Star Wars: Dark Forces
Encyclopedia
Star Wars: Dark Forces is a first-person shooter
video game developed and published by LucasArts
. It was released in 1995 for DOS
and Apple Macintosh, and in 1996 for the PlayStation. The storyline within the Dark Forces is set in the Star Wars
fictional universe and follows the character Kyle Katarn
. Katarn is a mercenary
working on behalf of the Rebel Alliance
. He discovers the Empire's
"Dark Trooper Project", which involves the development of a series of powerful new battle droids and power-armored stormtroopers.
Dark Forces uses the Jedi game engine
, which was developed specifically for the game. The engine adds gameplay features to the first-person shooter genre which were uncommon at the time of release. These features include level designs with multiple floors and being able to look up and down.
Critics gave very favorable reviews for the DOS and Macintosh versions of Dark Forces, but not for the PlayStation version. The DOS and Macintosh versions were praised for the level design and technological advances. The PlayStation version was criticized for having poor graphics
and slow frame rate
s, reducing the playability of the game. A sequel to Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
followed in 1997.
Dark Forces is a first-person shooter
(FPS). The player controls protagonist Kyle Katarn
from a first-person perspective, with a focus on combat against various creatures and characters from the Star Wars universe, though the game also includes environmental puzzles and hazards. Dark Forces follows a central storyline outlined in mission briefings and cut scenes. Each mission includes specific objectives which are related to the story. The missions take place in a variety of environments across the Star Wars universe, including a Star Destroyer
interior, Jabba the Hutt
's space yacht, and the planet Coruscant
where the player must infiltrate a computer vault.
Dark Forces gameplay expands on the FPS standards set by Doom (1993) and featured gameplay elements that are now common in the FPS genre. These include the ability to look up and down, duck, and jump. A variety of power-up
s are made available to the player, including health, shields, weapons and ammunition. The game also features several non-combat items to aid the player. The head lamp illuminates the area in front of the player, but will reveal the player's position to enemies in dark rooms. Ice cleats
provide traction in icy areas, and an air mask protects the player from areas with toxic atmosphere. Many inventory items are powered by batteries (separate from weapon ammunition types) which can be found around the levels.
For combat, the player may use fists, explosive land mine
s and thermal detonators, as well as blasters and other ranged weapons. Gameplay leans towards ranged combat, although some enemies have melee attacks such as punching, biting, and by using axes. All player weapons except the fist require ammunition which can be collected in power-ups. Many weapons offer an alternate fire mode. The player has health and shields which are damaged by enemy attacks and some environmental hazards, and may be replenished through power-ups.
In addition to combat, Dark Forces provides physical obstacles for the character, such as jumping from ledges or traversing across flowing rivers, and includes multi-step puzzles such as mazes controlled by switches.
, a mercenary employed by the Rebel Alliance
. Before the events in Dark Forces, Katarn was a student learning the skills required to follow in his father's career of agricultural mechanics. While he was studying at an academy, he was told by officials that Rebels had killed his parents. The pain from this caused him to enlist in the Imperial army
.
Katarn met Jan Ors who was undercover as a double agent
and they got to know each other. Ors uncovered the real information about Katarn's parents which detailed that the Empire was really behind their deaths. The Empire eventually discovered that Ors was working for the Rebels and she was taken prisoner. Katarn helped her escape, thus ending his career with the Empire. Katarn soon became a mercenary and, due to his hatred of the Empire for killing his parents, he takes on jobs from the Rebel Alliance. Dark Forces begins with Katarn being recruited by the Rebel Alliance to recover the plans to the Death Star
, a heavily armed space station
capable of destroying planets. The Rebel Alliance use the plans to find a weakness in and then destroy the Death Star.
A year later the Rebel Alliance hires Katarn again, this time to investigate an assault on one of their bases by a new type of Imperial soldier. His investigation reveals the Imperial Dark Trooper project, led by General Rom Mohc. His mission to stop the project takes him to the sewers of Anoat City where he captures Moff Rebus, an Imperial weapons specialist who developed the Dark Trooper weapon. Rebus' interrogation leads Katarn to a weapons research facility in the mountains of Fest and the Gromas mines where minerals are extracted for the Dark Trooper project.
After learning of Crix Madine's capture and imminent execution, Kyle proceeds to a high security detention center on Orinackra to rescue him. Madine provides the Rebel Alliance with information about the smuggling of Dark Trooper materials, leading Katarn to investigate the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal-Seti. He then destroys a robotics facility on the icy planet Anteevy, the second stage of the Dark Trooper production line. After being captured by Jabba the Hutt and having to escape his ship, Katarn infiltrates a computer vault on Coruscant
which reveals the location of the Ergo fuel station, the final stage in the smuggling route. He masquerades as a smuggler, gaining access to the Super Star Destroyer Executor, which brings him finally to the Arc Hammer starship, the headquarters of General Mohc's Dark Trooper project.
was intended to be the main character in the game, however the developers realized that this would add constraints to gameplay and storyline. Instead a new character, Kyle Katarn, was created.
Dark Forces was commonly called a Doom clone, but the game makes significant expansion upon the gameplay features present in Doom. The new gameplay mechanisms that were not common at the time of release include the ability to look up and down, duck, jump, and swim. The usage of multiple floor levels is another technical advance in the first-person shooter genre. To produce these new features, the developers wrote a game engine
from scratch. The Jedi engine can create gameplay and graphical elements such as fully 3D objects, atmospheric effects such as fog and haze, animated textures and shading.
Stinnett indicated that the developers wanted these elements to be part of an "active environment", and features were included to create this: "ships come and go at the flight decks, rivers sweep along, platforms and conveyor belts move and much of the machinery functions." The Dark Forces soundtrack uses the iMUSE system to create interactive music using the Star Wars soundtrack composed by John Williams
. There is also full speech and sound effects in stereo.
The Dark Troopers in Dark Forces were created specially for the game by Justin Chin and Paul Mica. Chin notes that they were designed as a more advanced enemy when compared to standard stormtroopers
: "Instead of just beefing up the stormtroopers, I designed them to be more efficient. I wanted something more terrifying and more omnipotent." Three designs for the Dark Troopers were produced for Dark Forces. Lucasfilm
licensing department initially rejected two of the designs for looking too much out of character, so Chin produced new designs which were ultimately approved.
Dark Forces was ported
from DOS to Apple Macintosh. This presented several challenges for the developers. LucasArts requested the game to be produced for both DOS and Macintosh with the same system requirements
, specifically the random-access memory
(RAM). The Mac OS
runs a graphical user interface
which uses up RAM while DOS does not, meaning the Macintosh version has less RAM available for Dark Forces to use. Aaron Giles, who was the Macintosh programmer for Dark Forces explained that to resolve this problem the memory had to be managed more efficiently.
The popularity of characters from Dark Forces resulted in LucasArts licensing toys based on the game. Hasbro
produced Kyle Katarn and Dark Trooper toys, which are among the few Expanded Universe
items to be turned into action figure
s. The Dark Troopers were also included in books and comics. William C. Dietz
's novelizations of the Dark Forces storyline were adapted to full-cast audio dramatizations.
LucasArts extended Dark Forces with Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
in 1997, and later two more sequels. The Dark Forces series continues the story of Kyle Katarn and has been praised for its quality as a whole.
In September 2009, Dark Forces was re-released as a downloadable version on Valve Corporation
's Steam network The game is available to purchase individually or as part of a package including all of the games in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series.
On April 29, 2010, the game was made available on the PlayStation Network as a "PSOne Classic."
Steven Kent of The Seattle Times
believes that the general aspects of the game appeal to most computer gamers, not just Star Wars fans. The Star Wars setting is a high point to the game, saying that the level designs recreate the Star Wars style well: "Though most of the Dark Forces sets are original to the game, they were created in the' Star Wars' spirit."
Dark Forces' gameplay has been described as "challenging" and has generally received praise. Ron Dulin, reviewing the game for GameSpot
highlights the implementation of puzzles within levels: "The levels are diverse and ingenious, with plenty of creative obstacles standing between you and your goal. While they can be occasionally frustrating, Dark Forces' diverse gameplay requirements make this title more mentally challenging than your average key hunt." The graphics and sound within Dark Forces were both praised as helping to immerse the player in the environment.
The PlayStation version of Dark Forces received lower reviews than the DOS and Macintosh version. IGN
indicates in its review that this is because the graphics and frame rate
are significantly worse on the PlayStation. Alex Constantides of Computer and Video Games
offers the same view, saying that the game is "visually dated."
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game developed and published by LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
. It was released in 1995 for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Apple Macintosh, and in 1996 for the PlayStation. The storyline within the Dark Forces is set in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
fictional universe and follows the character Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, the protagonist of the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels....
. Katarn is a mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
working on behalf of the Rebel Alliance
Rebel Alliance
The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar faction of the fictional universe of Star Wars....
. He discovers the Empire's
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
"Dark Trooper Project", which involves the development of a series of powerful new battle droids and power-armored stormtroopers.
Dark Forces uses the Jedi game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
, which was developed specifically for the game. The engine adds gameplay features to the first-person shooter genre which were uncommon at the time of release. These features include level designs with multiple floors and being able to look up and down.
Critics gave very favorable reviews for the DOS and Macintosh versions of Dark Forces, but not for the PlayStation version. The DOS and Macintosh versions were praised for the level design and technological advances. The PlayStation version was criticized for having poor graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
and slow frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
s, reducing the playability of the game. A sequel to Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is a first person shooter computer game. It was developed and published by LucasArts and released on October 9, 1997. It was made available on Steam on September 16, 2009. It is based on the Star Wars franchise and is a sequel to Star Wars: Dark Forces...
followed in 1997.
Gameplay
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
(FPS). The player controls protagonist Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, the protagonist of the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels....
from a first-person perspective, with a focus on combat against various creatures and characters from the Star Wars universe, though the game also includes environmental puzzles and hazards. Dark Forces follows a central storyline outlined in mission briefings and cut scenes. Each mission includes specific objectives which are related to the story. The missions take place in a variety of environments across the Star Wars universe, including a Star Destroyer
Star Destroyer
Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional Star Wars universe. The Imperial Star Destroyer, which first appears in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , is "the signature vessel of the Imperial fleet"...
interior, Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
's space yacht, and the planet Coruscant
Coruscant
Coruscant is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. It first appeared onscreen in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, but was first mentioned in Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire...
where the player must infiltrate a computer vault.
Dark Forces gameplay expands on the FPS standards set by Doom (1993) and featured gameplay elements that are now common in the FPS genre. These include the ability to look up and down, duck, and jump. A variety of power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s are made available to the player, including health, shields, weapons and ammunition. The game also features several non-combat items to aid the player. The head lamp illuminates the area in front of the player, but will reveal the player's position to enemies in dark rooms. Ice cleats
Cleat (shoe)
Cleats or studs are protrusions on the sole of a shoe, or on an external attachment to a shoe, that provide additional traction on a soft or slippery surface...
provide traction in icy areas, and an air mask protects the player from areas with toxic atmosphere. Many inventory items are powered by batteries (separate from weapon ammunition types) which can be found around the levels.
For combat, the player may use fists, explosive land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s and thermal detonators, as well as blasters and other ranged weapons. Gameplay leans towards ranged combat, although some enemies have melee attacks such as punching, biting, and by using axes. All player weapons except the fist require ammunition which can be collected in power-ups. Many weapons offer an alternate fire mode. The player has health and shields which are damaged by enemy attacks and some environmental hazards, and may be replenished through power-ups.
In addition to combat, Dark Forces provides physical obstacles for the character, such as jumping from ledges or traversing across flowing rivers, and includes multi-step puzzles such as mazes controlled by switches.
Plot
The storyline in Dark Forces follows Kyle KatarnKyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, the protagonist of the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels....
, a mercenary employed by the Rebel Alliance
Rebel Alliance
The Alliance to Restore the Republic is an interstellar faction of the fictional universe of Star Wars....
. Before the events in Dark Forces, Katarn was a student learning the skills required to follow in his father's career of agricultural mechanics. While he was studying at an academy, he was told by officials that Rebels had killed his parents. The pain from this caused him to enlist in the Imperial army
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
.
Katarn met Jan Ors who was undercover as a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
and they got to know each other. Ors uncovered the real information about Katarn's parents which detailed that the Empire was really behind their deaths. The Empire eventually discovered that Ors was working for the Rebels and she was taken prisoner. Katarn helped her escape, thus ending his career with the Empire. Katarn soon became a mercenary and, due to his hatred of the Empire for killing his parents, he takes on jobs from the Rebel Alliance. Dark Forces begins with Katarn being recruited by the Rebel Alliance to recover the plans to the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
, a heavily armed space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
capable of destroying planets. The Rebel Alliance use the plans to find a weakness in and then destroy the Death Star.
A year later the Rebel Alliance hires Katarn again, this time to investigate an assault on one of their bases by a new type of Imperial soldier. His investigation reveals the Imperial Dark Trooper project, led by General Rom Mohc. His mission to stop the project takes him to the sewers of Anoat City where he captures Moff Rebus, an Imperial weapons specialist who developed the Dark Trooper weapon. Rebus' interrogation leads Katarn to a weapons research facility in the mountains of Fest and the Gromas mines where minerals are extracted for the Dark Trooper project.
After learning of Crix Madine's capture and imminent execution, Kyle proceeds to a high security detention center on Orinackra to rescue him. Madine provides the Rebel Alliance with information about the smuggling of Dark Trooper materials, leading Katarn to investigate the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal-Seti. He then destroys a robotics facility on the icy planet Anteevy, the second stage of the Dark Trooper production line. After being captured by Jabba the Hutt and having to escape his ship, Katarn infiltrates a computer vault on Coruscant
Coruscant
Coruscant is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. It first appeared onscreen in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, but was first mentioned in Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire...
which reveals the location of the Ergo fuel station, the final stage in the smuggling route. He masquerades as a smuggler, gaining access to the Super Star Destroyer Executor, which brings him finally to the Arc Hammer starship, the headquarters of General Mohc's Dark Trooper project.
Development
Development of Dark Forces was led by Daron Stinnett. The programming was led by Ray Gresko and the graphics and storyline by Justin Chin. Production began in September 1993, at a time when the first-person shooter genre was very popular. The developers of Dark Forces wanted to adapt the format into an adventure game. To do this they introduced puzzles and strategy, along with a Star Wars plot. Originally Luke SkywalkerLuke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...
was intended to be the main character in the game, however the developers realized that this would add constraints to gameplay and storyline. Instead a new character, Kyle Katarn, was created.
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
from scratch. The Jedi engine can create gameplay and graphical elements such as fully 3D objects, atmospheric effects such as fog and haze, animated textures and shading.
Stinnett indicated that the developers wanted these elements to be part of an "active environment", and features were included to create this: "ships come and go at the flight decks, rivers sweep along, platforms and conveyor belts move and much of the machinery functions." The Dark Forces soundtrack uses the iMUSE system to create interactive music using the Star Wars soundtrack composed by John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
. There is also full speech and sound effects in stereo.
The Dark Troopers in Dark Forces were created specially for the game by Justin Chin and Paul Mica. Chin notes that they were designed as a more advanced enemy when compared to standard stormtroopers
Imperial stormtrooper
The Imperial Stormtroopers are fictional soldiers from George Lucas' Star Wars universe. Stormtroopers are the soldiers of the imperial army under the leadership of the evil Sith Lord and Emperor Palpatine and his commanders, most notably Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin.They are shown in...
: "Instead of just beefing up the stormtroopers, I designed them to be more efficient. I wanted something more terrifying and more omnipotent." Three designs for the Dark Troopers were produced for Dark Forces. Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
licensing department initially rejected two of the designs for looking too much out of character, so Chin produced new designs which were ultimately approved.
Dark Forces was ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
from DOS to Apple Macintosh. This presented several challenges for the developers. LucasArts requested the game to be produced for both DOS and Macintosh with the same system requirements
System requirements
To be used efficiently, all computer software needs certain hardware components or other software resources to be present on a computer. These pre-requisites are known as system requirements and are often used as a guideline as opposed to an absolute rule. Most software defines two sets of system...
, specifically the random-access memory
Random-access memory
Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...
(RAM). The Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
runs a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
which uses up RAM while DOS does not, meaning the Macintosh version has less RAM available for Dark Forces to use. Aaron Giles, who was the Macintosh programmer for Dark Forces explained that to resolve this problem the memory had to be managed more efficiently.
Reaction
Dark Forces became LucasArts' highest sell-in with more than 300,000 copies accounted for at launch. The game went on to sell 952,000 copies over the next five years to become the eleventh highest selling game from 1993 to 1999. Dark Forces achieved a following on the World Wide Web, and custom levels and maps were created for the game.The popularity of characters from Dark Forces resulted in LucasArts licensing toys based on the game. Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
produced Kyle Katarn and Dark Trooper toys, which are among the few Expanded Universe
Star Wars Expanded Universe
The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...
items to be turned into action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s. The Dark Troopers were also included in books and comics. William C. Dietz
William C. Dietz
William C. Dietz is the best-selling author of more than thirty novels some of which have been translated into German, French, Russian, Korean and Japanese...
's novelizations of the Dark Forces storyline were adapted to full-cast audio dramatizations.
LucasArts extended Dark Forces with Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is a first person shooter computer game. It was developed and published by LucasArts and released on October 9, 1997. It was made available on Steam on September 16, 2009. It is based on the Star Wars franchise and is a sequel to Star Wars: Dark Forces...
in 1997, and later two more sequels. The Dark Forces series continues the story of Kyle Katarn and has been praised for its quality as a whole.
In September 2009, Dark Forces was re-released as a downloadable version on Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
's Steam network The game is available to purchase individually or as part of a package including all of the games in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series.
On April 29, 2010, the game was made available on the PlayStation Network as a "PSOne Classic."
Critical reception
The DOS and Macintosh versions of Star Wars: Dark Forces were received well. Publications compared Dark Forces to Doom, a significant video game in the first-person shooter genre, but also indicated that Dark Forces improved upon the Doom features. The game has been criticized for being too short, as well as lacking a multiplayer feature.Steven Kent of The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
believes that the general aspects of the game appeal to most computer gamers, not just Star Wars fans. The Star Wars setting is a high point to the game, saying that the level designs recreate the Star Wars style well: "Though most of the Dark Forces sets are original to the game, they were created in the
Dark Forces
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
highlights the implementation of puzzles within levels: "The levels are diverse and ingenious, with plenty of creative obstacles standing between you and your goal. While they can be occasionally frustrating, Dark Forces' diverse gameplay requirements make this title more mentally challenging than your average key hunt." The graphics and sound within Dark Forces were both praised as helping to immerse the player in the environment.
The PlayStation version of Dark Forces received lower reviews than the DOS and Macintosh version. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
indicates in its review that this is because the graphics and frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
are significantly worse on the PlayStation. Alex Constantides of Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
offers the same view, saying that the game is "visually dated."