E3 2012: Star Wars 1313 is Pretty… Pretty Early That Is

In our hand-off theater demonstration of the freshly announced Star Wars 1313, one thing was said that surprised me and saddened me at the same time:

“1313 is still in the pre-production stages of development.”

The demonstration was tucked away in a private meeting room above the main convention hall and was accessible by media appointment only. Given the rough (but impressive) nature of the demo, it is easy to see why it was not openly accessible on the show floor. Whilst the game looks stunning and already appears to play well enough, the presentation certainly felt more like a tech-demo than an actual game. With that said, I do welcome a fresh take on the universe, an obvious step in the right direction following the recent Star Wars Kinect debacle.

It has been a terribly sad watching my childhood crumble before my very eyes. The new trilogy will forever be looked upon as a stain on the Star Wars IP that it may never be able to wash off. Luckily, my loyalty to the universe has always remained fairly resilient; mostly thanks to the endless supply of reading material that still channels the classic trilogy in both tone and subject matter.

For those fans (myself included) who cherish other aspects of the universe other than the increasingly tired struggle between Jedi and Sith, 1313 will certainly be appealing.  The demonstration we were shown was very short and even featured a stand-in hero because they were not yet ready to show or talk about the lead character; leading me to believe they haven’t settled on one yet. The demo featured a set piece sequence involving a shootout with some droid assassins and a death-defying leap between two crashing ships that were tethered to one another. I could not help but notice the obvious influence that other cinematic games like Uncharted had on the project but at this point, any return to form for the series is welcomed.

Given the state of the demo and the way in which the developers framed their presentation, important details like release date and platforms are questionable. While an Xbox 360 and PS3 release certainly seems possible, I would expect this game to launch well into the next console cycle.  The question now becomes: Was 1313 shown to media in a desperate attempt to assure the masses that Star Wars is still a viable brand?

What do you think about this new take on Star Wars and how do you feel about the game being shown at such an early stage in its development?

Below is a portion of the demo that was shown to us. Check it out!