Nintendo Switch IMPRESSIONS: Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (1995-2024)
I can’t really say that being a die hard Nintendo loyalist my entire life has been all glamour, you guys. There have been many games released for other systems over the years that have had yours truly itching with envy, fingers crossed that they’d someday make it onto a Nintendo platform. This also extends to PC titles as outside of just one exception, I’ve stayed away from that mouse/keyboard set up entirely. So when you take that stubbornness and combine it with also being a big nerd for Star Wars, it makes me very excited to see a deep cut like Dark Forces from 1995 find it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. Just, wow what a treat.
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chex Quest HD pop up on the eshop.
It’s odd to be nostalgic now for the early to mid 90’s Star Wars era. A period that was once kinda considered the dark times due to most of the significant output from the franchise being novels and comics taking place in the extended universe. Some people sure do love that stuff, but personally I never got worked up over anything outside of the movies themselves. Which makes the better part of that decade now feel like a golden age as the special edition loomed on the horizon and those prequels were still up to our imagination. It was a time of wondering exactly what happened in the first three episodes, and what would it look like when we finally saw them? Until then, we’d just have to make do with regularly updated box sets of the existing films, new figures based on old characters, and video games highlighting side stories that ran parallel or after the original trilogy.
Dark Forces was a game that I can clearly remember being highly jealous of but never played because of my whole unending devotion to the Nintendo brand thing. And boy, was that tough because first person games were all the rage at the time, with Doom having become a massive phenomenon spawning hordes of clones across the entire video game landscape. This one can definitely be accused of falling into that category, but what made it stand out from the oversaturated genre was a sweet coat of Star Wars paint. The game’s opening stage is pretty much the plot of the Rogue One movie as you control Kyle Katarn on a quest to steal the Death Star plans and deliver them to the rebellion. Upon which time Mon Mothma promptly tasks you with looking into another looming threat by the Empire.
The cut scenes are kinda neat but mostly corny enough to come across as charming and the story is decent. It all really goes a long way toward getting you invested enough to feel like you’re actually part of this galaxy far, far away. But to be honest, when it comes to first person shooters, I really can’t help but blow through this stuff so I can get back to the action.
And on that front, Dark Forces delivers for the most part. The aesthetic of the movies is captured nicely with well polished visuals and sound effects. The controls are absolutely excellent and everything runs nice and smooth. The work that was put into this remaster is immediately apparent with all kinds of audio/visual and movement options available to toggle through and adjust. Oddly though, from what I can tell the audio seems to have been completely left alone with the music and voice clips sounding pretty ancient. That isn’t a complaint at all as it lends a bit of a retro vibe to the whole deal that fits in just fine.
For me, the only aspect where Dark Forces falls a bit short just also happens to be the main appeal: It is an extremely dated game that while certainly looking and playing better than ever is still an experience deeply rooted in a bygone era. The simplistic level design and repetitive gameplay have to be acknowledged as “part of the deal” when approaching this one. On that front, I think it offers a great time for any video game enthusiast of a certain age who grew up when the first person genre arrived on the scene. Especially those of us who simultaneously were loving some Star Wars. But I’m not really sure how well it would fly for anyone who doesn’t fit into either one of those categories. It’s currently $29.99 on the eshop which to me is about $20 too much, though this one has a price drop is coming soon written all over it so I’d hold out if you’re curious.
Oh and don’t forget to say hey to good ol’ Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru!
