Following the shutdown of LucasArts, an important piece of information came to light about Star Wars 1313: Boba Fett would have been the star. Replacing the placeholder character shown at E3 and Star Wars Celebration, the infamous bounty hunter would have taken center stage in 1313, on a mission through the seedy underbelly of the multilayered planet of Coruscant.
Recently, a source showed IGN a 15 minute demo of 1313 that would have debuted at this year's E3. While footage in the demo was still in development and much of it was still using incomplete assets, it was the most extensive look at 1313 we've ever seen, and all of it included Boba Fett in action.
We can’t show you that full demo just yet, but we can tell you how it played out and what the game was about, plus reveal new pieces of concept art that give us the best glimpse yet at how Star Wars 1313 evolved before its cancellation.
Star Wars 1313 would have begun with a prologue on Tattooine. Various bounty hunters seen in the game would have worked for different crime bosses, and Boba Fett unsurprisingly served Jabba the Hutt. Here we see a young Fett very early in the game, long before he even has his Mandalorian armor, instead wearing only his most basic outfit.
As you can see in the art above, Fett is standing in front of the Slave One and still wearing his father's iconic helmet. Since Star Wars 1313 was meant to take place between the prequel and original Star Wars trilogies, Fett’s armor would have evolved throughout the story, changing and becoming stronger, more familiar, as he progressed.
Coruscant was meticulously detailed, with structures seen here made up of derelict ships and spare parts (including TIE Fighter wings if you look closely). It’s not hard to make out a Corellian freighter here (though our source assured us it isn’t the Millennium Falcon), and you can see the gigantic scale of the environments the development team intended.
Our source explained that at one point in the story, Fett would also end up in layer 1314. While 1313 is a corrupt metropolis controlled by crime families, 1314 is a rarely-explored slum that has been shrouded for years in complete darkness. Part of the story of Star Wars 1313 would have seen Fett fighting his way through layer 1314 in search of his bounty.
Here you can see Boba Fett fighting an enemy in what may be 1314, though our source didn't confirm. The enemy wears a mask that presumably helps it see in the constant dark in this layer of Coruscant.
The armor here is also an example of the aforementioned upgrades Fett would have received; he’s now equipped with a jetpack and his more traditional Mandalorian armor.
Star Wars 1313, as suggested by the E3 trailer, featured a ton of huge action set pieces and Uncharted-like platforming. The shot seen here is straight from the 15-minute demo we saw, with Fett hanging from a drain pipe. As he’s climbing, the pipe bursts, falling downward and forcing Fett to find a new place to grip. Our source tells us these scripted sequences would have been common, and the E3 trailer is a great indication of some of the high-tension moments we might have seen in the finished product.
The main thrust of our demo saw Boba Fett chasing a Trandoshan through a sprawling marketplace in level 1313. As Fett chased after his target, he ran through several storefronts, including a sort of butcher shop that featured sliced-open Tauntauns hanging from the rafters. The crime families of 1313 were using these Tauntauns to smuggle spice to other planets, a plot point that our source tells us would have been central to Star Wars 1313’s story.
Here we see the end of the chase in our demo, after Fett has caught and captured the Trandoshan in question. You can see that, rather than killing his prey, Fett has him cuffed and is prepared to bring him in alive to Jabba or the rest of the crime family leaders.
Behind Fett is a droid companion that would have fought alongside him as his partner. We’re told that this droid would eventually have betrayed Fett, but that early in the game they fought side-by-side.
Fett is once again fighting alongside his droid companion, seen here burning enemies, still wearing some of his more advanced armor.
While our source didn’t confirm exactly when in the game this shot might have taken place, it’s possible that this is a further battle in the newly-opened level 1314.
This shot shows us the other bounty hunters fighting on behalf of the various crime families of 1313, all working together toward a common goal (though, as is typical of Star Wars lore, all bets are off once that goal has been completed). This was meant to tie into the live-action TV series, our source tells us, which was set on Coruscant and focused on the same crime families as the game.
Behind Fett we once again see his droid companion, as well as what appears to be a Dathomirian, a human, and a Twi’lek.
Star Wars 1313 was an ambitious, beautiful project, and while we’ll likely never see it completed, it’s certainly fascinating getting a glimpse into what LucasArts intended.
For much more on what Star Wars 1313 could have been, read our impressions of the extended demo from E3 2012, plus read our 2012 interview with then-creative director Dominic Robilliard.
You can also get a better idea of what LucasArts was aiming for by watching the sole Star Wars 1313 developer diary below.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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