Dark Forces Remastered is the classic Star Wars shooter that fans loved, but now feels fast and fluid. A faithful yet generous remaster of the old LucasArts game.
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Dark Forces, or (you could call it that because of its playstyle) Star Wars: Doom, was described by players as a boring game. In the 1995 , a Gateway system with an Intel 486DX processor at 33 MHz could "run" this game and guide you through endless gray corridors. Killing a steady stream of Stormtroopers with one of their (deliberately) semi-auto blaster rifles was also one of the experiences of the game. But after a while, the player would ask himself, a relevant seasonal question: "Why was I playing this low-energy nostalgia trip instead of the real Doom?"
Watch the game's launch trailer:
Dark Forces advanced first-person games in several ways. It could be based on Star Wars, with familiar sounds, enemies, and technology, and a story that was a bit more complex than the "They're demons, they must be destroyed" mentality of Doom. It allowed the player to look up and down, jump, and hide, which were big steps for the time. And its level design went beyond "find the blue key for the blue door," with some clever environmental puzzles and challenges.
It's not that keys don't appear. This game is from 1995, so there are keys, there are hidden walls/doors, and there are respawning enemies. It wasn't like the designers of Dark Forces could completely ignore Doom. No one could.
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"Having played a few enjoyable hours of Dark Forces Remastered, I've changed my mind about the value of this Doom-era game quite a bit. In 2024, I can walk through the dawn through research centers, foundries, pipelines, and space stations at a lightning pace, taking out bad guys from every angle and distance with laser shots. The grenades (er, thermal detonators) feel genuinely doable and fun to use. The levels, and the game as a whole, are higher resolution and easier to appreciate at this faster, more intense pace," says ArsTechnica's Kevin Purdy.
Nightdive Studios continues its streak of delivering updated but incredibly faithful remasters of classic titles with Dark Forces Remastered. The studio's producers said last year that their goal was games that "play the way you remember them playing. Not the way they actually played on your 486 (1995 computer), but in an interesting way."
Dark Forces Remastered: A stylish shooter filled with solid blasters
A quick prologue to Dark Forces: The player takes on the role of mercenary Kyle Katarn, working for the Rebellion around the time of Episode IV (the first with the Death Star), helping the rebels investigate and stop the development of Dark Troopers. The Dark Troopers (essentially Stormtroopers) have large pauldrons on their shoulders and the ability to deflect blaster fire. You can use all kinds of weapons you find, including blasters, land mines and rocket launchers. But you won't become a Jedi, because that happens in the next game.
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Whether due to thematic or technical limitations of the era, the player typically doesn't face large waves of enemies. The goal is to move through corridors while carefully keeping your angles, shooting a few at a time.
"Unless you're me, or someone in general who lets loose by playing in 4K resolution with 120Hz (frames per second) and, sometimes, with cheat codes, mercilessly destroying guys who didn't get the message of my arrival," Kevin Purdy says sarcastically.
The little voiceovers – “Stop!” “You are not authorized!” are well-crafted and enjoyable, though they will often be interrupted by the quick annihilation of their speaker.
The first few levels may seem easy to the player, and it may feel like “the Rebellion could destroy five Death Stars in just two movies.” But Dark Forces gets harder as the levels go on. The objectives get more complex, and you might find yourself wondering “What did that flip of a switch do?” Some of the battery-powered gadgets, like the infrared goggles and gas masks, are nearly useless after a while, and the long levels with their repetitive walls can get tiresome. So you can imagine how difficult this would be at a much lower frame rate, at a terrifyingly lower resolution, and at the player’s speed – and without as easy access to online guides, of course.
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There are new lighting effects, much better menus and options, support for controllers (including vibration), and smoother, smoother cutscenes, all in addition to the game now leaning a bit more towards Motörhead than Rush in speed and feel. But, really, what sells Dark Forces Remastered is the gameplay beneath the upgrades. If you have the slightest interest in reliving that, this is the way to do it.
Source: arstechnica
