Star Wars 1313 Features Non-Jedi Characters, Better Than Kinect Star Wars?

At this point, Star Wars games can only get better.

After the underwhelming Kinect Star Wars, Jedis are making way for humans in Star Wars 1313

When you play a Star Wars game, there’s always one thing you want to do: use a lightsaber. That was the draw of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and part of the reason for why it’s not attracting long-term players, so playing as a non-Jedi character in Star Wars 1313 is definitely an experiment.

The announcement was made on Spike TV last night, where the bounty hunter characters – who has not been named – has been confirmed along with the game being an action-adventure title. Level 1313 refers to the Coruscant underworld, where the game takes place. Level 1313 was described as a criminal underground by LucasArts, and players will use exotic weapons to uncover the criminal conspiracy, sounding like a darker and more serious tones compared to other Star Wars games.

LucasArt announced multiple studios such as Skywalker Sound are contributing artists to the project, despite Sound traditionally being involved in the music side of games. It’s also using the Unreal Engine and using full-body performance capture. I’m presuming it uses Unreal Engine 3, though there’s a chance the console releases in 2014 with Unreal Engine 4. That’s unlikely for two reasons, though: Epic has said UE4 games won’t arrive until a year after the launch of next-gen consoles, and LucasArts wouldn’t reveal information on next-gen consoles before Microsoft or Sony did.

Availability Announcements Imminent

Cover-based, platforming and playable cinematic gameplay mechanics feature (in other words, quick time events). As you’ve probably guessed we won’t be using The Force, which is a relief because we won’t be able to dominate enemies.

LucasArts said it’s excited to announce the project, and explore an element of the franchise it always knew existed. The company also said more information will be revealed at E3, so keep an eye on Monday morning’s conference.

Release dates and platforms have not been confirmed, but there’s a very reasonable chance they will be at the reveal next week. We’ll also have to see if the bounty hunter is Boba Fett, though I don’t get the impression it will be considering LucasArts said the game marks a new series.