Gaming Bits: Star Wars Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series

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ATATATATA!!!!!! 2-HIT COMBO!!!!!!

Star Wars is easily the biggest Hollywood franchise out there, You could argue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe surpassed it recent years, But without Star Wars, we wouldn't have Franchising, Merchandising (Especially since they invented the modern action figure), or Long term serialization and expansions to the story. So in other words Genre films wouldn't be  the same without Star Wars. That being said however, one form of merchandise is video games, with sub series that could be Gaming Bits onto themselves, but one series might be my personal Favorite (and no I'm not talking about the Sega game from the 90s, though it is my favorite Star Wars game), I'm talking about the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight Series...

In the early to mid 90s, there was no game on the PC bigger than Doom, It got people talking, good and bad, it practically made the modding community, and popularized the FPS genre, after Wolfenstein 3D that made the concept a year earlier and perfected it in 1993. But controversy rose from Doom, so There Were more T and even E rated  alternatives. One of those was Star Wars: Dark Forces...



Based off the Jedi engine by LucasArts, it looked better than Doom, but it wasn't exactly true 3D. The Story was Kyle Katarn is a Rebel Alliance agent who has to stop the Empire from making more powerful stormtroopers. The empire Tries to stop The rebel alliance from stealing their plans. The gameplay was like Doom, only with little tweaks to make the gameplay more exciting, Star Wars like weapons, enemies, and more... People praised the game for it improving aspects of Doom, but it didn't have multiplayer aspect or even a lengthy campaign. It was a fun game for the time, l but it's just a ripoff of Doom, only with star wars elements. it did have a PS1 Port, but it had worse graphics, and was just like almost every PC port to consoles, are there exceptions, Yes, but Console are not the same as a Mouse and Keyboard, and vise versa...

FAST FACT:

LucasArts used The Jedi Engine once more in 1997's Outlaws, but while the game got good reviews, Graphically; it just couldn't compete with other FPS Games like Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, among others...

A couple of years later in 1997, Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight came out. It had full 3D graphics Powered by the Sith Engine, RPG Elements, a third person mode (in which I played in). Story wise you basically had Kyle Katarn had to stop Jerec and his league of Dark Jedi, Yes it included a lightsaber. along the way you get Various puzzles, new weapons, and you can upgrade your Jedi Powers. It received Great reviews, for it's combat, loads of features (including a morality system), and great multiplayer (up to 32 Players (perfect LAN party material)), but it was Criticized for it's somewhat dated Graphics (keep in mind Quake II came out the same year, and Unreal was just a year away), and it's cutscenes (Which were done in Live Action with pre-rendered backgrounds). It had an expansion, which continued the story...



Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith came out in 1998 (AKA the best year in gaming). It had Kyle Katarn saving Mara Jade from being in the Empire. It was the same as Jedi Knight gameplay wise. But the AI was made Smarter, new Weapons, and there was in game cutscenes, Which looked like crap, but was better than The original, so I guess some progress is better than none. Reviewers saw it as a worthy successor to the original Jedi Knight, but felt like it was the same game as the original. So yeah, Jedi Knight and it's expansion felt superannuated by... Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast...



Jedi Outcast made even more improvements over the past 2 (or 3 if you count expansions) games. It had the voices of Star Wars alumni Like Mark Hamill, Better Controls, and fast paced gameplay powered by the id Tech 3 engine. Kyle Katarn teamed up with Jan Ors, to stop the Imperial forces one last time, and has some nostalgiagasm Moments and scenes that'll give you the feels. Critics loved this game, saying this is the best Star Wars Game to date and possibly up there in the top 5 Star Wars games ever (along with Knight of the Old Republic), It had great Graphics, a great story, and great acting. There were Gamecube and XBOX ports, but they weren't as well received.



A year later in 2003, Jedi Academy was released. It had a Character Creator. You take control of an up and coming Jedi, and train to become a great Jedi. Then you team up with Kyle Katarn and you explore the galaxy. This game was essentially an expansion pack for Jedi Outcast, but with a better engine. reviewers liked the customization, and improving on the old engine, but the story and level design was not as well received. also it felt like the same game only a little less better than it's predecessor, and that's pretty much it... There was also a XBOX port, it's decent, but yet another PC port...




And that's pretty much it, LucasArts would die a decade later, and star wars games are now created by EA. I wish that there was a reboot or even an HD Remaster of these games for PS4, XBOX One, PC, and Maybe on the... *gasp* Nintendo Switch, Hmmmmmm...



NEXT TIME:

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