Though hard to imagine today, there was a point when Star Wars video games were a novelty on PC. The original movie trilogy ended in 1983, and until 1992, Carmen Sandiego developer Broderbund had the rights to the franchise on computers. 1995's Star Wars: Dark Forces was one of LucasArts' earliest efforts after the license expired. With other old PC Star Wars games appearing on the Switch and PS4, it would make sense for Dark Forces to follow suit.
The game was the first to feature Kyle Katarn - later seen in Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast - but without any Force powers. Instead, Dark Forces was effectively a DOOM clone, equipping Kyle with blasters and explosives as he uncovered an Imperial plot involving the mysterious Dark Troopers. It was unique at the time, not just for its setting but for making jumping, ducking, and looking up and down standard controls in its "2.5-D" graphics engine. These features were, of course, later implemented in virtually every other first-person shooter, most obviously in Quake and Duke Nukem 3D the following year.
Unfortunately, Dark Forces is missing from the PlayStation Store, despite Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy having appeared there in 2019 and 2020. There may be a few contributing factors to its absence, but the chief one is probably the game's underlying technology. It was originally released for MS-DOS, predating even Windows 95 by several months. It eventually reached Mac and the PS1 and is playable on Windows 2000, XP and Vista, but its archaic engine likely doesn't lend itself to easy conversion - and that's assuming the game's source code and assets have even been properly maintained.
Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy are both based on a widespread id Software engine, seeing releases on Windows, Xbox, and GameCube before making the leap to the Switch and PS4. They likely have a more easily ported code base and assets, not to mention better recognition among modern gamers. Dark Forces didn't even run well on PS1, so its fanbase remains among its original PC players.
That said, it's not inconceivable that the game might be ported to PS4 and PS5 in the future. Thanks to The Mandalorian, Dark Forces' Dark Troopers are part of Star Wars canon, so it's logical to make their originator accessible on consoles. PC players already have fairly easy access to the game, as Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequels are on Steam (and go on sale for less than $5 fairly frequently).
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3nEFs0l
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