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 novelizations 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, Star Wars: 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 just before and after the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

The first mission (which was also released independently as a demo of the game) involved infiltration of an Imperial base on the planet Danuta, in order to steal the plans of the original Death Star. The battle, known as the Battle of Danuta, resulted in Rebel possession of the plans that would later be given to Princess Leia and lead to the destruction of the battle-station.

After the Battle of Yavin, Kyle was contacted again by Mon Mothma to investigate an Imperial assault on the Tak Base of Talay, using a type of Imperial trooper never encountered previously. After the Battle of Talay Kyle's investigation revealed the dark trooper project, led by General Rom Mohc. He infiltrated the ruins of the base 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 phase-I dark troopers were manufactured. After the destruction of this facility, Crix Madine was found to have been captured by the Empire and sent to an Imperial detention center on Orinackra. Once Kyle had rescued Madine, he provided Kyle with critical information regarding the dark trooper project.

Kyle traveled to the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal-Seti, which was used for Imperial runs to the frozen planet of Anteevy, where the second phase of dark trooper construction was completed. After smuggling himself aboard an Imperial ship, Kyle destroyed the facility on Anteevy and was led to Nar Shaddaa, where he obtained 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 in the Star Jewel.

Here, Kyle was stripped of his weapons and had to fight hand-to-hand with a kell dragon. After obtaining his weapons, he and Jan Ors escape to Coruscant, the only place where Kyle could insert the Nava Card into a decoder to reveal data chips used for additional information. On his way to his ship, Kyle found the Crow missing and Boba Fett, hired by Mohc, waiting for him. He defeated Fett after a hard fight and then traveled to Ergo, where he sneaked onto the Executor. From here, he smuggled himself aboard the Arc Hammer, where the third and final phase of the dark troopers was being overseen.

Finally, Kyle faced Rom Mohc, spearhead of the operation (who was using the only phase-III dark trooper exoskeleton in existence), and defeated him. Kyle then proceeded to blow up the Arc Hammer and escaped.

For his actions and bravery in the face of defeat, Mon Mothma awarded Kyle the Star of Alderaan.

Levels

 * The Death Star Plans - Operation Skyhook: Part II
 * Talay: Tak Base, After The Massacre
 * Anoat City - The Subterranean Hideout
 * The Planet Fest: Imperial Weapons Research Faciliy
 * Gromas Mines - The Blood Moon
 * Imperial Detention Facility, Orinackra: Crix Madine's Fate
 * Ramsees Hed Docking Port, Cal-Seti - Deadly Cargo
 * Robotics Construction Facility, Anteevy - Ice Station Beta
 * Nar Shaddaa, the Vertical City: The Death Mark
 * Jabba the Hutt's ship: Jabba's Revenge
 * Imperial City, Coruscant - The Imperial Mask
 * Imperial Fuel Station, Ergo - Smuggler's Hijack
 * The Executor - The Stowaway
 * The Arc Hammer - The Dark Awakening

Characters introduced

 * Kyle Katarn
 * Rom Mohc
 * Jan Ors
 * Moff Rebus
 * Admiral Toka (credited as 'Dying Rebel')

Cameos of film characters

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

Enemies

 * Dark Troopers (Phase I, II and III)
 * Dianogas
 * Gamorreans
 * Grans
 * Imperial commandos
 * Imperial officers
 * IT-0s
 * Kell dragons
 * Stormtroopers
 * Trandoshans
 * Remotes
 * Viper probe droids

Weapons

 * 1) Fists
 * 2) Modified Bryar Pistol
 * 3) E-11 Blaster Rifle
 * 4) Thermal Detonators
 * 5) Imperial Repeater Gun
 * 6) Jeron fusion cutter
 * 7) I.M. Mines
 * 8) Packered Mortar Gun
 * 9) Stouker Concussion Rifle
 * 10) Assault Cannon

Places visited

 * 1) Danuta, Trid Secret Base
 * 2) Talay, Tak Base
 * 3) Anoat City
 * 4) Fest Research Facility
 * 5) Gromas 16, Gromas Mines
 * 6) Orinackra Detention Center
 * 7) Cal-Seti, Ramsees Hed Docking Port
 * 8) Anteevy, Ice Station Beta Robotics Facility
 * 9) Nar Shaddaa
 * 10) The Star Jewel
 * 11) Coruscant's Imperial City
 * 12) Ergo Fuel Station
 * 13) The Executor
 * 14) 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 several instances, some images were imported by earlier games such as Star Wars: X-Wing (Vader's talking animation with Mohc and Mon Mothma's awarding cutscene) and Star Wars: TIE Fighter (Vader's closeup in the final cutscene)

The intro of the demo is different of the published product in that it contains a Rambo-ish cutscene showing Kyle preparing his gear for the mission. This was infamously cut from the game. The reason for this is not clear since the files of that sequence already exist in the CD. However, there are some tricks that make possible for this scene to appear in the game.

Currently, an effort by fans to remake the game utilizing the Quake III engine used in the latest sequels, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is underway. As of February 2007, the site shows 35% of the game finished, but this does not seem to reflect the actual progress, being unchanged for a long time.(See external links)

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 original Doom engine, containing features such as rooms over rooms, polygonal objects, haze and fog, and the abilities to look up and down and to jump.

A reference to id software is made with the cheatcodes (see above): all start with LA- (LucasArts), while the cheatcodes of id software always begun with ID-