Obi-Wan Isn't PC
While it’s been a few years since Jedi Knight appeared on the PC, the game still stands as one of the best PC first person shooters to date, right up there with Half-Life.   Following in the footsteps of Dark Forces and Jedi Knight, LucasArts’ Obi-Wan seemed like a sure-fire hit, blending the world of Star Wars: Episode I with a leading-edge first person shooter engine and game design.  At least that was the plan, but then LucasArts caught us all off guard by announcing last week that Obi-Wan was no longer scheduled for release on the PC.

Whenever a game gets cancelled, reaction can be split into two groups: those that are upset that a game they were looking forward to will never see the light of day and those who are happy a company has the guts to admit a product isn’t quite up to snuff.  I tend to always fall into the latter category, given that we’ve seen so many disappointing games thrown out onto the market in a futile attempt to recoup development costs.  By deciding to pull Obi-Wan off its PC release slate, LucasArts is putting its foot down and saying it doesn’t want to erode player loyalty to the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight legacy by releasing a game that doesn’t live up to expectations.

That’s not to say that Obi-Wan couldn’t have lived up to expectations, but it seemed clear the game wasn’t going to deliver the same type of experience Justin Chin and Ray Gresko created in Jedi Knight.  At the most recent E3, Obi-Wan’s technology looked somewhat dated in comparison to other 3D shooters, and the gameplay seemed much more methodical and adventure-ish than what first person shooter fans expect from an action game.  In addition, given the backlash over Episode I, it remained questionable whether PC gamers wanted to have another experience walking through Theed Palace and battling Darth Maul with a lightsaber.

That being said, it looks like Obi-Wan might re-appear as a next-generation console title in the future, so perhaps we will get to see parts of the game.   In a roundabout way, let’s hope Obi-Wan’s cancellation signals that LucasArts really does want to deliver another triple-A blockbuster action experience to follow-up Jedi Knight.   I, for one, would love to see a Quake 3 (or LithTech) powered Star Wars game with Kyle Katarn back to his old tricks.

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