Star Wars 1313 is a third-person shooter set in the Star
Wars universe. You play as a bounty hunter hunting dangerous
fugitives from justice in the criminal underworld of Coruscant's
Level 1313, far below the surface of the city-world. (So probably no
cameos from that four-armed guy who ran the 50s diner from Attack of
the Clones, sadly.) I've commented at some length on Star Wars
previously on this blog, which you can read here.
This seems promising. I applaud the idea of a Star Wars game that
isn't about Jedi and/or an appendix to the plots of the six movies,
having grown somewhat weary of both, and I like the bounty hunter
premise.
I just hope the protagonist is cool. The last time somebody was
hyping up a Star Wars videogame starring a new character having
adventures involving the criminal underworld of the Star Wars
universe, we got Dash Rendar.
Dash Rendar, in case you're not familiar with him, was the
protagonist of the Nintendo 64 (and PC, but no one remembers that)
game Shadows of the Empire, part of a larger multimedia
spinoff project set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back
and Return of the Jedi.
Shadows of the Empire wasn't just a few new tie-in products,
it was supposed to be an Event- practically a new addition to the
original trilogy with everything but an actual theatrical film. A
novel from Bantam books, a videogame, a series of comic books
published by Dark Horse, trading cards, action figures, toy ships,
Micro Machines. and- perhaps the loftiest laurel that can be placed
upon a franchise's triumphant brow- a comic strip in Nintendo Power.
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| Truly, a fitting successor to Han Solo. |
The solution, of course, was to bring in a substitute Han Solo.
Consequently, Dash Rendar was born, created according to a simple
formula. First, take Han Solo and file the serial numbers off. Then
continue filing until all interesting or memorable character traits
have been filed off as well. Then fill the resulting void with
nothing and come up with a reason for said void to be present at the
Battle of Hoth so the “tripping Imperial walkers with harpoon
cables” sequence can be crammed into yet another videogame as part
of LucasArts' ongoing efforts to dethrone Normandy as the most
reenacted battle in videogame history.
The Shadows of the Empire videogame is pretty well-regarded today;
indeed, it's by far the most commonly and most fondly remembered part
of the Shadows of the Empire project as a whole. It owes none of
that success to Mr. Rendar.
Where was I? Right, that Star Wars game at E3.
LucasArts
promises “a bold new take on the Star Wars
galaxy, intended for mature audiences.” I'm of two minds on this.
On one hand, while I have no problem with dark settings or stories,
or with the sort of content people usually mean by “mature,” that
sort of thing can go awry when you take an existing franchise where
that sort of thing generally isn't the norm and start trying to add
it. On the other hand, something
in the Star Wars
universe “intended for mature audiences” could be interesting if
it's done well and doesn't just mean that there's lots of blood
spraying around when you shoot guys and a cutscene where the hero
calls some Hutt crime boss a “motherfucker.”
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| Anger, aggression, the dark side are- ah, the hell with it. |
(Though now I kind of want somebody to make a Star Wars/Dead to
Rights: Retribution crossover where Jack Slate teams up with Han
and Luke to go on a bloody, profanity-strewn rampage through the
criminal gangs of the Star Wars universe, just so that I can
hear Luke Skywalker roar “SHUT YOUR FUCKING HOLE!” at some poor
goon in the Mos Eisley cantina as the prelude to some horrendously
brutal lightsaber kill. Just once before I die, that's all I ask.)
In any case, I'm curious to see how this turns out.
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