Hey, wouldn’t you know – It’s that special day for us Star Wars fans out there. Over the 40 years the franchise has existed we’ve had many wonderful and weird games to satisfy that itch to explore a galaxy far far away. In Celebration of this day I’ll be looking at my top 10 favourite games. Without further ado lets kick this list off at number 10.
10. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
An awesome movie tie in which was just a ton of fun.
Now this might not be the first game on everyone’s mind when I bring up the great Star Wars games. But trust me on this, this a really fun hack and slash type game with some fun story moments and lightsaber duels. It was released for the original Xbox and Playstation 2 and despite being fairly dated, it had some fairly decent graphics and music. It allowed you to replay the story of the third film through the perspective of the other side. Even featuring some alternative cut scenes for the most iconic scenes of the series. While it may not be a standout game among this list, I owe a lot of time and fun to this gem.
9. Star Wars: Rogue Leader
The ships are great, but you’ll be blowing them up most of the time.
I loved this game back on the Gamecube. One of the most exciting things in Star Wars are the space battles. Rogue Squadron 2 puts you into some of the iconic moments of the series and makes you feel a part of a ginormous battle. Even allowing you to take part in the trench run against the Death Star. While the Gamecube is not the most popular console anymore, if you can find a copy of this game it makes it worth it in every way.
8. Star Wars: Galaxies
SWG had a variety of jobs and roles for you to choose from.
Star Wars Galaxies was my first experience with an MMO and boy was it a good one. There was a lot of controversy surrounding a popular combat update that reworked how the game worked and played. Because of this update a lot of the player base cut off their subscriptions and the MMO was eventually shut down. SWG was still a magnificent experience to be a part of and allowed players to create a character within the large universe of Star Wars. You could become a trader, scoundrel, Jedi or dancer. The options for your career was detailed and personal. Through expansions you could take to space and relax in your own personal cruiser.
In my time during SWG I encountered many Role playing groups and even attended a wedding, showing how insane and dedicated the Star Wars community really is. If this game sounds interesting and fun to you, you may want to check out one of the many popular emulations. SWGEmu for the early experience before the combat update, or Stella Bellum for the experience that was last around before the shut down.
7. Star Wars: Republic Commando
The Coolest Clone Squad around
Now this is a real treat for anyone who likes squad based gameplay and Clone Troopers. Republic Commando puts you as Delta squad, a team of 4 who must take part in top level missions. The campaign was a ton of fun and still has be crying desperately for a sequel. All of the troopers maintain unique personalities despite all being clones of each other, leaving memories of them in the back of your mind for years. I would still recommend this game today, as it’s an excellent first person shooter look into the star Wars Universe.
6. Star Wars: Empire at War
Ground and Space combat made for some fun battle variety
Empire at War would be the best dive into the real-time strategy formula for Star Wars. Allowing you to battle in the environments of the original trilogy and feel like a commander for the Empire or Rebellion. This game can last you hundreds of hours and with a massive modding community there’s more to be discovered, including a clone wars era. While it may not be the most challenging strategy game out there, it certainty feels the need to be in the Star Wars universe at the same time.
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Starkiller has an immense range of abilities to mow down fools.
The Force Unleashed puts us in the role of Starkiller, a dark side apprentice who just likes to kill things. We don’t often get put in control of a dark lightsaber wielder with unlimited power, but this game makes it the tagline. You will be throwing and slashing stormtroopers and Rebels alike in this third person adventure. It also keeps up a fun story, which while not exactly canon, it can still let the imagination flow wild. If you haven’t played this, then you need to, so you can experience taking down a Star Destroyer with your own will power.
4. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Look at all those colours you can choose from!
The Jedi knight series is known for having some of the best lightsaber gameplay in Star Wars video games. Jedi Academy proves that to be true and delivers on an exciting story with a custom character, allowing you to choose between light and dark. I’ve been playing loads of this recently as there is a huge community that still exists and mods. The most popular being Movie Battles 2, a multiplayer conversion that further increases the complexity and intelligence of the lightsaber system and turning into a competitive sport almost. If you can get this game on Steam, I encourage you to play Movie Battles the second you can.
3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
All of our favourite bricks in one place.
No one could predict how successful the LEGO games would be merged with our favourite series. However they did an excellent job and made one of the best Star Wars games around. The Complete Saga puts the original and prequel trilogy all in one place, meaning you can seamlessly play through the entire story of Star Wars. You can even create your own character using bits and pieces of iconic characters. This game was a blast to play through as a kid and is most certainly still worth a pick up today. If you’re a completionist like me then you’ll easily get 100+ hours out of it.
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
HK-47 is hands down one of the best companions.
While being very high on our list here, I never actually completed this game as a child and only purchased it a year or two back. KotOR is regarded as the best Star Wars game ever, and fuses an RPG into our beloved universe. Taking place in the Old Republic a good many years before the prequels, you’ll learn about the history of Star Wars, as well as shape the destiny of characters you meet. All of the characters are created with such care and you’ll want to meet them all, the companions you take along for the ride makes it feel like you’re part of your own space crew in the movies. BioWare delivered with an excellent game completely worth replaying time and time again. If you haven’t played this, then what are you doing? Go buy it now!
1. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
WATCH THOSE WRIST ROCKETS!
Ahhh, I’m sure everyone has at least heard of the amazing journey that is Battlefront 2. An all out war game taking place across the Star Wars saga, reminding us of classic battlefield. You’ll be controlling Clones, Rebels, Droids and ships in this spectacle of a multiplayer game. This is a game that was invented to last a life time, as the ability to play a campaign, a small strategy game as well as a playlist of whatever the hell you like makes it the perfect experience for whatever mood you’re in.
The space combat is still the best you’ll find in a Star Wars game and makes it so you don’t dread playing space or ground at any given point. With people still playing the game online to this day it isn’t hard to find a server and start tearing down some droids. If guns aren’t your thing then no worry, as you’re able to take control of iconic characters with lightsabers and mow down hundreds of troops in the middle of a battlefield. This is the definitive multiplayer Star Wars, please for the love of god just play this game and thank me later.
Afterword For the Future
We have only just begun our journey into the future of Star Wars games. With EA now running the show we have had Star Wars Battlefront by DICE and a sequel coming up this year. With the vast creative freedom that the universe provides I think it’s safe to say that there will be much variety and success for the games to come. We’ve already had a little tease for what all the studios are up to so with that in mind, be excited for E3 and what we can expect to see next.
Remember, May the force be with you, always.