Tuesday 22 September 2009

Dark Forces - Steam Powered!


























Quite possibly the greatest games related news to reach my screen, rivalled only by the words 'your order has been dispatched' (in relation to Halo:ODST).

Many of you will not remember the DOS era, but of that time, one game stands out for me and that is Star Wars: Dark Forces. At the time pretty much every game I had was a Star Wars title and pretty great fun they were too. I never managed to buy this one, but my cousin lent it too me and I played the game (which was old, even by the standards of the day) all the way through and it was one of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had on a computer and I can still remember the levels vividly.

But of course they stopped selling it a long time ago, and it's hardly compatible with modern tech anyway. So I was content to live with just the memories of a great game.



















The legacy lives on, of course, in the creation of Kyle Katarn, the protagonist of the game. Kyle went on to star in a sequel Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight where he picks up a lightsaber and takes on a host of Dark Jedi. An expansion and two more titles followed in the modern PC Gaming era, cementing Kyle's popularity as a Star Wars figure and one of my personal favourite expanded universe characters.

Well, you might have guessed it - he's back. Lucasarts have teamed up with Steam, a games download service to bring back all the Kyle Katarn titles. You can buy them as a bundle with Kyle's other titles or if, like me, you have every other title you can lay your hands on you can buy each game individually. I bought and downloaded Dark Forces with ease and am reliving the memories big style thanks to Steam and possibly the best move Lucasarts have made since The Force Unleashed.

No comments: