I just finished Dark Forces again ... and was wondering if people wanted to share their best and worst things about it ...

For me:

Best
- Very Star Wars ... good areas and elements, well thought out
- Hard enemies
- No mid-level saves - makes you pay attention, also makes game more fair.

Worst:
- Slow turning got me nailed
- More dumb jumps than I remembered ..

Still one of my faves ...

Mike

Great atmosphere.
It ties in with the SW storyline.
Characters from the movies, Mon Mothma, Vader, Jabba, Crix Madine etc.

Some levels are badly designed.
No civilians
No lightsabers
Not enough locales from the movies.

Best:
- Everything except what I have in worst. This is one of the most perfect Star Wars games I have ever played.

Worst:
- Nightmare to get it to work perfectly on Windows XP.

Originally posted by Assault3000
Best:
- Everything except what I have in worst. This is one of the most perfect Star Wars games I have ever played.

Worst:
- Nightmare to get it to work perfectly on Windows XP. That is yet another two things better about having a Mac (as well as PC) ;) (1) it runs perfectly under OS X and (2) the graphics and sound are much better on the Mac version. Makes it a more satisfying experience all these years later ...

And I consider it a tribute to how great it was that we all still love it so many years later - and not just as a museum piece, it is just plain still fun to play!

Mike

Could somebody post some comparison screenshots between the DOS and Mac versions?

I'm just curious to see the difference.

Originally posted by Kurgan
Could somebody post some comparison screenshots between the DOS and Mac versions?

I'm just curious to see the difference. I haven't found any yet ... just something saying MacDF runs at 640x480 rather than 320x240 on the PC. I'm still looking ... maybe I'll have tto dig out my old DOS DF disk.

Mike

I recall seeing some in the DF mod forum, and yes, it is better :)

I loved the different atmospheres each level had. I mean, Talay was purple, Anoat brown, Gromas red, Anteevy white, and Jabba's ship orange. Ramsees Hed, Nar Shaddaa and Ergo Fueling station conveyed that dark, criminal infested slum with a few Imperials on official business.

My one complaint is the levels that are interior, Imperial bases, got a bit repetetive with the dull gray wall textures (of course they were, JO suffered in this respect alot more though) Secret Base, Fest, Orinackra, Executor, and the Arc Hammer are the ones I mean. Of course, each of those (save the Executor, my least favorite level in the game) had a unique locale. Fest's gray cliffs, Orinackra's dark exterior, and the Arc Hammer for the crazy factory enviroment.

I loved the covertness of it. I know you go through the game, guns a blazing, but the idea of going through heat ducts, sewers, hyjacking ships.... This was all new to me. It is truly one of the top 5 SW games of all time. It ranks second on my all time favorite game list (yes, KotOR is that good ;))

Originally posted by Katarn07
It is truly one of the top 5 SW games of all time. It ranks second on my all time favorite game list (yes, KotOR is that good ;)) Wow ... I've gotten so used to it being first I had to re-read to catch it ... I can't wait until November ... (I just bought NWN for the Mac tto prep myself for a RPG and the D&D rules and the pacing and so on)

Mike

Originally posted by Katarn07
I loved the different atmospheres each level had. I mean, Talay was purple, Anoat brown, Gromas red, Anteevy white, and Jabba's ship orange. Ramsees Hed, Nar Shaddaa and Ergo Fueling station conveyed that dark, criminal infested slum with a few Imperials on official business.

...

I loved the covertness of it. I know you go through the game, guns a blazing, but the idea of going through heat ducts, sewers, hyjacking ships....

:urpdude:

That's the ticket for me. The wide range of 'color themes' made a lasting impression on me. The diversity of missions and the activities therein was an enormous boon to the entire FPS genre... DF blew the Find The Key gameplay right out of the water (even though there were some code card requirements).

edit: The worst moments in the game- out of very few bad experiences overall- were the difficulty and tedium of the Kell Dragon fist fights (after losing your gear) and the ISO vault puzzle.

I remember the vault puzzle, that was a nightmare the first time through. I've managed to memorize it though, it's not that hard of a code to memorize after all.

Well, I had the most fun on the Arc Hammer, (lots 'o Stormies;))

The worst, I think was the slightly confusing Imperial Detention Center. I think.

Gamplay wise, I think they shouledn't(sp?) have had it where when you looked up or down, the textures would strech.

It has been 7 or 8 years since I last played it, but I can still remember how much I liked being captured by the Hutt and having to fist fight the Kell dragons.

Also, the diverse locations and connections to things mentioned in Star Wars movies made this game excellent.

Dark Forces continues to stand it's own, and I still play it now and then (most recently a few months ago). I remember when I first played it, and it just sucked me in. The Star Wars atmopshere oozed from it in terms of the level design, enemy encounters and of course, the music. It instantly became my favourite game at the time, and I forgave it some minor flaws.

The Best...

A good background story, that introduced a new believable character, and placed him right in the heart of events hinted at in the movies.

The levels were well-designed, with some cracking little puzzles. I liked the variety between the missions, with stark contrasts between some of the environments. Favourie levels include Gromas mines and the Ice station.

There were some pretty good secret areas dotted throughout.

The equipment you had, like field lights and infra-red, were just great.

The enemies were well-realised, and helped to give you a sense of place...and impending danger.

The tweaked movement controls, looking up and down, jumping, etc., were welcome additions.


The Bad...

I didn't like the absence of mid-level saving. I didn't really see much of a point in not having it.

A few levels were not as well designed, and did not really properly convey their locations adequately. Ramsees Hed was one...and coruscant was another.

The lack of NPCs...but at the time, this sort of thing was not in any other FPS either (that I played).

Jump puzzles. Well...I don't like them. :p

I never got through the imperial centers data vault code because I always got frustrated and used the laskip code. Can anyone tell me the proper code to open the data vault?:confused:

There is no code, you have to open the right doors to let yourself through. Hint: Use the map, it helps.

Possible my favorite moment in the game was the detention center level. Walking into that Detention block and seeing Crix Madine made me think of the original movie, when they find Leia.

For me, I'm loving everything about Dark Forces, the turning in the game doesn't seem to be any slower than Doom or Wolfenstein was so I don't see that much of a problem. The only thing about this game that I really hate is the stupid save system. By 1995 save anywhere features were the standard for almost every pc shooter, yet they came out with this downright archaic limited lives system, even on consoles the lives system was getting pretty old, I still wonder what Lucasarts was thinking when they did that. Other than that one little bother I really loved the game.

I find the save system very challenging ... but cool in a way. Because they needed to design a game you could beat without doing the F5/F9 dance, and you needed to work at the game.

Mike

I just found it to be more irritating than challenging. If I wanted a challenge I'd just up the dificulty, but hey, whatever rocks your boat.