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Not bad, not great, just average

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: June 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars Dark Forces (1994.) A Star Wars first-person shooter for the Playstation One.

The Star Wars series has been around since the late seventies, and video games based on the series have been around nearly as long. Ever since the old days of the Atari 2600, everyone's favorite tale of a galaxy far far away has been converted into a video game. Unfortunately, Star Wars video games have always been infamous for their "hit or miss" reputation. The mid-nineties saw the release of Dark Forces, which was the first first-person shooter to bear the Star Wars name. Read on for my review of the game.

THE GOOD:
If you were a fan of Doom, you're likely to love this game, since it's essentially Doom with a Star Wars storyline. You play the role of a young rebel infiltrator who travels to many locales, achieving missions for the Rebel Alliance. There is a wide assortment of weapons, and many of them have multiple functions. The locales you travel to are diverse - no two levels really look alike. If you like both Doom and Star Wars, this game will give you the best of both worlds!

THE BAD:
For every place this game succeeds, it fails somewhere else. The framerate in the game is EXTREMELY choppy, as is all of the animation. This makes manuvering through practically any level a huge pain. Likewise, the cutscenes just look awkward, due to the fact that some characters appear to be played by actors, and some appear to be drawn on the screen and animated. As if this stuff wasn't bad enough, the level designs are absolutely horrid. I wasn't too keen on a lot of the level designs in the Doom series (which this game is obviously drawing a lot for), but the worst missions in any Doom game are better designed than the best missions in this game. This is one of those games for Star Wars die-hards only.

OVERALL:
In its time of release, this game was state-of-the-art and nothing short of excellent. But in the modern day, it's horribly outdated. Don't even bother with this game unless you're a die-hard Star Wars fan who wants to play every video game the series has to offer. If you want a good, old-school first-person shooter, stick with Doom. If you want a good Star Wars-based first person shooter, stick with the more modern titles. If you MUST get Dark Forces, though, get the PC version and not the Playstation version - the PC one has better graphics and resolution, but make sure your system can handle it okay (should be no problem for a game this old.)

Ho-hum.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

As a first-person shooter enthusiast, I had high hopes for Dark Forces when I hear about it for the first time.
And as it may be a sin to compare it to Doom, because honestly and truthfully, this game is hardly what Doom is, I must say one thing....take Doom, send it through a meat grinder, out pops Dark Forces.
Everything in this game is ho-hum....half or less than half of what Doom gives the Playstation gamer.
It's not THAT disappointing....it's still very fun to play....but the whole game seems rushed. People forgot to add more than 3 colors to walls and background images, and the pixelization is unsurpassed. Stormtroopers and items laying about look like primitive Lego models. The soundtrack isn't all that bad, but could be better....the voices are really done well though.
The levels in the game are ok....I found myself getting lost on some of them though due to the fact everything looks the same because of the limited color palette....and even some areas I'm guessing are supposed to be covered in "shadows" are in all actuality, just black spaces with no graphics at all.
The weapons are typical Star Wars guns....nothing entirely special, but it is a fun selection.

If you're a Star Wars fan, and can get this game for 5 bucks or less, by all means, add it to your collection.
But if you're a first-person shooter junkie, look elsewhere for a top-quality shooter.

Overall, an average game, 5 out of 10, possibly 5.5.

stormtrooper go .........BOOM!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I don't know why peopel don't like this game I mean imagine a stormtrooper yells halt and you say eat my laser white imperial trash. The graphics are great and there are tons of guns for example laser rifle, thermal detonator, mortar gun and my favorite a PLASMA RIFLE! There's lots of badguys also like gamorrean guards, probe droids, imperial officer and imperial commando. The levels are huge, great for the BRAVE adventurer. Ho did I mention boba fett!

Terrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: February 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am a pretty big 'Star Wars' fan. I own the trilogy, own 'Episode One' for PSX, and both 'Rogue Squadron' and 'Racer' for N64...I do own this game, unfortunately. However, I bought it from a friend for one dollar.

Here's what I think of this game. First, it was made early PlayStation era, so the graphics are terrible. From far away, the enemies look like cardboard cut outs, and when you get close enough to see them, they're just a giant blur. (Think of when you see a face scrambled by a computer on 'Cops' or something.) Also, the guns are quite weak. To add to the problems of this game, the levels are not fun, and you just run around until you either die because of its difficulty, or because of boredom. This game presents no replay value considering you'll get annoyed before finishing the first level. And this game will cost you twenty dollars! With that cash, you could buy EP1 or put it towards something much better than this. Really, it looks worse than the old Street Fighter games for Sega Genesis.

Yes, it's a first person game, but guess what? So is Medal or Honor, and now that it's a best seller, you can purchase that for the same price as this. And to add to the disappointment if that's at all possible, you don't even play as a known character. Like in the X-Files for PSX, you play as some nobody character. If you're going to present us this waste of money, at least give us Han or Luke! Maybe Lando, even.

So take my advice. Would you rather own an old game with the 'Star Wars' license that was made in 1994, or an award winner such as Medal of Honor, which was released in late 1999?

Why did I buy this?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have not yet finished this game but I hate it already. Because of being blinded by the Star Wars title,I have purchased one of the worst graphiced games out there. Not only do the graphics stink,but it is like so many other 1st person shooting games with weird power-ups and medipacks. I'm sorry die-hard Star Wars fans,even you guys might not like this, not to mention non-fans, you will hate it. I'm sorry to say this didn't even get close to my normal Star Wars game expectations. So unless you want that old Wolfenstien effect, do not, I repeat, do not purchase this cheesey game.(I suggest that Georgy put Dark Forces 2,(which I've heard is much better)onto Playstation Two or something.

The force is not with this one

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: August 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the worst shooters there is, with pretty much bad everything. The graphics look like a super NES game, and the music is horrid. The voice acting is very poorly done. I guess the one sort of good thing is the load times, they're pretty short but now that I think of it, considering how dull the missions are, even the short period is not worth it. I beg you, DO NOT buy this game, even renting it is pointless, don't get in the position I'm in, I'm stuck with it for five days now :(

Classic

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First of all, this game is old. Its graphics [are not good], so does its sound. With that out of the way, it is pretty cool. It has fun weapons an codes especially. After about four levels, you will tire of the game becuse its a labyrinth, often to find where youre going. Luckily, many awesome levels, patches, and other things are availiable online, ehich makes the computer game fun. If youre going to get it: Get the comp one, becuase other wise its a waste of money

The beginning of Katarn

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Kyle Katarn quickly became my favorite character in the gaming world. In "Dark Forces", the first of the series, you really only begin to learn the basic brute skills of fighting. You also learn several mind skills, not powers, but necessary exercises to prepare you for the coming hazards in the next challenge(DFII on PC). This game, after 6 months of an off again on again gaming ralationship, is still very fun. This was my first game on PC, and though dated graphically, it's still better than the average nerf-herder. You now laugh at the "T" rating, because we were so innocent in them there days when blood was flying squares, but hey, fun is fun.

A great 1st person shooter!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: April 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Star Wars, and you get to battle Boba Fett, what more could a fan want! This game rocks, its got heavy shooting action, and a very involved maze on every level. Check this one out!

An Average Game, At Best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ok. This game came out in the mid 90's, but even for then, it's an average game. Nothing stands out to make it a "must have" for the Star Wars fan and gamer.

Graphically, it's a step down from the old Doom days. Characters are made of HUGE sprites--The closer you get, the more blocky they are. Backgrounds/levels are huge, but poorly done. Most levels are just plain boring and the colors are extremely dull looking.

The sound, out of everything, is fairly good. Effects and voices are above that average level. The music, though, is a disappointment. This is a 32-bit game with an 8-bit soundtrack. One thing in every Star Wars movie that's done well with pride is the music score. All Star Wars games should be no different than the movies with the same score. This game is one of those games where the music is just plain bad.

Fun value is on the average level, as well. Where most everything is dull, the enjoyment of blasting Stormtroopers, Probe Droids, etc. is fun for every Star Wars fan.

If you enjoy first person shooters and the Star Wars movie series, then give it a try. It's cheap money-wise, however, it's just that, as well (gameplay-wise)--cheap.

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