Retro Review - Star Wars: Dark Forces PC Game Review

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Star Wars: Dark Forces is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by LucasArts. It was released in 1995 for MS-DOS and Apple Macintosh, and in 1996 for the PlayStation. The storyline is set in the Star Wars fictional universe and follows the character Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working on behalf of the Rebel Alliance. He discovers the Empire's "Dark Trooper Project", which involves the development of a series of powerful new battle droids and power-armored stormtroopers.

Dark Forces uses the Jedi game engine, which was developed specifically for the game. The engine adds gameplay features to the first-person shooter genre which were uncommon at the time of release, including level designs with multiple floors and the ability to look up and down.

Critics gave very favorable reviews to the DOS and Macintosh versions of Dark Forces, but not to the PlayStation version. The DOS and Macintosh versions were praised for the level design and technological advances. The PlayStation version was criticized for having poor graphics and slow frame rates, reducing playability. A sequel to Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, followed in 1997.