Star Wars: Dark Forces is a video game produced by the LucasArts Entertainment Company. It was released in 1995. The game is a first-person shooter for the PC, Macintosh, and PlayStation.

The game takes place both before and after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, and is played in the person of Kyle Katarn, a mercenary for hire. He is contacted by the Rebellion to stop a project from the Empire called the "Dark Trooper".

The game was successful and was followed by a sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Jedi Knight spawned an entire series of games which includes the expansion, Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and most recently, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This series, with the exception of Jedi Academy, focuses on the continuing exploits of Kyle Katarn, which take place after the events of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Often labeled a "Doom clone", it is believed that Dark Forces was created to counter the many unofficial Star Wars-themed WADs for Doom, and rumored that LucasArts reverse-engineered the Doom engine to find out how to build their own. The Dark Forces engine was in the end more advanced than the Doom engine, containing features such as rooms over rooms, polygonal objects, and the ability to look up and down.

Dark Forces was the 11th best selling computer game of the period 1993 to 1999, with 952,000 copies.

Other Star Wars Jedi games

• Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II — (1997)
• Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith — (1998)
• Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast — (2002)
• Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy — (2003)

External links

• Official Lucasarts' Star Wars: Dark Forces web site (http://www.lucasarts.com/products/darkforces/splash.htm)

References

• Turner, Benjamin & Bowen, Kevin (December 11, 2003). Bringin' in the DOOM Clones (http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/december03/doom/clones/index2.shtml) (page 2). GameSpy.
• Dunnigan, James F (2000). The Complete Wargames Handbook (Year 2000 introduction) (http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/Introduc.htm)