A DOOM clone, though not as direct of one as you'd think. Dark Forces runs on LucasArts' proprietary Jedi engine, a ground-up creation that improves upon DOOM's id Tech engine in a few key ways, notably by emphasizing the Y-axis; levels can take up multiple floors, and player character Kyle Katarn can jump. Because of this, levels are quite big and objective-driven, with what the player has to do changing over the course of the given level. The easiest example is the first level, where Kyle picks up where the Bothan Spies left off and steals the Death Star plans. You first have to infiltrate, swipe the plans, then get the hell out of there. Way more to do than mowing down baddies.
The most important change, surprisingly, sits with the introduction of a lives system. Rather than restart at the beginning of the level with just a piddly pistol, Kyle respawns at the last checkpoint (often the beginning of the level...) with his ammo reserves, enemy kills, etc precisely where the player left off. The trick is that you have a limited amount of retries; run out of lives, and you have to restart the mission from the top. It's a weird dynamic to inject into something as high-energy as DOOM, but it works for the mission-based structure of these levels. It's an interesting effect where the engine is as fast as DOOM's, but the game asks to be played more slowly as a consequence of its mechanics. I get why they moved away from this design in Jedi Knight, but I dunno, there's an interesting design space here that ended up being an evolutionary dead end. If the game Outlaws (also on the Jedi engine) uses a lives system, I'd be curious to see how it feels there.
I don't like Dark Forces as much as DOOM or the later Jedi Knight games (simply a question of those games having way more for me to hold onto), but I respect a lot of what Dark Forces does. Since Kyle's Force powers haven't awakened yet, there's a much more even emphasis on the different types of guns than you see in later Jedis Knight. Cutscenes and narrative focus are really fun to see here, and I love that the game's able to play around with some of its scenarios - that one where you have to bare-knuckle brawl your way out of captivity is a favorite, and I got a laugh out of accidentally stepping into an Imperial Bathroom (or, "Refresher"? I have lots of scattered EU knowledge). Definitely not one to overlook.
The most important change, surprisingly, sits with the introduction of a lives system. Rather than restart at the beginning of the level with just a piddly pistol, Kyle respawns at the last checkpoint (often the beginning of the level...) with his ammo reserves, enemy kills, etc precisely where the player left off. The trick is that you have a limited amount of retries; run out of lives, and you have to restart the mission from the top. It's a weird dynamic to inject into something as high-energy as DOOM, but it works for the mission-based structure of these levels. It's an interesting effect where the engine is as fast as DOOM's, but the game asks to be played more slowly as a consequence of its mechanics. I get why they moved away from this design in Jedi Knight, but I dunno, there's an interesting design space here that ended up being an evolutionary dead end. If the game Outlaws (also on the Jedi engine) uses a lives system, I'd be curious to see how it feels there.
I don't like Dark Forces as much as DOOM or the later Jedi Knight games (simply a question of those games having way more for me to hold onto), but I respect a lot of what Dark Forces does. Since Kyle's Force powers haven't awakened yet, there's a much more even emphasis on the different types of guns than you see in later Jedis Knight. Cutscenes and narrative focus are really fun to see here, and I love that the game's able to play around with some of its scenarios - that one where you have to bare-knuckle brawl your way out of captivity is a favorite, and I got a laugh out of accidentally stepping into an Imperial Bathroom (or, "Refresher"? I have lots of scattered EU knowledge). Definitely not one to overlook.