Let’s face it there has never been a better time to be a Star Wars fan. You’ve got the ability to watch the classics on almost any device, new films being made with a variety of concepts, spin-off series for younglings, documentaries for oldies, multiple comic series covering an insane amount of content, music soundtracks, inspired works, books and this is all before the toys, merch, cookbooks, knitting books and everything you could spend a lifetime to catalog. The video games based on Star Wars are much like the films, they vary drastically in quality and unique brilliance and you’re just as likely to find a classic fun title as you are a monetary ridden mess. Closing our eyes, sitting on a big stone and meditating the force has shown us the path and here’s a few that really do get that feeling of Star Wars brilliance right.
Super Star Wars
Sekiro is now winning game of the year awards so I think we all know that the gaming community love a brutal challenge. With that in mind I offer you Star Wars fans Super Star Wars, a game so brutal it was left to the SNES times before a Virtual Console and PS4 port brought it back to the republic. Even when set to the ‘easy’ difficulty this game is brutally as hard as the justification to include JarJar Binks in the prequels. An incredibly challenging Contra-like platformer where everything is out to kill you. Deserving of an entry on this list though simply for managing to use Mode 7 and the SNES soundchip to capture the iconic start of the films. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
The best ever example of how great an original idea can be when a big licence is used to expand on the existing material rather than simple mimicking it. Adored by anyone who’s played it and easily one of Bioware’s greatest games. There’s a reason fans are still making patches and updates to this game even now. The only reason I would say to play KOTOR2 over KOTOR1 was that personally I found the story a lot more interesting than the first. You can see a lot of the Mass Effect light or dark side story choices being tested as you play through it and you’ll likely want to go back and give the other route a try when you’re finished. Although I always thought it was a shame the Star Wars HK-50 (an assassin droid with the best way of speaking) was changed to be a Mass Effect polite talking elephant-like alien.
Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (DS)
A surprisingly enjoyable mix of side scrolling beat-em-up and impressive (for the DS) 3D space ship scenes that are are blended into an enjoyable mix. Largely overlooked as a game covering a film that isn’t particularly loved, a lot of Star Wars fans have probably missed this. Which is a shame as it’s a little gem. The brilliantly animated Mega man stylised sprites and destruction of the robots is incredibly good looking even to this day. The combat is incredibly versatile allowing you to force throw the robot parts and reflect blaster shots back all with superb animation. It really deserves a look back at and remaster to something new, maybe this could be a return of the Switch?
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
It’s mad how we now live in an age where this game is less a Complete Saga and is now a complete telling of, “the story before the new ones” You have to remember that for better or worse if it wasn’t for the original Lego Star Wars games I doubt many people would have even heard of TT Games (or Traveller’s Tales for that matter) The original two Lego Star Wars titles combined into a set that felt like 3 games worth of content. Everything has fantastic humour and a simple action platforming gameplay style that has been a staple of Lego games ever since. This was also a time before the Lego games where voiced which is largely why they still hold up so well today. I’d say to you that you should dig out the Wii and have a go at this gem on there but I won’t force it.
Star Wars Battlefront
Despite all of its issues with season pass dlc, almost zero singleplayer content and a sequel drowned in controversy: Star Wars Battlefront really did capture the feel of the series. The visuals were stunning and everything looked so spectacularly modeled but the real joy to be found in Star Wars Battlefront could be found with the sound effects and music queues. It really nailed the feeling of getting into a tie fighter and hearing the engines roar or blasting away with a laser pistol. Obviously this was a great game more in the past tense than it still being worth playing as its play base has moved on but when it was good, it was very very good and when it was bad it was Darth.
Disney Infinity 3.0
It was clear when Disney bought Lucasfilm that they had big plans for the Star Wars IP and it was no surprise to see that big licence front and centre for Disney Infinity 3.0. I know this was my introduction to the Disney Infinity addiction of purchasing brilliantly crafted figures to play a strange amalgamation of game types and concepts. There were plenty of sets with different content and setups all with their own unique story content and play style. The differences in attack style and skills for each character were fantastic, both unique and essentially set into classes. Playing as Anakin gave you the usual lightsaber attacks but playing as Ahsoka Tano (my favourite btw) had a unique set of berserk-like combos. Eventually covering the entirety of the series the sets range from the classics of Laya and Luke to the Force Awakens new cast. If you never got into this I can’t recommend it enough, especially if you nab the light-fx figures that have weapons that light up when they’re placed on the base unit. There’s a lot of additional figures though and if you’re not careful your wallet will be force choked dry.
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