For this May 4th1May the Fourth be with you, see? lol etc., I was originally going to do a list ranking the Star Wars games I’ve played, then I realized, despite there being about a million Star Wars games, I’ve only played a few, so ranking them would be kind of silly.
I played Jedi Knight (Dark Forces II) in 1997, and it was awesome. As an early 3D shooter, its graphics are incredibly dated now, but it still retains its best features: an engaging story that moves you across the galaxy, a slow accumulation of nifty force powers, the eventual acquisition of a light saber. And the level design had a sense of scale that few shooters I’ve played since have really captured. Some games (like it’s not-quite 3D predecessor) have gotten remakes, but this one remains unloved, which is a shame.
The sequel, Jedi Outcast, looks better (it uses the Quake engine) and while it’s fine, I feel it falls short of Jedi Knight–though the light saber action is improved. I bought that sequel to that game, Jedi Academy, but strangely never played it.
I also played Star Wars: The Old Republic, creating a bunch of characters, getting them into the 20s, then repeating the process until I’d filled every character slot. I got to see several planets and engage in sufficient pew-pew. It was fine as MMOs go, but I never stuck to it, though I’m not sure if it was the game specifically, or just that I was burning out on all MMOs at that point. I did create maybe the creepiest Jedi ever:
Oh, and I remember playing the Star Wars arcade game that came out in 1983. It had colour vector graphics, which was very spiffy back then, and used sound and voice samples from the movies. That was a good time and a trusty quarter-eater.
I played tiny bits of:
- Knights of the Old Republic (I dimly recall I did not like the controls)
- Pod Racer (it was on loop in the store I worked at back in 1999)
- The Empire Strikes Back (the Parker Brothers game for the Atari 2600, through emulation, since I never had the cartridge)
And this concludes my Star Wars game adventures. May you live long and prosper with the force.
