Star Wars Dark Forces had the luxury of learning from its competitors. While the iconic id center gun industry standard was replaced by a more natural and immersive off center gun model. Its how all FPS games work in 2020 and I have to say I love it. Even in the context of 1995 its nice to be able to see more of the screen other than my gun. Guns however are a pretty big weak point in this game. Its super slow to give you new weapons and rarely is anything useful other than your blaster. Its super disappointing coming out off of Heretic. Sure it looks and sounds Star Wars but it get old and boring so quick especially compared to the kings of genre during this time period.
Talking Star Wars though holy fuck how cool this must have been in 1995. The sounds, your gruff Han like character, the world and lore tidbits its all here. In an immersive first person perspective. DOOM and Heretic being the blast they where having a different and honestly nicer universe to be part of was refreshing for me and probably the genre. The world building is here too. The game is beautiful. Featuring a notable jump in pixel quality and environmental detail than fps games/hardware of last year. That being said the level design is probably my least favorite part of this game. They look cool and produce a great Star Wars vibe but traversing them can be a pain, confusing and just bare and boring. In one area all the walls and textures where so similar it was disorienting. It shows how much a talent id had in DOOM II's earth levels and how new these genre designs where. The sound is my favorite part of this game. Its so fucking rad and I cant imagine playing this back in the day and not thinking how fucking awesome that must be.Dark forces is a revered classic by many. I tried over and over but never fell in love with it or would up liking it very much. The slower, immersive pace is interesting and honor worthy but it just feels flat and boring compared to its contemporaries. The game did a bad job of keeping me interested and aside for a sewage ride puzzle level that was honestly a blast I didn't love anything else I played. I'm reminded why this blog also brings important context. Dark Forces deserves its praise but I personally found it lack luster. I'm glad now I can appreciate what fans or critics are saying about it though after spending some hands on time with the game.
