Star Wars: Dark Forces

Star Wars: Dark Forces was a first person shooter computer game released on February 28, 1995, by LucasArts. The game was highly successful and was followed by novelisations and a sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Jedi Knight spawned an entire series of games which includes the expansion, Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and most recently, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This series, with the exception of Jedi Academy, focuses on the continuing exploits of Kyle Katarn, many of which take place after the events of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Storyline
Unlike many other Doom-based games, Dark Forces attempted a realistic approach: The missions followed a certain storyline, sometimes interrupted by videos to progress the tale. Each mission had its own briefing and objective. The levels were designed to represent actual bases, mines, facilities, and other known places from the Star Wars universe, like Star Destroyer interiors, Jabba's ship, Coruscant etc.

The game introduces the character of Kyle Katarn, a former Imperial agent, now a mercenary for hire in the service of the Rebel Alliance.

The story takes place both before and after the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The first mission (which was also released independently for the game demo) was an infiltration of an Imperial base on the planet Danuta during an assault in order to claim the original plans of the Death Star. The battle, known as Battle of Danuta was based on the brief reference of the A New Hope opening text: "During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the [Death Star]". These plans where those that would later be given to Princess Leia and lead to its destruction.

After the Battle of Yavin, Kyle is contacted again by Mon Mothma to investigate an Imperial assault on the Tak Base of Talay, with a never-seen-before kind of trooper. Kyle's investigation reveals the Imperial Dark Trooper project, led by General Rom Mohc. He infiltrated the Base ruins and discovered a prototype Dark Trooper weapon. The initials "M.R." were discovered on it, which were found to stand for Moff Rebus, an infamous Imperial weapons engineer. This led Katarn to Anoat, where he found the Moff hiding in the sewage system of Anoat City.

During interrogation, Moff Rebus revealed the location of a testing facility for the mineral phrik, used in the construction of Dark Troopers, on the planet Fest. After obtaining a sample of this mineral, Kyle was led to the Gromas system, where phrik was mined and the first stage of the Dark Trooper was manufactured. After destroying the facility, Crix Madine is found to be captured by the Empire and sent to an Imperial detention center on Orinackra. Kyle rescues him, and Madine provides critical information on the Dark Trooper project.

Kyle now travels to the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal-Seti, which is used for Imperial runs to the frozen planet of Anteevy, where the second stage of Dark Trooper construction is completed. After smuggling himself aboard an Imperial ship, Kyle destroys the facility on Anteevy and is led to Nar Shaddaa, where he must obtain a Nava Card. At this point in the game, the Empire has placed a large bounty on his head, and as he pulls out of Nar Shaddaa, the Moldy Crow is captured by Jabba the Hutt.

Here, Kyle is stripped of his weapons and must fight hand-to-hand with a kell dragon. After obtaining his weapons, he and Jan Ors escape to Coruscant, the only place where Kyle can insert the Nava Card into a decoder to reveal data chips used for additional information. On his way to his ship, Kyle finds the Crow missing and Boba Fett, hired by Mohc, waiting for him. He defeats him after a hard fight and then travels to Ergo, where he sneaks onto the Executor. From here, he smuggles himself aboard the Arc Hammer, where the third and final stage of the Dark Trooper is being manufactured.

In the end, Kyle faces Rom Mohc, spearhead of the operation, in the only third-stage Dark Trooper exoskeleton in existence, and defeat him. He proceeds to blow up the Arc Hammer and escape.

Characters introduced

 * Kyle Katarn
 * Rom Mohc
 * Jan Ors
 * Moff Rebus
 * Admiral Toka

Cameos of canonical characters

 * Mon Mothma
 * Darth Vader
 * Jabba the Hutt
 * Boba Fett
 * Crix Madine

Enemies

 * Stormtroopers
 * Imperial Officers
 * Imperial Commandos
 * Trandoshans
 * Grans
 * Gamorreans
 * Kell Dragons
 * Dianogas
 * Probe Droids
 * Interrogation Droids
 * Remotes
 * Dark Troopers (Phase I, II and III)

Places visited

 * Danuta Secret Base
 * Talay Tak Base
 * Anoat City
 * Fest Research Facility
 * Gromas 16 Mines
 * Orinackra Detention Center
 * Cal-Seti Ramsees Hed Docking Port
 * Anteevy Robotics Facility
 * Nar Shaddaa
 * Jabba's space cruiser
 * Coruscant's Imperial City
 * Ergo Fuel Station
 * The Executor
 * The Arc Hammer

Voice cast

 * Nick Jameson: Kyle Katarn
 * Jack Angel: Rom Mohc
 * Denny Delk: Stormtrooper/Dying Rebel/Narrator
 * Julie Eccles: Jan Ors
 * Scott Lawrence: Darth Vader
 * Peggy Roberts-Hope: Mon Mothma

Trivia
George Lucas appeared on CNN's Future Watch show and demonstated/promoted the game. Lucas and Daron Stinnett also promoted it in Disneyland when they traveled there for the opening of the Indiana Jones train.

Dark Forces was the 11th best selling computer game of the period 1993 to 1999, with 952,000 copies. However, some criticized the game for lacking a multiplayer mode.

In two instances, the images of Darth Vader were imported by earlier games: Star Wars: X-Wing (talking animation with Mohc) and Star Wars: TIE Fighter (closeup in the final cutscene).

Comparisons with Doom
Often labeled a "Doom clone," it is believed that Dark Forces was created to counter the many unofficial Star Wars-themed WADs for Doom, and rumored that LucasArts reverse-engineered the Doom engine to find out how to build their own. The "Jedi Engine," as it was called, was in the end more advanced than the Doom engine, containing features such as rooms over rooms, polygonal objects, haze and fog and the ability to look up and down.