I love Star Wars. I loved the movies, including Last Jedi, the shows, and, especially, the games. I remember all the times I spent playing the original Star Wars on NES, flying X-Wings in Rogue Squadron, being scared out of my wits in Shadows Of The Empire (No joke, the wampas in that game scared me as a youngling) and, the subject of today’s review, fighting Dark Troopers in Star Wars: Dark Forces. The very first Star Wars FPS, the game has now been remastered by the amazing team at NightDive Studios and, once again, it’s another excellent remastering.
The story of Dark Forces sees you in the combat boots of mercenary Kyle Katarn as he’s hired by the Rebels to investigate an attack by the Imperials that was unlike troopers the Rebels had never seen before, which leads him into learning about the Dark Trooper Project lead by General Rom Mohc and now it’s up to him to put a stop to it. Story is basic but, hey, it’s still entertaining and it still feels like a Star Wars story, even though this is another story where someone steals the plans for the first Death Star (I’m pretty sure this plot was used in other Star Wars media as well, until Rogue One came along, which by the way? GREAT movie with an amazing Darth Vader sequence). I think my only real issue and it’s fairly minor is regarding one character and that is Kyle’s partner Jan. Outside of the mission briefing screens and hearing her voice when an objective is complete, she really doesn’t have much to do in the game and I feel this role could’ve been done by a droid, like how Dash in Shadows Of Them Empire had LE-BO2D9. Otherwise, I really don’t have much else to say about the story, other than, per usual, it gets the job done.
I really enjoyed how ‘Dark Forces’ feels like a bigger improvement to the FPS genre than its contemporaries from the time, like Rise Of The Triad. For one, you’re not just going from one end of the map to the other end to complete a level, though there are some levels that do that. No, here, there are actual objectives to complete, with some requiring you to backtrack to the beginning of the level to complete it. That does bring me to my only real complaint with the game and that is that the backtracking can get a little tedious. Sure, you don’t have to run the entire breadth and width of the map just to get back to your ship as some levels offer a quicker way back, but it still a bit of a tedious slog and that, I will admit, was something that I wasn’t a fan of back when I first played this game. The fifth level in particular took me multiple tries to complete due to a door puzzle sequence that I had honestly forgotten was even in the game. I also found that it was easy to get lost at times, but this only occurred a few times, with one occurring because I didn’t check beside an elevator for a door, and they really didn’t hurt the game for me, personally.
Backtracking aside, I also really enjoyed the weapon line-up here and each weapon felt fun to use. You start the game with Kyle’s Bryar Pistol before quickly upgrading to the iconic E-11 Blaster Rifle (or, as it’s called in-game, the Stormtrooper Rifle) and that gun will be your main weapon throughout the campaign as it does a decent amount of damage and ammo is plentiful. You also pick up thermal detonators, which can be either thrown to explode on contact or have a delayed explosion, mines which are surprisingly useful, a Mortar Launcher, a fusion cutter which is basically the game’s shotgun, and two heavier weapons: A Concussion Rifle and a Plasma Rifle, the later being really effective in melting the tougher enemies. I think the only weapon I didn’t really care for and rarely used was the Repeater as the damage felt minimal, though I did enjoy the alt-fire of three shots at once and that was useful against some enemies in the game. Speaking of which, the enemies themselves are fun to fight with only a few giving me problems during my gameplay. Of course, you get to fight Stormtroopers and droids, but you also get to fight Grans (those three eyed aliens), Gamorrean guards, and Transdoshans, along with Dianogas in any sewer area.
Then there’s the story's main antagonists: The Dark Troopers. Making their debut in this game before their return in The Mandalorian Season 2, the Dark Troopers are some of the toughest enemies you’ll fight in the entire game. These guys come in three phases, with Phase 1 resembling a robotic skeleton and Phase III looking like a ‘roided up Stormtrooper, which the later only appears at the end and Phases 1 and 2 appearing throughout the story in select missions. I’d say my only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that I wish there was a mission where you got to wear the Dark Trooper Phase III armor (as that was an exoskeleton), but perhaps that is just me dreaming and not fully understanding how these original game engines work.
As for the graphics? I gotta say that NightDive Studios really knocked it out of the park this time, especially with the CG cutscenes as they look pretty damn good when compared to the blurry visuals of the original cutscenes on the PS1. Though the same can’t be said for the hand-drawn characters as the artstyle isn’t the best, which is something I noticed even when I first played it. I’m not asking for real-time cutscenes or anything, just maybe a different artstyle would’ve been nice. The other graphics in-game got a nice visual update as well and I even love how, if you look down, you can see most, if not all, of the weapon you’re carrying, as well as your character’s arms; A nice touch that I wish more games would do. I do have one nitpick, however, and that is regarding the music. It’s not a bad soundtrack, don’t get me wrong, and I dig how you have two options for what style of music you want, being either General MIDI and OPL3. My main issue, and this does hurt the game a bit, is that the game does not have an original soundtrack. Instead, it takes iconic songs from the franchise, like the Death Star Attack from ‘A New Hope’, and uses them as the game’s soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong, I love the soundtrack to Star Wars and I consider it one of my favorite all time soundtracks. I just wished the game had its own original score. To add to this, I noticed that some songs didn’t really fit the levels they were playing over and felt just a tad bit out of place. To bring up a past game, ‘Shadows Of The Empire’, though it did have a few tracks from the movies, had music made exclusively for the game, so I’m curious as to why they didn’t do it with Dark Forces.
To sum everything ‘Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster’ is another top-tier NightDive remastering and one I can easily see myself recommending to anyone, be it a fan of Star Wars or not. Does it show its age at points? Yeah but what game from that time period doesn’t? Can the backtracking become tedious? Again, yeah, but those didn’t really hurt my enjoyment of this title at all and that’s even without the nostalgia goggles. This is still one of my favorite Star Wars games of all time and one I plan on replaying a lot! Plus, as someone who is bored of lightsabers and constantly seeing Jedis and Siths, even though Vader is in this game? The fact that this is straight-forward firearm combat with no lightsabers in sight is a huge plus for me.
Shoutout to NightDive Studios for providing us with the Review Copy and May The Force Be With You!
