, but for the majority of the stages you'll be blasting only troopers and Imperial Officers. Some of the game's jumping sequences are also more frustrating than they should be. The final level is filled with mind-boggling chasms that'll have you pulling your hair out. What makes this worse is that the save features only occurs *after* you've completed a mission. If the jumps were not so bad, I could overlook this and maybe even praise it as it adds a bit of realism (you must finish a mission in one play, as you would if you were really there), but as the game stands, a save feature is sorely missed. Dark Forces also has no multiplayer capabilities. I'm willing to overlook this one since I'm not a huge fan of online gaming and online gaming wasn't as popular then as it is now, but I can understand how most Star Wars fans were disappointed. Had this game been released now, a lack of multiplayer would have cost it sorely. However, all shooting games after Dark Forces have featured multiplayer support.

In closing, Dark Forces is an above average game. It certainly has its high points, the two best being sound and storytelling, and yes Dark Forces is more fun than I've made it sound in this review. But the game feels too dated now, and more importantly, the graphics are dark and muddy, and the Stormtrooper blasting can get tiresome. This is still a LucasArts classic, and one can still see why this game got 'game of the year' and 'editor's choice' awards, but you may end up feeling you're enjoying the game more because you feel you should, not because you actually are.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/01, Updated 08/02/01