Star Wars: Dark Forces is a video game produced by the LucasArts Entertainment Company. It was released in 1995. The game is a first-person shooter for the PC, Macintosh, and PlayStation.

Description

Often labeled a "Doom clone", it is believed that Dark Forces was created to counter the many unofficial Star Wars-themed WADs for Doom, and rumored that LucasArts reverse-engineered the Doom engine to find out how to build their own. The Dark Forces engine was in the end more advanced than the Doom engine, containing features such as rooms over rooms, polygonal objects, and the ability to look up and down.

The game was successful and was followed by a sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Jedi Knight spawned an entire series of games which includes the expansion, Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and most recently, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This series, with the exception of Jedi Academy, focuses on the continuing exploits of Kyle Katarn, which take place after the events of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Dark Forces was the 11th best selling computer game of the period 1993 to 1999, with 952,000 copies. The game was however ciriticized for lacking of a multiplayer mode.

Storyline

The game introduces the character of Kyle Katarn, a former Imperial agent, now a mercenary for hire in the service of the Rebel Alliance.

The game takes place both before and after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. The first mission (also released as the game demo) was an infiltration to an Imperial base in order to claim the original plans of the Death Star.

After the Battle of Yavin, Kyle is contacted again to investigate an Imperial asault on the Rebel base of Talay, with a never seen before kind of troopers. Kyle's investigation reveals about the Imperial Dark Trooper project, led by General Rom Mohc. Each mission brings him closer to the Arc Hammer , the source of the project.

Unlike many other Doom-based games, Dark Forces attempted a realistic approach: The missions followed a certain storyline, sometimes interrupted by videos to progress the tale. Each mission had its own briefing and objective. The levels were designed so that to represent actual bases, mines, facilities and other known places from the Star Wars universe, like Star Destroyer interiors, Jabba's ship, Coruscant etc.

The enemy sprites were Imperial Stormtroopers, Gamorreans, Kell dragons and other Star Wars creatures.

Cameos of Star Wars characters

• Mon Mothma
• Darth Vader
• Jabba
• Boba Fett
• Crix Madine

Other Star Wars Jedi games

• Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II — (1997)
• Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith — (1998)
• Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast — (2002)
• Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy — (2003)

Places visited

• Danuta Secret Base
• Talay Tak Base
• Anoat City
• Research Facility
• Gromas Mines
• Detention Center
• Ramsees Hed Docking Port
• Robotics Facility
• Nar Shaddaa
• Jabba's Ship
• Coruscant Imperial City
• Fuel Station
• The Executor
• The Arc Hammer

References

• Turner, Benjamin & Bowen, Kevin (December 11, 2003). Bringin' in the DOOM Clones (page 2). GameSpy.
• Dunnigan, James F (2000). The Complete Wargames Handbook (Year 2000 introduction)

External links

• Official Lucasarts' Star Wars: Dark Forces web site
• DF-21: Taking Dark Forces into the 21st Century