Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe - Dark Forces
Here we go. The first Star Wars video game I'm going to cover. I played the PlayStation Classics version on PlayStation 3, so yeah.
Being a first-person shooter and having come out in 1995, this game plays pretty much like Doom. Honestly, I'm not really a retro gamer at all, but I can play Doom-like games any day. But they're not my favorites, mostly due to how dated they are. I don't just mean the visuals - I take no issue with the graphics in games. As long as I can tell what's going on, I'm fine. But what really gets me is some of the level design. It's easy for me to get lost in a lot of these games and it takes me forever to figure out where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do. I understand that's just how these games were designed back then. It's just not my cup of tea.
I think I read somewhere that this game, when it was early in development, was intended to be an adaptation of the original film, but the devs decided that was too limiting, so it was changed to an Expanded Universe story. Not sure of the source, but if that's true, they made the right decision.
You play as mercenary Kyle Katarn.
You start off the game stealing the Death Star plans. It's really a much simpler mission than Rogue One, as all you do is waltz right in, shoot up a bunch of Imperials, and get outta Dodge.
Then, after the battle of Yavin, a prototype Stormtrooper is discovered, called the Dark Trooper and you spend the rest of the game following up on that lead by shooting everything up.
Obviously, this game is more gameplay-focused that story-focused, as many games are, especially back in the '90s. And, as I said before, I'm not a huge fan of the level design. But that's just me.
There's not much going on with the characters in this one, due to the focus on gameplay. Kyle - one of my favorite Expanded Universe characters - doesn't have a whole lot of personality here. Some of it's there, but he definitely gets more fleshed out in the sequels to this game, which have a little bit more focus on the storyline.
As for some familiar faces, we see Darth Vader, Crix Madine, Mon Mothma, and Kyle gets captured by Jabba the Hutt at one point. Oh, and he fights Boba Fett.
Is this game worth playing? Sure. I'm glad I played through it, but I don't see any reason to play through it again. It honestly feels just like any other FPS game from the '90s, but with a Star Wars skin. There are no lightsabers here, however. That isn't quite the case for the sequel, however, which I have reviewed here.
Being a first-person shooter and having come out in 1995, this game plays pretty much like Doom. Honestly, I'm not really a retro gamer at all, but I can play Doom-like games any day. But they're not my favorites, mostly due to how dated they are. I don't just mean the visuals - I take no issue with the graphics in games. As long as I can tell what's going on, I'm fine. But what really gets me is some of the level design. It's easy for me to get lost in a lot of these games and it takes me forever to figure out where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do. I understand that's just how these games were designed back then. It's just not my cup of tea.
I think I read somewhere that this game, when it was early in development, was intended to be an adaptation of the original film, but the devs decided that was too limiting, so it was changed to an Expanded Universe story. Not sure of the source, but if that's true, they made the right decision.
You play as mercenary Kyle Katarn.
 |
| Pre-beard Kyle Katarn, to be exact. |
You start off the game stealing the Death Star plans. It's really a much simpler mission than Rogue One, as all you do is waltz right in, shoot up a bunch of Imperials, and get outta Dodge.
Then, after the battle of Yavin, a prototype Stormtrooper is discovered, called the Dark Trooper and you spend the rest of the game following up on that lead by shooting everything up.
Obviously, this game is more gameplay-focused that story-focused, as many games are, especially back in the '90s. And, as I said before, I'm not a huge fan of the level design. But that's just me.
There's not much going on with the characters in this one, due to the focus on gameplay. Kyle - one of my favorite Expanded Universe characters - doesn't have a whole lot of personality here. Some of it's there, but he definitely gets more fleshed out in the sequels to this game, which have a little bit more focus on the storyline.
As for some familiar faces, we see Darth Vader, Crix Madine, Mon Mothma, and Kyle gets captured by Jabba the Hutt at one point. Oh, and he fights Boba Fett.
Is this game worth playing? Sure. I'm glad I played through it, but I don't see any reason to play through it again. It honestly feels just like any other FPS game from the '90s, but with a Star Wars skin. There are no lightsabers here, however. That isn't quite the case for the sequel, however, which I have reviewed here.
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