Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster Review

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is a re-release of the 1995 Nintendo 64 game where players are put in the virtual boots of Kyle Katarn. Katarn, defector of the Galactic Empire turned mercenary for hire, joins the Rebel Alliance’s covert operations division tasked with infiltrating the Galactic Empire. During his mission, the protagonist discovers the secret Dark Trooper Project used to strengthen the Empire’s grip on the galaxy. Katarn and his crew need to put an end to the threat and save the galaxy.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is a typical first shooter experience set in the Star Wars universe. First thing you might notice is that it does feel like it has a bit of DOOM inspiration; it’s very fast paced with limited parkour/platforming. Akin to classic games, players are encouraged to explore every nook and cranny of each level to find hidden secrets, addtional lives and weapons.

Katarn’s mission is spread across 15 levels where players with varying degree of length (more on that later) where players will have a set amount of objectives to accomplish before moving to the next one. It mostly varies between go here and find X items and return to the landing pad to escape. Other cases will simply have you find a specific item or character and you’ll automatically end the level saving the headache of trying to find your way back.

Our protagonist can run, duck and shoot is way through each level. Thanks to a simple press of the left joystick, you can enable autorun. But be warned as you’ll go quite fast. While useful when you know you’re way around, it can easily make you miss doors and panels. And the tiniest flicker of the joystick can plummet you to your death during the few platforming sequences. There’s also a decent variety of weaponry to find and use. You’ll also pick up items like additional ammo, shield and health to make sure you’ll survive. For those looking to sample things around, the game also has a Cheat code option; they can vary from making you invincible to skipping level (which is a god sent when you spent 30 minutes trying to find your way around).

The rehauled visuals of Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster do look great and it’s another proof that Nightdive Studios know what they’re doing in terms of remaster. That being said, obviously, the core game still looks the same with levels featuring similar and generic color patterns which can lead players to get lost. Older gamers looking for a truer experience can adjust the visuals so they are more representative of the original N64 game. The soundtrack sounds decent; you can expect to hear familiar Star Wars tunes across your experience, just a tiny bit Nintendo 64-ified. It’s not perfect and can get irritating, but it does the job. Enemy soldiers will blurt out generic one-liners to advised their colleagues of your presence when spotted.

The biggest nuisance with this game, despite Nightdive’s best efforts, is that it shows us how spoiled we are now as gamers because this is a classic where the fuck do I go kind of game. Just the first level alone will irritate younger players. Despite the visual overhaul, areas look all the same and trying to find important items for mission progression is frustrating because there’s no arrow pointing you in the right direction or highlight points of interests. The map, while helpful to find your way around, won’t show you objectives. When trying to escape levels, you basically have to leave the map on-screen because otherwise, you’ll go around in circles. Because of how easy it is to get lost, 15 levels of this is way too long.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is not for the impatient gamer. It’s a fun, mindless shooter set in the Star Wars universe that fans of the genre and the franchise will learn to appreciate. However, bland level color palettes makes it too easy to get lost and go around in circles; requiring to display the map in order to find doors otherwise blended in the decor. But at least cheat codes can alleviate the frustration a bit. Younger gamers used to Call of Duty’s hand-holding might find this FPS experience frustrating as they go around in circles, but older gamers will revel in re-expericing this classic N64 experience. If you’re played this in the past, this is a no-brainer. If you’re more used to the CoD series, you might find endless frustration instead of fun.