STAR WARS™ Dark Forces (Classic, 1995)

After changing the controls to something a bit more modern I enjoyed the heck out of this game. When I was really young I had a demo disc for this that came in a Lucasarts Star Wars pack. Needless to say I loved it as a kid but the disc only had the first three levels. Many years later I get to finish the game that my younger self yearned for. Sound effects and music are really great. Most of them repeat over and over but man they don't get old because it's Star Wars. The level design can feel massive at times, but if you pay attention to your suroundings you won't get lost. Of course the game is dated but who cares? You can't judge an old game by today's standards. If you really have no interest in Star Wars then maybe this isn't for you. For controls I used WSAD for walking and then I used Q to look up and E to look down.

There are so many positives that it's hard to list them all. Historically, the game was a big step up from its inspiration, DOOM, adding a third dimension- the ability to jump, duck, climb stairs, use elevators, and even some very early 3D polygon objects. Add to that a wide variety of weapons, some with secondary fire, an original story that's not just scenes from the movies, an automap, decent voice acting, varied and extremely well-designed levels, some nice cutscenes, the amazing iMuse system and an exciting soundtrack that fits perfectly into the Star Wars universe while creating brand new, memorable themes, and you have a sure-fire winning game. In its heyday this game was incredible, and spawned a large modding community with custom missions that expanded and improved on it even more. Today it still holds up very well, but its age does carry some drawbacks- most of all, the graphics, which are now very blocky and primitive. Anything more than 20 feet in front of you becomes a blurry pixel clump, and I could see this becoming frustrating for anyone who doesn't know the game by heart and is trying to navigate it fresh. Some levels can also be a little maze-like and confusing, with elevators that aren't obviously elevators and obscure switches and passages, but the automap mitigates this in most cases. The pre-WASD controls are also just plain awful, and I highly recommend seeking out a fix, such as Dark Forces Plus, from the community forum on GOG. Kyle Katarn would eventually go on to learn the ways of the Jedi, but I like that the early Lucasarts games treated Jedi as very rare and special and didn't try to make everything revolve around them- you were just a pilot, or in this case, a sarcastic merc, and it was still awesome and fun just living in the Star Wars universe for a few hours, exploring, fighting the Empire and going beyond the limitations of the (at the time) three films. The experience still feels exciting after all these years.

This games strongest point is the non-linear level design and some fun environmental puzzles, in fact this game is noticeably more puzzle-oriented than other games of its generation (i.e. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, etc), but it's not too hard and most of the puzzles are fair - I just beat the game for the first time in just under 6 hours, and I only looked up one puzzle that I couldn't figure out. And thankfully, there is almost no platforming (almost), which is the worst thing you could have in a mid-90s FPS game, and that of it which is in the game is not that bad. There's still plenty of combat, although enemy AI is a bit simplistic and the weapon arsenal is somewhat redundant (I finished the game using storm trooper blaster rifle 90% of the time), it is still quite a lot of fun to play and the weapons feel good and most of them have alternate fire mode. Being a mid-90s game without freelook support, Dark Forces' vertical aiming with PageUp and PageDown keys can be a bit clunky, but most of the time it's not a big a problem, and the game does have some vertical autoaim. Also I highly recommend checking the manual for basic controls before you play, to find out useful things such as flashlight - there are dark areas in the game, and there is no indication whatsoever that you even have a flashlight. The plot is decent for an action game, and the game has noticeably more of it than most shooters of its era, even if it comes mostly in the form of mission briefings. All in all it's both a solid mid-90s FPS and a solid Star Wars game.

If I'm a big of its sequels, I must admit that, until now, I never played Dark Forces (not even on PS1) and despite some flaws, it's still enjoyable. Yes the game has aged technically speaking but it terms of gameplay/ gunplay, the mechanics are simple : shoot first, ask questions later. Because when it comes to shooting, my advice is to avoid playing when you are not fully awake : enemies are numerous, coming from all sides, shooting you on sight, so be quick and aware of your surroundings ! Of course, the main problem is that, even if the screenplay has a good storyline with various objectives, the way to accomplish them is the same : blast your way through. The level design is interesting with a lot of levels outside even though you can be lost sometimes, mostly because you have to pay attention to details in the architecture in the levels (for example, I roamed around in the last level until I saw a small ledge that leads to a platform...). And if it's overall a straightforward game, the normal difficulty has some spikes that makes it quite tedious, like the mission 11 where you have to fight Jabba's pet (a dragon) with bare fist before picking up your gear that was stolen, or the mission in the Imperial City, flooded with enemies, which makes sense but can become annoying in terms of pace, action is good but solace to check your equipment too... So if you're not afraid of highly pixelated graphics and want almost non stop action with a good story in the Star Wars universe, this game is for you (and after that go the sequels !).

I'm not much of a Star Wars fan but I've always had a soft spot for this little gem. The midi music is wonderful, the atmosphere is pure Lucas and the new Force Engine (look it up on Google; not available here on GOG... yet) makes the game so much better. You get full mouselook, controller support and much-needed quicksaves. Sure, it makes an already easy game way easier, but when you're having this much fun, who cares?