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6 BEST STAR WARS GAMES

8/4/2015

18 Comments

 
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In a week's time, Star Wars fans of every shape, colour and t-shirt size (must... resist... urge... to say... "But mostly XXL") will descend upon California for the bi-annual Star Wars Celebration.

Among the treats expected to be laid bare at the three-day event are a proper trailer for The Force Awakens, and full details of the brand new Star Wars Battlefront game. Many of us will be embracing the hope that this will, finally, be the Star Wars game to throat-punch them all.

It's not that every Star Wars game is bad, but we're sorry to say that we've yet to play the definitive Star Wars experience. We had high hopes for Star Wars 1313, but that got horribly cancelled when George Lucas sold everything to Disney, and went off to make those quirky independent movies he's been threatening for decades.


Nonetheless, while we may be lacking the perfect trip to a Galaxay Far Over Yonder, there have been plenty of playable Star Wars games - some of them almost very good, probably.

Here's our listing of the six SWGs (Star Wars Games) that we've enjoyed the most. So... no Galaxies, because we never played it, and no Knights of the Old Republic - supposedly set 4,000 years before the movies - because we get irritated by the way technology seemingly stalled for aeons in the Star Wars Universe. 

Imagine if, say, they had TVs and cars and phones in the Bronze Age... and the only difference between then and now is that the policemen had slightly different hats, and Ainsley Harriott was called Oinsley Hurryup: that's basically Knights of the Old Republic, for pity's sake. 

Anyway. SWGs... GO!
6. SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
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Announced by LucasArts as an official entry in the Star Wars canon (which has since been treated to a scorched earth policy courtesy of Disney's bloodthirsty warlords), there's much about the multimedia Shadows of the Empire that's deeply annoying. The hero, Dash Rendar, has a stupid name - presumably meant to evoke Flash Gordon - and ridiculous shoulder pads that look like they belong in an early-90s superhero comic, not Star Wars. 

Nonetheless, the N64 game was sporadically great - a brilliant opening section on Hoth later gave way to some frustrating trips to lesser-known corners of the galaxy, admittedly, but for any Star Wars fan it was about as legitimate as things got back in those days. If you can ignore the shoulder pads.
5. LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
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Admittedly, the Lego games are slightly running out of steam now - let's face it, they're basically all the same - but the format was still fresh when Lego Star Wars II was released. Effortlessly playable and genuinely funny, The Original Trilogy is full of in-jokes, and has clearly been put together by people who love the films. Best of all - there were over 100 playable characters, including such fan favourites as "Droid 4" and a skeleton.
4. ROGUE LEADER
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It's pretty shocking how well the Gamecube's Star Wars: Rogue Leader has held up. An arcade-y shooter (which lightly dips its tongue into the strategy trough), it takes in most of the classic series' iconic space battles and ships, and succeeds in capturing that breathtakingly epic Star Wars feel. Look at that screenshot up there: the game actually looked that good in motion; it's nearly 15 years old. How is that even possible? Witchcraft.
3. SUPER STAR WARS TRILOGY
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The only video game to have caused Digi2000's Mr Biffo a physical injury - if you discount the time he had a stroke while playing Wii Fit - the Super Star Wars Trilogy was wall-punchingly hard and frustrating. Despite that, for a side-scrolling SNES platformer, it somehow properly felt like Star Wars - even if they did take a few liberties with some of the end-of-level bosses... one of them was literally Pingu choking on a partially-scorched whoopee cushion (though we might've slightly misremembered that...).  
2. DARK FORCES
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Yeah, it looks dated now - hailing as it did from those early days when everyone went a bit first-person shooter mental - but there was something about the Dark Forces games that captured the Star Wars vibe better than almost anything else (including the prequels... oooh, burn!). The scale of the levels, the pacing, the conscience-unbothering mass slaughter... it just felt right, and managed to add to the Star Wars mythos without feeling clunky or "off", like so much expanded universe stuff.
1. STAR WARS
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For most of us of a certain age, the original Star Wars arcade game was our first Star Wars gaming experience. And for many of us, it's still the best - from the sit-down cabinet, to the snatches of movie dialogue, not only did it capture the Star Wars spirit, but succeeded in becoming an iconic gaming experience in its own right. What didn't work was closing your eyes and trying to "use The Force"; round our way it was just going to be an opportunity for a local tough to run off with your handbag.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
  • PREVIEW: STAR WARS BATTLEPOD
  • THE MAN'S DADDY: STAR WARS JOKES
18 Comments
Keith
8/4/2015 05:02:06 am

Heresy to leave out KOTOR.
To me, it really did evoke a different time, the first planet you arrived on, Taris, felt classical while still Star Warsy, and the chrome Sith Troopers kind of sold the idea of an entirely new era. I think it really succeeded in portraying a younger universe. And even if it hadn't, yiu can suspend disbelief just so that there was the freedom to tell a grandiose story that wasnt restricted by the fact that the films tell all the important bits.

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Mr Biffo
8/4/2015 05:03:28 am

It's always going to come back to personal preference. It might be a decent RPG, I never felt a connect with MY Star Wars Universe in KOTOR. Which is what I want from a Star Wars game, I guess.

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Bo
8/4/2015 05:34:55 am

Ah, Shadows of the Empire. It was one of my first thoughts upon seeing these two lists, but I was wondering if it would sneak into either. It managed to be both brilliant and terrible in equal measure, and there probably wouldn't have been a Rogue Squadron series had that Hoth level been so damn good.

I think it's one of those games, that, because the N64 had so few top games for it (outside of the Nintendo-created ones), and I had no real avenues at the time to play other platforms, that I completely took to, and was more than willing to overlook the flaws of. I imagine I'd barely give it a second look if it came out now.

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Mentski link
8/4/2015 05:51:34 am

I played Star Wars Battlepod the other week. It's rather swanky, but it'll never evoke those same feelings I felt encased in an original Atari Star Wars cabinet with (quoting Mr B from many moons ago) "Authentic Jedi fag-burns".

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Axle
13/4/2015 02:07:47 am

I played this in Southend a couple of weeks ago. It's a real blast and I suppose the only way new arcade games can flourish, i.e. by offering something that can't be done at home. 'Vader's Revenge' is very disappointing though.

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Stoo
8/4/2015 06:09:46 am

Never played the X-wing\TIE fighter series? Or just not a fan?

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Super Bad Advice
8/4/2015 07:16:48 am

KOTOR was a fantastic game, techno-oddities aside. But then it being left off of this list can be counterbalanced by KOTOR 2 being left off the other list - a game completely crippled by being rushed to fit a deadline, thus rendering the story (which was already going off the rails by talking about 'true sith' and wounds in the force and the like) a confusing mess. Plus it had the absolute stupidest boss fight of all time - fighting a sith lady with no arms (because you just lopped her last one off) who mentally controlled 3 lightsabers like some violent, telekinetic strip-lighting-based puppet show.

Also: it didn't have enough HK-47.

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Rivhard Hugues
8/4/2015 08:16:22 am

Shame you missed Galaxies. Despite trying some before and many since, its still the MMO ive enjoyed the most (until they ruined it with the WoW-knock off 'new game experience' and ditched most of the stuff that made it enjoyable). It genuinely felt like it had more 'roleplaying' than it did 'game'.

Also, was Dark Forces included as a series? Or was the first one just your favourite of the bunch? I remember enjoying the sequel more.

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Virtual Hermit link
8/4/2015 09:02:24 am

I was expecting to see Tie fighter in the list, what the hell man?!

Ever play Jedi power battles? Me and a mate played that game a lot, it was ugly and stunk of shovel-ware but we enjoyed it none the less mainly because it had 2 player co-op.

Another Star wars game I remember enjoying was Jedi knight: Jedi academy. It has the best light sabre combat in any Star wars game ever.

And lastly, Star wars: Force unleashed, physics eveywhere.

Oh yea, Galaxies was something special until they fudged it all up by trying to emulate WoW.

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Alastair
9/4/2015 08:37:15 am

TIE Fighter and X-Wing weren't that hard core, they were nicely balanced between sim and arcade game for me.

I'm tempted to try the Jedi Knight games, wish I'd gone for that Star Wars Humble Bundle a while back that included them all.

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Mr Biffo
8/4/2015 09:50:24 am

Man, you guys and your TIE Fighter...! Totally accept it was a great game. But as a pretty hardcore sim, it never had what I want from a Star Wars game, I guess. It's not a definitive list. It's just MY list. So... ya-boo-narrrr.

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kelvingreen link
8/4/2015 10:59:00 am

I am with you on the Old Republic technology thing; every time I try to engage with it, the inexplicable silliness of thousands of years with no progress at all gets in the way.

I always liked <i>Battlefront</i> on the PS2; they should have done a <i>Warhammer 40,000</i> version of that game.

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Cthulhu Steev
8/4/2015 12:25:22 pm

Biffo! You didn't 'Use the Force' in Star Wars by closing your eyes, you had to complete the trench run using only one shot that, a shot that had to go in the exhaust port.

No wonder you went through so many handbags!

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LewisQ
8/4/2015 01:23:21 pm

Mohh, is that you, Fazackerly?

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Cthulhu Steev
9/4/2015 03:41:00 am

Yer darn tootin', Quickmarch!

Simon
9/4/2015 02:20:12 am

Who else didn't even bother read any of the countdown but hung around on that picture of Leia in the slave bikini.....

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Jogosity
9/4/2015 03:41:40 am

Great list. I get your complaints about KOTOR but I still loved that game and did some proper Jedi shit in that.) Never mind. Dark Forces was terrific - and it has some ace home-brew levels too. I remember one with the Bossk concussion gun and tons of neatly laid out groups of Stormtroopers to blow up with one shot (or blow your own nose/nipples off if you hit a nearby wall). Top stuff!

The real scandal here is the omission of Return of the Jedi on the Atari2600.
The only game to have a truly photorealistic Death Star and a wobbly sound when the gap in the shield opened. It's on your tubes here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfInk09bRI8

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lexman
12/4/2015 11:15:09 pm

I always thought shadows of the empire was horrible apart from two levels. I love kotor but It's really not much of a star wars game.

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