From the deepest, darkest recesses of the Force, comes...

SKELLINGTON'S GUIDE
TO THE
STAR WARS UNIVERSE

Yes, that's right! After a few months hiatus from Darkness Falls, I've returned to bring you up to the minute rumours on all the happenings within your favourite break from mundane reality and mine, the STAR WARS galaxy! And, boy is there alot of catching up to do this month! There's rumors galore concerning Episode 1, some little hints about new projects coming out of LEC (woohoo!), and an rather alarming rumor concerning the original trilogy. Most of this stuff is spoiler related, once again, so you may wish to hit that handy little "BACK" button right about now if you're the squeemish type. Instead of a spoiler free page this time though, I'm going to address a little thing which has been seriously bothering me since, ooohhh, about October 9th.

You know the debate, you've heard the put-downs, the slights, and now I've got to say something about this situation. We are of course discussing the abuse that JEDI KNIGHT has taken in some circles of the internet gaming community, and in a few reviews. The most common complaint I've heard (and I've heard it over and OVER again...) is that JK's graphics and game engine are sub-standard because the game doesn't do things like display the correctly dripping drool out of an enemie's mouth, or render semi-transparent, player-reactive, amazing talking, coffee-making, bassomatic-76 explosions. It seems that attacks on the game are largely based on a certain other shooter (for the sake of argument, we'll call it DOOM4), recently released, which does these things. Never mind that the architecture in JK is STILL, bar none, hands down, the absolute BEST stuff yet presented in a game, with the possible exception of a few bits of the original levels in DARK FORCES. Never mind that the game presents a story worthy of having been an RPG, perfectly intergrating locations from the full motion video clips into the level architecture. Never mind that the JK team has made a serious breakthrough in 3D FPS weaponry with the lightsaber, and a remarkably intuitive control implementation for the thing, or that the addition of Force Powers allow the game to be played many many different ways. Never mind that for the first time the behaviour you displayed in the game determined the way the storyline went. Never mind all this. That OTHER shooter had cool looking graphics, and a couple of processor intensive special effects. That OTHER shooter finally got around to trying to integrate a story into the game (it's not much of a story, but at least better than the reasonless, logicless setting of its predecessor). That OTHER shooter still has a level design which seems as though done by Beavis (heh heh...mmm..mm heh heh...It'd be COOL to shoot something from up there). That OTHER shooter still feels as dead and lifeless as ever. That OTHER shooter STILL can't do outdoor levels worth a fetid dingo's kidney. That OTHER shooter is still, ultimately, as boring and pointless as its predeccessor.

Sure JK was in development hell forever. Sure it isn't quite as pretty as some of the latest games coming down the pipe this Christmas. But its still the best GAME out there. It runs fast, presents the information neccessary to give the polygon enemies enough reality to be a threat, and makes you THINK, ultimately delivering a better gaming and storytelling experience. This seems to be a fundamental difference in the way LEC has (with only a VERY few exceptions, XvT being the only one which comes to mind, and the irritating things about THAT game having been corrected in Balance of Power..boy that ROCKS!) approached game philosophy. The end product doesn't NEED to be groundbreaking, just satisfying from the standpoint of pure enjoyment. To paraphrase something Lucas has said countless times, special effects don't make the game. Special effects aren't the game. The game is the plot, and the overal enjoyment the player recieves from the product. A fundamental error almost every large game company makes, especially in the FPS arena of game design, is on focusing so much on the technical side of development, that the games look great, but are ultimately unsatisfying to play.

Whew..heavy handed, no? Okay, onwards. My faithful dog Zero has just retrieved this interesting tidbit on LEC's newest planned STAR WARS game. Apparently, the next SW game will explore an area of the gaming market LEC has yet not wet its feet in. This will be a SW Racing simulator. Interesting no? Could this be the rumoured game tie-in with Episode 1 I mentioned last column? Who knows. It's certainly a possibility though. There WILL be that enormous pod race Anakin participates in, in the town of Mos Espa. There is only about a year and a half (TRIPLE "woohoo"!!!) left until the promised second coming of the big blue letters:

A long time ago,
In a galaxy far, far away...

Just enough time to research and develop a brand new style of game for LEC? Possibly, think about it and let me know if you have any further information.

Lastly, a trivia question for all you LEC buffs out there! What's the game now worthy of the JEDI KNIGHT DEVELOPMENTAL HELL AWARD ? Why, that's absolutely correct! It is in fact REBELLION! Just where the heck is this game? Why hasn't LEC done their customary "It'll be out in two months!" thing to us for the last year or so? Who knows, but the fact that there hasn't been a peep out of LEC about this project for months now cannot be a good sign. As frustrating as it is, I think I prefer the old LEC promise and fail approach to release dates to this mysterious silence they're experimenting with now...

Lastly, speaking of JK, having been an avid DF player and amature editor, having followed ever little development in the DF editing comminity with great interest, imagine my surprise when I began to unzip the latest in custom JK levels, SMOBETA only to find the author's name listed as Tim Smoulders! To those of you unfamiliar with the history of DF editors, Tim built some of the coolest, most expansive levels the DF community was ever exposed to. Couple that with the always intriguing "Find the Python Wav Clip" from Holy Grail, and his levels in my mind achieved a classic status. Imagine then my delight after loading the game, to find not another 2 room, rectangular level, hurriedly produced in JED, but a fully fleshed out, nifty little level with dark, icy pools, nice use of the 3D engine with a multi-level building, and all this IN A BETA VERSION OF THE LEVEL! Follow this up with the next level I took a stab at, Launch Base by Qad!. While not as intricate as SMOBETA, the author has started playing around with sloped walls (a first release for the JK comminity, I believe), and a real layout for the level. It's small, but a cool little TIE Bomber launching station, complete with nicely crafted open hangar doors, and a cool subterrarainian aquaduct system. These two levels suggest to me that we have entered the age of real JK custom levels at last!

Oh yeah, and a BIG SHAMELESS PLUG I'm going to deftly slip in here, if you're an LEC Star Wars gamer, and would like an ULTRA COOL fleet to assosciate with, check out Th Red Skull Pirates on the Coalition of Galactic Fleets. URL = WWW.CGF.COM

Addendum!!!! Dateline, December 22, 1997 - LucasArts says February for Rebellion, so start holding your breath, it looks like this game may just kick some serious bunghole!

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