Star Wars Dark Forces

(LucasArts, 1994)

When Doom became a shareware smash hit, the clones came rolling in. Many of them were more than a little bit silly, though at least one of the first ones (IMHO) surpassed even Doom itself. That game was Dark Forces, based on the Star Wars universe. The story revolves around a fictional character, Kyle Katarn, who is a space pirate of sorts at around the same time as the original trilogy. His tasks involve ridding the galaxy of a prototype Super Stormtrooper, that will surely hurt the rebellion unless he destroys the prototypes. The 3D game engine was made by LucasArts and includes several tweaks not seen in Doom, including the ability to jump, duck, tread water, and perform other amusing real-life maneuvers. There was also far more searching and thinking involved, as opposed to just running around and shooting everything. Sound effects from the movie series itself helped, and battle scenes were played for PG-rated action and suspense, not R-rated blood and gore. In truth, this was so much more fun than Doom, I give it the same rating. However, it was, to be fair, not an original concept, so I can only call it a "tie"...

Rating : Deep Impact

For more on this site's ratings system, click here.