There was a time when Star Wars games were few and far
between. Recently though, we’ve had a glut of them coming to the Switch. Jedi
Knight two and three have already made their way onto the system and now the
origin of the series has been given a new coat of paint and sent out into the
world. What is most significant here is that aside from a poor PS1 conversion
there hasn’t really been a way to play Dark Forces outside of the PC.
Dark Forces is very much in the vein of the first-person shooters
of the time. That being it’s basically Doom with a Star Wars graphic set
on it. Levels require a lot of searching for switches and key cards and work
like mazes. There are of course a significant number of Storm Troopers to blast
while you are searching around, and all the appropriate sound effects are in
place to make it as Star Wars centric as possible.
Simply labelling Dark Forces as a Doom clone is not entirely
accurate though. Doom very much kept everything on a level, while Dark Forces levels
move up and down a lot and this adds a much welcomed sense of scale. You can
also jump which occasionally results in some awkward and terrifying platform
sections. These sections are made all the more nerve raking by the fact you
can’t save inside of the levels. On the standard difficulty setting you are
issued three lives. More can be picked up but if you lose them all then it’s
right back to the start. That’s something you are going to want to avoid as
well as some of these levels are huge.
It's interesting that with all the new additions,
the graphical upgrade, the slick frame rate that you still can’t save. We
understand why but what would have been very helpful would have been to at
least put a quick save feature in. The levels are so large, complex and
labyrinthine that some will likely take new players well over an hour to
complete. With this in mind it seems a strange oversight.
The most helpful addition to the game is without doubt the
gyro aiming. Unlike games like Doom, you do need to be fairly accurate when
shooting. It isn’t just enemies but switches and traps that need blasting, so
being able to move the target smoothly and in small measures is an absolute
must that makes things much more enjoyable.
It’s difficult to know how newcomers will gel with Dark
Forces. If you are a fan of first-person shooters and have blasted your way
through Doom and Quake without much trouble then chances are that Dark Forces
will be right up your street. It’s not as slick as the Quake games but there is
certainly more here worth playing than just a chunk of Star Wars nostalgia.
Overall, Star Wars: Dark Forces is a solid first-person
shooter that has been restored and brought up to date as best as it possibly
could be. All the upgrades and additions are welcome and add to the experience
in a positive way. The bones of the game remain very much entrenched in the era
the game was released though. This is very much still a retro experience that
you are going to need to be either a hardcore FPS fan or a pretty big Star Wars
one to fully enjoy. We’re very glad to see games like this from the Star Wars
back catalogue reappear with so much love taken to restore them and can only
hope Jedi Knight and a few more are going to appear soon.
Overall 8/10
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