Description

Dark Forces marks LucasArts' first attempt to enter the First Person Shooter market. Instead of licensing the Doom engine, like many competitors, LucasArts created its own internal "Jedi" engine. The Jedi engine contains advanced features over similar tech, including the ability to look up and down, jump, crouch, and limited support (in the build used for Dark Forces) for rooms (sectors) over rooms. 3D models also make occasional appearances inside the game, as turrets or Kyle's ship dropping him off or picking him up from each mission.

The player takes control of Kyle Katarn; an Imperial officer turned mercenary, now hired by the Rebel Alliance. After a prologue mission where he steals the Death Star plans from a remote facility, he is tasked with investigating the sudden destruction of a hidden Rebel base. This leads him to face off against Imperial General Rom Mohc and the various iterations of his "Dark Troopers" - cybernetic soldiers with the armor and firepower to turn the tide of the war.

Dark Forces features 14 substantial levels as Kyle works to disarm the Dark Trooper project. Many levels reference characters or areas from the Star Wars trilogy, such as a visit with Jabba the Hutt, a trip to Coruscant, and a battle through the interior of a Star Destroyer. Every level has objectives for Kyle to complete (rare, for First Person Shooters of the period), ranging from grabbing a clue and getting out alive, to planting charges around a facility to demolish it. Cutscenes appear between key missions to update the plot.

The Star Wars license gets plenty of use, and the game features Imperial officers, stormtroopers, and a collection of aliens seen in the films as enemies. Blaster rifles and thermal detonators are used as weapons, along with other firearms inspired by the tech of the films. Dark Forces also uses the iMuse engine to dynamically change the music during action scenes, with much of the music based off, or directly replicating, John Williams' original film score.

Dark Forces is entirely a single-player campaign, and no multiplayer is included or supported.

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Star Wars: Dark Forces DOS $2.62  
Star Wars Dark Forces PlayStation $2.00  
ebay.com
Star Wars: Dark Forces    
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User Reviews

A great milestone in the development of the genre DOS חד-קרן·山猫 Bronze Star Contributing Member (88678)
A gem of its time, recreating the original Star Wars fun and adventure. DOS RussS (478)
A rich and immersive Star Wars shooter, and a gaming classic DOS jTrippy (63)
A Good Port Of A PC Classic. PlayStation Guy Chapman (1743)
The first First Person Shooter I ever liked enough to finish DOS Alan Chan (3679)
The first game that stood away from Id's FPS crap DOS MAT Bronze Star Contributing Member (37325)
Doom-clones hyped up... not because of Doom DOS Boston Low (69)
The first and best experience in FPS action. DOS Jason Musgrave (75)
A long time ago... DOS Chris Martin Bronze Star Contributing Member (1115)
Blaster bolts and hydro-spanners! DOS Clinton Webb (21)

The Press Says

High Score DOS May, 1995 5 out of 5 100
Secret Service / New S Service DOS May, 1995 290 out of 300 97
MikroBitti DOS Apr, 1995 90 out of 100 90
Shooterplanet DOS Aug 06, 2007 82 out of 100 82
NowGamer PlayStation Mar 01, 1997 7.5 out of 10 75
Absolute Playstation PlayStation Jul, 1997 7 out of 10 70
Digital Press - Classic Video Games PlayStation Sep 13, 2005 6 out of 10 60
GameSpot PlayStation Dec 23, 1996 5.4 out of 10 54
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) PlayStation Feb, 1997 4.9 out of 10 49
The Video Game Critic PlayStation May 18, 2005 F 0

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Trivia

Dark Forces used the legendary scream sample. If you tripped (Or jumped) off a tall structure Kyle Katarn would scream: "Uuuuarrrgggghhhh!!!!" This scream sample has been used in countless of productions, and there are countless of websites dedicated to the art of spotting it.


This entry was contributed by Picard (26250), Kabushi (60700), IJan (1962) and Grant McLellan (548)
 

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