When Star Wars 1313 was announced last week, the excitement and discussion was mostly based on speculation. This week, in the midst of all the E3 festivities, GameTrailers and Spike TV were able to get hold of some gameplay footage from the demo that debuted this week at E3. Dominic Robilliard, the creative director at Lucas arts, was on-hand to show off the gritty (for a Star Wars game, at least) new 3rd-person action game.

Keep in mind that Robilliard states that the footage seen is all real-time, in-game footage and not simply a cut scene:

As you can see in the footage, the graphics, lighting, and particle effects for the game all look amazing. A visual effects supervisor for the game last week stated that one of the goals of the project was to blend gameplay and cinematics, making it so that the two are interchangeable from a player perspective. In this next clip, which features combat gameplay, Robilliard says much the same thing, stating, “We make a big effort to make sure that the game transitions seamlessly in and out of gameplay and cutscenes so that you’re not sure when you are in control or not.”

Players not knowing for sure whether they are in control sounds as if it could be problem when the blasters begin firing. However, being a modern 3rd person action game means players can always tell when enemies will appear, due to the presence of waist-high crates and walls.

Star Wars 1313 still does not have a release date, but I expect the game will not be out until, at the earliest, that magic window all of the recently delayed and announced titles are getting: spring 2013.