I'm still on a boomer shooter kick, and thanks to the fan made Force Engine, now seemed as good a time as any to give Star Wars: Dark Forces a try.

Dark Forces makes a number of technical improvements over Doom, introducing more vertically oriented levels with rooms that exist over other rooms, something Doom wasn't really capable of. Environmental effects further enhance the visuals, which are much more varied per level and appropriately capture the look and feel of the original Star Wars trilogy. Blast sounds, the hiss of doors, and the filtered speech of Stormtroopers all sound authentic, though the MIDI renditions of popular Star Wars songs leave a lot to be desired (granted, they're pretty good for the standard of computer audio at the time.)

LucasArts further differentiated Dark Forces by taking a more objective-based approache to missions. Rather than simply running to an exit you'll instead need to set up explosives, redirect platforms, hijack ships, and complete a number of other unique tasks before exfiltrating the mission area. You're also able to jump, sprint, and make use of masks and goggles to survive poison gas traps and darkened rooms. While this makes each level fairly involved, some of the ways in which these features are implemented can be a little clumsy. Jumping puzzles rarely feel good, and the visual design of some levels can make certain alcoves and switches necessary for progression difficult to spot. Levels can be as labyrinthine as they are in Doom and overall I found them to be not quite as good about creating memorable landmarks to ground yourself with, and some of the puzzles and hazards you have to navigate through are more annoying than fun.

Enemies are also incredibly easy to take out. There's some great weapon variety but very rarely does it feel like you need to make use of anything other than the standard blaster. Stormtroopers and imperial officers go down easy and ammo is abundant. Dark Troopers mix things up a bit and require more specialized ammo and harder hitting weaponry, which makes these encounters a lot more engaging. I'd actually say Dark Forces does a pretty good job of ratcheting up the tension anytime a Dark Trooper appears. There's also a lot of mines! Mines everywhere! Considering you move at a million miles an hour, it's easy to just turn a corner and blow Kyle's legs off. This guy is apparently in his twenties but he looks like he's been sleeping in a cigar lounge for a couple months straight. Maybe that's why he's so resilient. Even so, I defy anyone to survive Jabba's ship without losing a limb or two. I'm not sure who designed this level but taking all of your gear and making you punch your way through two gigantic lizards is bad enough without littering mines absolutely god damn everywhere. Terrible.

This is the part of the review where I cop to having a weird health issue that sometimes interferes with FPS games: I get motion sick. It doesn't happen too often, but it has impeded my ability to enjoy some really great games, like Half Life 2 and Jazzpunk. Apparently Dark Forces is another game that makes me want to hurl after playing it for about an hour. I had rendering set to Open GL to address warping with mouse look, and it's not like I was sprinting all over the place, so I'm not sure what exactly about this game made me feel ill with such consistency. I'm not going to knock Dark Forces for this, obviously, but maybe you should take anything I say about it with a grain of salt. Getting lost in levels might have more to do with me feeling like the room is spinning than any sort of design issue, but I also can't quite be sure because I do think some levels are designed in a way that don't make them easy to navigate without referring to a map (which isn't to say it's on the level of Marathon or anything insane like that.)

Dark Forces is still good enough that I persevered through my motion sickness rather than put the game down, and I do think despite some of my criticisms against its level design (as valid or invalid as you may find them given my admission) that says a lot about the quality of the gameplay. I've yet to play a boomer shooter I didn't like, even if I have now played one that makes me want to projectile vomit.