Star Wars fever has slowed down a bit from its heyday, but it surely’s nonetheless a vastly widespread franchise with tons of followers. Motion pictures and TV reveals are only a small a part of it although—if you happen to’re a gamer and a Star Wars fan, these traditional Star Wars video games completely can’t be ignored.
Not solely do they inform new tales and provide you with an opportunity to wield a lightsaber, use the Drive, and pilot a few of the franchise’s most iconic ships, they’re additionally a few of the IP’s high highlights.
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Knights of the Previous Republic I and II
We can’t discuss legendary Star Wars video games with out mentioning KOTOR. Extensively thought to be a few of Bioware’s finest video games of all time, in addition to a few of the finest Star Wars video games ever made, KOTOR and its sequel maintain a particular place within the hearts of many, many followers. By now, the mechanics are somewhat dated, however there’s little else to complain about.
The characters are intriguing and excellently voice-acted. The narrative has among the finest foreshadowed twists in gaming. These video games are a few of the solely Star Wars titles the place you’re really allowed to decide on your individual path and make your individual choices, as an alternative of being pressured into regardless of the narrative says you need to do. Plus, it nails the entire classic RPG parts like quests, exploration, and character constructing.
Positive, spamming Drive lightning 5 instances might be nonetheless the meta transfer, however any play model can carry you thru these wonderful titles. Ask any Star Wars gamer their opinion of those video games—you may be hard-pressed to search out anybody saying you should not play them at the very least as soon as.
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Darkish Forces
It is “classic DOOM however Star Wars” full with the funky 2.5D presentation and an incessant have to go kill a nasty man with a key to open a door. Admittedly, mechanics and graphics that outdated aren’t for everybody, however Darkish Forces was a historic entry in Star Wars gaming, as one of many first FPS titles for the franchise. A remastered model of the sport was launched considerably just lately, clearing up a few of the admittedly historical elements of the title.
Previous although it might be, Darkish Forces is price a search for any avid gamer. The story is self-contained however participating (the perfect sorts of Star Wars story), the extent design is phenomenal for the time, there are nice cutscenes to associate with the narrative, and the dearth of an in-level save system means there may be sufficient problem to maintain issues enjoyable. Finally, you will get Darkish Forces for pretty low-cost nowadays, so it is price a strive for all followers.
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Star Wars: Jedi Knight
The Jedi Knight sequence of video games stands out within the annals of Star Wars historical past for a lot of causes. Even at this time, it nonetheless has a few of the most complicated, participating, and lifelike depictions of lightsaber fight in Star Wars gaming. You’ll shortly and simply lower down most foes with a single hit out of your lightsaber, however the identical is true for you, making duels tense and thrilling.
The video games are literally tied to Darkish Forces as properly, as they proceed to comply with the story of Kyle Katarn, and so they embody each first and third-person taking pictures gameplay. Mix that with some wonderful platforming, distinctive missions and stage design, a big selection of Drive powers that really feel like an early rendition of how loopy The Drive Unleashed would sooner or later turn out to be, and a gripping narrative stretching throughout dozens of superior planets, and the Jedi Knight sequence actually shines.
5
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Each Star Wars prequel film received some tie-in video games that launched across the similar time. These video games weren’t all the time superb, however one among them, merely titled Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, was phenomenal (at the very least on consoles like Xbox and PlayStation 2).
On this motion title nearly bordering on a combating recreation, gamers take management of Anakin Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi as they combat by means of numerous ranges primarily based on the film.
A deep combo system permits gamers to combine and match various kinds of saber strikes, grapples, and Drive powers as they combat in opposition to all types of enemies, together with droids, clones, different Jedi, and finally, Anakin or Obi-Wan themselves. That is the closest Star Wars has ever gotten to a genuinely good combating recreation, whereas additionally being a reasonably stable hack-n-slash.
Personally, my favourite side of this recreation was the truth that it primarily based many ranges and cutscenes on deleted scenes from the movie, giving the participant a contemporary expertise fairly than simply going by means of the very same story we might already seen within the film. What if Obi-Wan really received an opportunity to combat again in opposition to the clones after Order 66? What was it like for Anakin and Obi-Wan to combat by means of Common Griveous’ capital ship to rescue Palpatine? This recreation offers the solutions.
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X-Wing and TIE Fighter
I am unable to consider a single Star Wars fan that hasn’t shared a fantasy about piloting an iconic starfighter from the franchise. Many individuals had been dreaming about flying an X-Wing round after watching A New Hope. Me, I used to be all the time extra of a TIE fighter form of man. Fortunately, Star Wars gave followers the flexibility to do each within the 90s with Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: TIE Fighter. These had been the primary flight simulator video games that gave you an actual style of piloting these craft.
In different phrases, it is Star Wars: Squadrons however twenty years its senior. These video games had been surprisingly superior for his or her time and included numerous content material as properly. You would fly all types of craft, together with B-Wings, TIE Defenders, and even missile gunboats. There are numerous campaigns that stretch throughout the unique Star Wars timeline, together with the assault on the Demise Star and also you as an imperial pilot working below Admiral Thrawn.
Why play these as an alternative of the newer Squadrons? Nicely, ideally it is best to play all of them, but when you really want a flight simulator experience, X-Wing and TIE Fighter supply extra real experiences. They had been even designed to be performed primarily with a joystick.
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The Drive Unleashed I and II
The Drive Unleashed is the Star Wars sequence that lastly allowed gamers to reside out their Jedi and Sith energy fantasies. Each recreation prior to those, and even most titles after them, have made the Drive a great tool, however decently grounded. The Drive Unleashed cranked the superpowers as much as 100 and owned the absurdity of all of it. You possibly can crush Imperial automobiles like tin cans, fling enemies hundreds of ft to their doom, and pull a Star Destroyer out of orbit, plus much more.
Admittedly, that is the true promoting level of those video games. The story is a good tackle the formation of the Revolt, Sith apprentice shenanigans, and looking down survivors of Order 66, but it surely’s not unimaginable. It is a hack-n-slash recreation that does not actually have extremely deep fight mechanics, actually nothing near the Jedi Knight. However there is no such thing as a Star Wars recreation that gives such an incredible energy fantasy.
For no different motive than that, The Drive Unleashed and its sequel are video games each fan ought to play at the very least as soon as. In addition to, there’s a large number of enemies, tons of cool ranges, and a few epic set-pieces. The primary recreation is even fairly totally different amongst its many platform variations, which means there is a good argument to be made for taking part in it a number of instances.
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Republic Commando
Do not get me mistaken, I like Halo, however I will all the time be upset that it overshadowed this unimaginable gem of a Star Wars recreation. Republic Commando was one of many first Star Wars video games to go for that grittier, extra lifelike tackle warfare. You play as a particular sort of clone trooper with distinctive coaching and genetic enhancements and go on spec ops missions with the remainder of your elite staff, whereas contending with droids, Geonosians, and indignant lizard folks with knives.
It actually was a extra severe, war-like entry—most quips are restricted to one among your extra cheerful squad mates, whereas the enemies are relentless killing machines targeted solely on destroying you. The visible tone was darker, a lot of your fellow troopers died fairly horrifying deaths, and also you even had a enjoyable little helmet windshield wiper to get all of the blood off of you after a combat.
For me, the principle spotlight of Republic Commando was the squad mechanic. By some means, this gorgeous outdated recreation has significantly better squad AI than many present titles, with teammates who can really pathfind, combat, and assist you to out successfully. It felt even higher as a result of they had been all actually distinctive and likable—it was straightforward to develop genuinely hooked up to your brothers-in-arms, supplying you with that actual clone trooper expertise.
1
Bounty Hunter
Star Wars is a franchise identified for giving an uncommon quantity of content material to characters that weren’t actually that essential within the motion pictures. It began again within the day with Boba Fett, and the identical factor occurred together with his father, Jango Fett. Bounty Hunter launched as a type of tie-in with Assault of the Clones, following the nefarious adventures of Jango Fett earlier than he will get wrapped up in the entire clone military stuff that occurs within the motion pictures.
This third-person shooter offers you entry to all of the enjoyable instruments you’d count on, together with Jango’s jetpack and missiles, the wrist-mounted flamethrower, his whipcord thrower, and his iconic double-pistols. You additionally get a ton of attention-grabbing maneuverability choices—I do not know why it is so odd to see Jango Fett pulling backflips, however in some way, it really works.
Video games like this are a part of Star Wars‘ golden period as a result of they do an awesome job of telling a self-contained story that’s attention-grabbing, however would not create any issues with the better continuity. Jango Fett wasn’t an enormous character in Episode II, however this recreation truthfully offers you numerous causes to be invested in him, and possibly even want he hadn’t gotten owned by Mace Windu in that area.
Truthfully, there are nonetheless a ton of different superb Star Wars video games I may placed on this checklist, but when I did that, we might be right here all day. Let me simply put it this manner—ninety p.c of the Star Wars video games that got here out between 1995 and 2007 are price enjoying if you’re a mega-fan.
The most effective half is, most of those video games are pretty low-cost now since they’re outdated, so getting into these goldie oldies just isn’t even that huge of an funding.