~Dark Forces

Reviewed by Martin Keen


GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING - Readers who suffer from a weak stomach or
are prone to sickness due to excessive amounts of praise should not
read anything beyond this point. Neither Martin Keen, Cheet Sheets, or
HM Government can be help responsible for illness or injury caused 
by this review. Read at your own risk!


Yep, I'm afraid this review is sickly sweeter than a double cholocate
cake with extra sugar. I can find little to no fault at all with Dark
Forces, the Doom style blaster from LucasArts.

No doubt you know how these games work already, and Dark Forces is a
shameless rip off of Doom with even the shield and health points 
working exactly as they did in the shareware classic. But the big 
difference is the Star Wars tie-in and the atmosphere that this
creates. The most addictive aspect in Doom was the way the game could 
scare the living daylights out of you and give you a pulse running 
faster than a professional football manager watching his side in a 
penalty shoot-out. No other clone managed to catch that atmosphere 
until Dark Forces came along. 

The music is a nice starting point with a truely cinematic score. It
plays along in the background unobtrusively but adds that extra
something. The sound effects are even better. All the bad guys in this
game are characters from the Star Wars universe so you're pit against
Storm Troppers and even Jabba The Hut. Come into view of one of the 
baddies and they'll inform their mates "There he is - get him" or "Set
blasters on full". This also helps you out because the louder the
voice the nearer they are. In fact all sound effects are distance
sensitive so its easier to work out where the noises are coming from.

Dark Forces consists of just 14 levels but each one is huge and will
normally take up to an hour to complete. Its not possible to save your
position midway through a level so be sure to have some time on
your hands before loading this game up. However these extra large 
levels seem to work better than the short ones in Doom. Each level here
has a completely different feel and look. On one level you'll find 
yourself in a icy cold mountain range with gigantic drops, then next
you'll be on a moving space ship, or maybe you'll be in a grafitted
wall city with towering skyscrapers. No two levels are alike. Each 
level has a proper mission with a number of objectives which help to
keep the interest level up. They range from powering up the city's
electricity generator to planting explosives.

Some magazines have critised Dark Forces for being too hard. Thats
simply not the case. On easy level the game is about right: taxing but
not fustratingly difficult. Of course on hard level its virtually 
impossible but thats the idea isn't it?  

There's the usual selection of guns to pick up along the way and 
although you won't find a chainsaw here there is an exciting choice.
The plasma gun is probably the most satisfying. It targets enemies
from a long range then sends them flying into the air to their 
deaths. Just be sure not to use it in confined spaces or it'll kill
you too.

Dark Forces has been a big seller and it deserves all the success it 
gets. In my opinion it beats Doom on the premise of having a decent
storyline, more involved missions, and an overall better atmosphere.
Others may not quite agree but everyone has to admit Dark Forces is
bloody good fun (no pun intended). Don't miss this one.
