STAR WARS™ Dark Forces (Classic, 1995)

Travel in time

I like the idea of a Doom-era Star Wars shooter, the problem I have with this game is what's new? I don't know if the company behind this was restricted only to things from the movies or whether they just utterly lacked in all imagination but basically every enemy in the game, at least up to where I played, is from the movies. Now if you're fighting imperials, that's fine, but when you start fighting Interrogation Droids, Probe Droids and a sewer-filled with the many cousins of that that one thing on the Death Star then it gets a little tiresome. So much Star Wars stuff relies too much in the movies. Just make a new Droid! Make a new creature! There's a whole Galaxy out there, knock yourself out.

This is what happened before Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2. I mean, it's fine. It's great even, as Doom clones go. The story is much better than Doom's, in that it exists outside of goofy text inserts. It has animation and voiceover and a cool main character. Established characters from the Star Wars canons that are now almost nothing but ironic memes are introduced and occupy the game world in a cool, non-cringe manner almost lost to in the current era of Star Wars. But how can you compete with the game in which we all finally got to go Full Jedi? Although the archaic lives system is a little galling, I guess it also was in Doom at the time, and there was plainly just no better option in terms of that special Star Wars pew pew feel in 1995. So if you can stomach old man games and are looking for a title that bleeds that classic Star Wars style, pick it up. But you'll probably still enjoy the sequel more. It isn't Dark Forces' fault, it's just that much better.

For Star Wars fans this could be an enjoyable adventure but for people looking for a decent FPS this game can be a bit frustrating. Pros: - Star Wars feeling is legit, the soundtrack is a huge plus - there is actual story with cutscenes, which is a rarity for a mid 90s shooter - the actual action is quite good - decent variety among the missions Cons: - there is no save option - there are mandatory platformer elements, which is even more frustrating since there is no save option - there are some puzzle elements as well, often combined with the platformer elements - level design, it is really easy to get stuck You may feel that 14 missions is not a lot, but if you are playing without a walkthrough, it will be more than enough to figure out where and how to progress in some of the levels. It is also kind of hard, I typically play games on medium/hard difficulty but here I had to play easy. If you are up to solve environmental puzzles in an fps with added platforming elements this is a 5* game for you but if you are looking for a simple shooter you might be disappointed. For me, the lack of save option combined with the puzzle solving and platformer elements worth only 3 stars.

The atmosphere is there, but there are design elements which break the gameplay. It is possible to get stuck without notice and situations where it is impossible to get out of. This combined with the lack of saves during the level can mean lots of restarts. Some surprising aspect with controls, like I was unable to go against the stream in one level, but If I toggled between fullscreen, suddenly everything started to work. These all take away from a really enjoyable experence.