This review is based on a retail copy of the game

Star Wars: Dark Forces follows the story of a Rebel secret operative named Kyle Katarn. The game starts off slightly before the start of Star Wars; A New Hope when Katarn steals the Death Star plans for the Rebellion. Its a neat little title if you’re a bit nostalgic for older stuff.

By no means is Dark Forces a blockbuster title or a monster hit among shooters. Controls are pretty standard with keyboard and mouse layouts and using the numbers to change weapons. It’s very simplistic and easy to use, especially if you’ve played shooters using a keyboard and mouse before.

The graphics are quite reminiscent of Doom and most of your enemies will look like moving humanoid blobs resembling Imperial Officers and Stormtroopers and the like. It definitely improves upon what had been before it but the use of sprites instead of polygons doesn’t help that it’s aged not so gracefully. Out of the Doom-esque games out there, Star Wars: Dark Forces is probably one of my more favourite ones, cause of the characters I get to go up against, like the Stormtroopers.

Storywise, it takes you to the creation of the Dark Trooper and some of the back story around A New Hope. There are some cutscenes, which I found was the best part of the game. It is quite short and does not have multiplayer,which hampers the replay value of the game. I think an update to this game or even a Dark Forces III witl online multiplayer would be great, although we’re more likely to see a Battlefront III or another Republic Commando before that happens.

Overall, its a decent game, especially if you have a thing for nostalgic Doom-style games. But if you’re looking for a more modern Star Wars shooter, you’re better off looking at Battlefront II or Republic Commando.

Graphics 6/10
Sound 8/10
Gameplay 6/10
Story 7/10
Replay Value 6/10
Overall Rating 7/10

Review: Star Wars: Dark Forces

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Markus Lai

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