A Brief Look at: Star Wars 1313

A Good Blaster By Your Side
Despite the surprisingly lukewarm reception fans have had for this year's E3, it has slipped in a few surprises here and there. One of them being LucasArts' upcoming third person shooter (er, third person blaster?) oddly titled Star Wars: 1313. What's been revealed so far of the story is that players will be taking control of a still-as-of-yet unnamed Bounty Hunter who, along with his mentor/partner, must delve deep down into the underbelly of the galaxy's most famous planet, Coruscant in search of a fugitive that has thus far escaped capture and was last seen on the city's subterranean "Level 1313."

LucasArts has stated that this is, first and foremost, a shooter. Your Bounty Hunter character is not a Jedi in disguise, so don't expect to go balls out with a lightsaber and force powers ala Force Unleashed 1 and 2. In fact, expect this Bounty Hunter to be a little more ruthless than some Jedi - but not quite as cold-hearted as a Sith, as this title is shaping up to be perhaps the most mature Star Wars release to date.



No Disintegrations
Early demo gameplay is impressive. The level of detail in the environments, as well as the physics is eyebleedingly superior. It's so good in fact that the transition from pure cinematic to actual gameplay footage was on equal footing. You'll only know that the scripted moments are over with when you regain control of your character. And, in the case of the demo, just as the side of the ship is blasted open by an explosion. The physics engine is on full display here, sparks from an overhead power cord sputter and rain down, only to be swept out of the recently blasted, gaping hole in the ship as it plummets further down into Coruscant's metal heart. Crates and debris shift in odd angles as the ship pitches and shakes as it fights to stay aloft, making both Hunter and Prey slam into walls, slip and pitch forward or back as the ship rolls, watching their shots bouncing harmlessly off items as they slide around and so forth.

As this is also a cover-based shooter, your Bounty Hunter is far from helpless even during these moments. As was shown, an enemy had crouched behind a crate ahead of your character, popping up to take a few pot-shots before ducking down again and hiding. Moving forward, your Bounty Hunter character moved to the opposite side of the crate, ducked down as the unaware enemy took a few shots at your partner, and then was yanked from his cover by your character, pulled over the crate, laid face down into the ship's walkway, and then had his neck snapped in a surprisingly mature moment for a Star Wars title. His lifeless body then slid across the floor....and out of the ship's wounded side as the body bounced off the ship's outer hull before it was lost to oblivion.

Brutal. And mature. Two words I never would have put together to describe a Star Wars game. To be honest, I haven't been this curious about a Star Wars game since I got my hands on Republic Commando. The real question is when this all will be taking place. Will this be before, during or after the prequel trilogy, or before, during or after the original trilogy? Either way, I'm excited to see and hear more on this title.

Maybe this game will make up for the rather lackluster Force Unleashed II. Hell, maybe it'll even make up for Jar-J....well, no. No. Let's not go that far just yet.

Though no real date has been set for the game's release, if I had to guess at a possible time that we'd hear something more concrete on all of this, I'd say hold off until January 3, 2013 (1.3.13). But that's just a guess.

More on this to come.