Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

Unlike other First Person Shooters, (Such as Doom, Rise Of The Triad, and Island Of Peril) this shooter actually has missions, not just kill the monsters and find the exit. Dark Forces is one shooter that is much more imaginative as well as more idealistic making real missions and playing on a REAL 3D map.

GRAPHICS
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First off, understand that this game was made for DOS mode, so the graphics aren't the best. But compared to a lot of other 3D shooters, they did a great job of making more detailed looks to metal walls, muddy grounds, and slimy sewers. Course, the enemies were still 2D using free-floating, but the way it was put together, at the time, it was a well designed and well thought out. When I first played the shareware version, I was most impressed with the laser fire, the graphic detail of the walls and floors, and the overall map design for the just the few maps that was made. Once I played the shareware, I was hooked for life and got the full game on CD. The only unrealistic was when you get captured but Jabba and you fight the giant lizards, you can tell it's poorly thought out. But other than that, you will be most impressed with the graphic detail.

CONTROL
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Unlike Doom, Rise Of The Triad and some others, you can JUMP as well as CROUCH down. Plus there are icy areas so you need to use spiked cleats to walk across ice. Some areas are even very dark so you need to use the night vision goggles to see. The controls themselves is pretty easy to use. If you are used to playing other 3D shooters, then this game will be easy to use. Most of the game is mostly about completing missions and doing one thing to do something else. For example, one mission requires you to reach the reactor and plant 3 bombs in 3 parts of the reactor. So you actually have to plant the 3 bombs properly.

OVERALL
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The only downside to this game is that there's no blood and people don't explode when you use the rocket launcher. Other than that, you will fully enjoy this shooter. And for anyone who is a true STAR WARS fan, you will absolutely enjoy the way you fight the Imperial Forces. If you happen to find this game, buy it if only because it's STAR WARS.