'Star Wars 1313': Details of the video game are released
It鈥檚 official, a brand new game franchise in the universe is here, and it is, unsurprisingly, Star Wars 1313. While some connections between the name and the bounty hunter profession have been proven to be accurate 鈥� you will be playing a bounty hunter 鈥� the game seems to be a bit of a departure from previous Star Wars 迟颈迟濒别蝉.听
We鈥檝e known that something bearing the title was on its way, since the term was , and then prematurely confirmed to be the . But exactly what it would be, and who it would cater to was never clear.
Now we can put some of those questions to rest, as the first in-depth information on the project was revealed on . The player will be one of many bounty hunters on the 1,313 levels of Coruscant, the Republic capitol. While the main character鈥檚 identity (possibly a young Boba Fett learning the trade?) and the game鈥檚 plot are being kept under wraps, we do know that it will be a third-person action title, and much darker in tone than fans are used to.
LucasArts鈥� Lead Artist Dave Smith explains the backdrop of 1313:
鈥淚t鈥檚 the worst of the worst of the Star Wars galaxy brought together in one place. You鈥檝e got crime, you鈥檝e got gangs, you鈥檝e got bounty hunters, you鈥檝e got treachery, intrigue. All of these more mature themes that we haven鈥檛 really explored.鈥�
The 鈥渙ver-the-shoulder鈥� camera view is one that gamers will immediately be familiar with, especially in more cinematic and set-piece games like Uncharted or Gears of War. Not surprising, with members of development from both LucasArts and ILM claiming those will be important aspects of this game鈥檚 narrative.
A strong emphasis on facial animations was also shown, with character renders that were comparable to those seen with The Force Unleashed. Whether those are the same quality in the actual gameplay or pre-rendered cutscenes isn鈥檛 clear, but the extremely brief images of the game do show a much darker, more realistic style. In other words, much closer to the actual film鈥檚 aesthetic than or Clone Wars.
The last few years have been anything but uplifting for fans of Star Wars who also happened to be console gamers. The Old Republic has opened up a massive universe for PC gamers, but after The Force Unleashed鈥榮 promising start was quickly axed, and a , the momentum faded.
From what鈥檚 been shown so far, Star Wars 1313 might be one of the first games to be pursuing the 鈥渉igh quality game鈥� standard that .
More information 蹿辞谤听Star Wars 1313 at E3 2012, so count on us to bring it to you. What are your thoughts on the basic premise and attitude that鈥檚 been shown? Think is the right time for Star Wars to put its name on a mature property?
Andrew Dyce blogs at .
