This…this is long overdue.
This 1996 Lucasarts FPS has long been a thorn in my gaming paw, finding its way into my collection twice in two different forms over the course of the twenty years since I first played it. The most recent pickup was the PS1 port, purchased the utterly amazing Play-N-Trade in Lafayette, LA (if any of you guys are reading this, I do miss you guys. You are all excellent people). Prior to that, it was a big box PC release, with a glorious green shaded cover art, a landscape oriented black and white manual, and a single green CD-ROM with a CG Gammorean guard across from the logo. This still seems odd to me. There aren’t that many Gammoreans in the game.
Dark Forces holds a special place both in gaming history and for myself as a gamer. It was a landmark in the genre at its time for featuring multiple floors in its level layout, and the ability to look up and down. Allow me to remind you that this game came out in 1996 – it was still a big deal back then.
But beyond its technical marvels, Dark Forces was my first FPS. It was the first time I played a game where you stare down the barrel of a gun and blast sprites in a simulation of 3D environments. It was the first game I bought for my first PC, which should make obvious how I’d missed the entire Doom phenomenon as it had occurred. It was among the first games I’d ever played in 3D. So, take some of the things I say in this review with a grain of salt – my history with the game colors my experience to a degree, and I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to pull the nostalgia glasses away to address this game’s numerous problems.
Dark Forces tells a then-untold story about mercenary Kyle Katarn, a gruff dude who the Rebellion hires to steal the plans to the Death Star. Kyle is no longer a canonical Star Wars character, if it wasn’t obvious. Following his murderous heist, he is tasked with tracking down a new Imperial weapon called the Dark Trooper, a towering armored droid carrying a giant rocket launcher/plasma rifle. The story is actually pretty good, considering the time period, following a trail of clues that cross the galaxy to destroy not only the new war machines, but also the sources that produce each of the components of the weapon. The enemy variety contains Imperial officers and storm troopers, of course, but extends several classic monsters and underworld figures. A vast selection of weapons means that you have plenty of options for how to deal the damage. And you will need all of them, because Dark Forces is a pretty tough challenge.
It’s even harder if you play it on the PlayStation.
Anyone who reads this blog already knows that I’m more of a console gamer than anything else. I spend far more time with a controller in my hand than a mouse. So, when Brandon pushed for me to play this as one of my six games, I had every intention to polish off the PS1 port. After all, my PC copy is long since lost to the aether, and I needed to make good on that $6.00 purchase I made several years ago. The learning curve is pretty sharp on the PS1 port, thanks to convoluted controls, so as the difficulty ramped up in the back half of the game, it was taking several weeks to finally muscle through the intricate levels that make up the bulk of Dark Forces.
Let me make this as clear as I can for you guys. There are conveyor belt sections in the last level that requires the player to crouch, jump, and navigate a simple maze in order to proceed, and failure means getting dropped into a dark corridor full of storm troopers who will get the jump on you. Pair this with the shaky movement controls that are mapped to the D-Pad (with R1+ directions activating strafing), and Kyle frequently finds himself full of holes.
Each level is a series of complex mazes and switch puzzles, some of which find some logical consistency, some of which will cause you to refer to the map screen with frequency. This is part of what held me up from finishing for such a long time. I can recall playing this game back in 1997, finding the third level nearly impossible to play through. Anoat City features a hub area where players have to select a sewer path to follow, and then use a series of switches to reach their target in a hidden area deep below the gutters. I know you must be shocked to find that the sewer level isn’t fun, but you’ll have to trust me; it’s pretty obnoxious even if you know the solution.
So with the twin problems of awkward controls and confusing navigation, the fact that I finished this game probably sounds a bit shocking overall. Clearly I’m not that skilled of a gamer, and this one tested skills I don’t frequently break out – namely, those required for playing older shooters. Well, I have one fact that I must reveal about how I endured the challenges of Dark Forces.
I didn’t finish the PS1 version. I switched over to the PC version.
And thank God that I did. The controls on the PC original are quick and intuitive, and even the most irritating parts of the Arc Hammer mission were manageable thanks to controls that don’t require an extra thumb to contend with. I was able to get through incredibly challenging series of Dark Trooper battles near the hangar at the finale on my first run through the PC version. What’s more, I only died once, and that was because I fell into the pit near the start of the level and backed myself into a bad corner when fighting one of the Mk. II Dark Troopers.
Minor gripes aside, Dark Forces has aged rather gracefully. Or, well, the PC version has. While the PS1 port is available on PSN, I can’t exactly recommend it. The PC version can be found over on GOG and Steam, and is worth every penny. It’s a pretty solid Star Wars game from a time when such a label didn’t mean lazy cash in live services shooter. Give it a spin.
I currently lament that my original big box PC copy is lost forever…
WordsThing 