List items
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If this list serves one function, it's as a visual representation of how much I want to explore the Star Wars universe vs. how little I'd like to do so as a Jedi. The greatest example of a 'better than the sum of its parts' game I can think of, Shadows of the Empire is an action game set in 10 completely disparate parts of the Star Wars universe. There's a level set on a moving train in a planet full of junk, there's an incredible battle of Hoth sequence, there's a speeder bike chase on Tattooine, there's a monolithic Imperial ship to blast through - this game kinda has everything I'd want. It also has its very own score, which is a big plus - relistening to John Williams tracks re-appropriated again and again gets to be such a slog.
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If one were to judge a video game purely by it's technical merit, Bounty Hunter would earn its place as a forgotten Star Wars one-off. Despite its clunky presentation and occasionally repetitive level design, though, this game was *weird,* and also sometimes *very* good. The core third person shooting was straightforward to the point of fault, but it was the gameplay accoutrements that made it. The jetpack added a speed and verticality to the gameplay that elevated the game from a simple corridor shooter, there was a Metroid Prime-style scanning device to hunt for capture-able bounties among the hordes of generic enemies, and some truly unusual set pieces.
More than anything, Bounty Hunter had an appreciably fun 'fill-in-the-movies'-plot-gaps' story. I like Jango Fett! He's underrated.
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Rogue Leader is not a perfect game, but occasionally it looks like one. No game has ever captured the death star trench run as meticulously as Factor 5. Things get less thrilling with some of the original missions, which feature complicated objectives and escort missions involving ships that move with the speed and grace of farm cows. Still - this is a game that recreates all the best ships from the Star Wars canon with the same reverence and attention to detail as a Forza or a Gran Turismo.
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I understand Battlefront II was meant to be a large scale online multiplayer game, but I've always enjoyed it best as a one on one local game. The dope-y AI and the ease of access to hero characters, who can devastate an entire army, makes each match hilariously erratic.
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The lightsaber combat in Jedi Outcast is...sloppy, to say the least, but it's still the most immersive Star Wars game I've ever played. It's ultimately a linear FPS/third person combat game, sure, but it's still one of the only games in the series that lets you be just a dude in the Star Wars universe, (mostly) set apart from all the military drama of the films.
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I'm not gonna go all out crazy and say Dark Forces is better than Doom II, but, well, Doom II sure has a lot of mind-numbing labyrinths to navigate, and Dark Forces sure doesn't.
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The Super Star Wars series is stupid tough, but so fun to actually play. This is the only one I've had any meaningful time with, but it's a good time. And props for letting the player pick Leia, actually giving her a role in the action.
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Republic Commando is a startlingly well-made FPS. I think it's gotten a bit hokey with age, maybe, but there's only one other game on this list that's ever made me feel as viscerally connected to the on-the-ground feel I've always craved of the Star Wars universe as this one.
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Despite the fact that The Force Unleashed aesthetically feels like some ungodly pairing of fan fiction as written by a 15 year old Linkin Park fan and a Star Wars trivia coffee table book, but somehow I like it in spite of that. It's basically a lot of Star Wars wish fulfillment, but, hey! Why not?
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LEGO Star Wars is the perfect kids game. It's not too long, has decent replayability value, has mechanics that are simple to learn but require a bit of precision to really nail...and it's sort of adorable! It kicked off a series of well-made games with some nightmarish collectibles, but I like this one on its own merits.
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If there was one element I wanted excised and made real from The Phantom Menace it was podracing, and this game delivered. It wasn't the kind of game that would tear you away from similar, better titles like WipeOut or even Crash Team Racing or something, but it did the job.
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I don't remember every sequence in this game being particularly good - in fact, I seem to remember a few missions being a difficult slog and losing interest - but I maintain the core gameplay in this series was tight, especially at the time.
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Jedi Power Battles makes no fucking sense at all. It had an arcade-style points system, abysmal platforming sequences from impossible camera perspectives, an insanely unbalanced sense of difficulty on a level-to-level basis - yet, I love what it's going for. It's like The Phantom Menace as retold by a developer who only saw the trailers for the movie. And it plays...kinda like a 3D SNES action game?
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Is Trilogy Arcade a hyper narrow, only mostly intractable piece of arcade software? Yes. But was it cool as hell, too? Also yes.
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The first Battlefront is a bit too dry for me. I like the maps, and the core gameplay is there, but there's next to nothing for the single player to enjoy. Worse, without hero characters, local play just isn't as exciting.
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I may be a Mass Effect fanatic, but I somehow can't help but bounce off KOTOR every time I try to play through it. The game's a bit too dry for me, and I can't say I care for its predictable cast of characters. I do think the skeleton of the later, better Bioware games is there, though, so I give it props for that.
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For whatever reason I find this game off-putting. I did not need my Star Wars podracing game to have early-aughts attitude.
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In the same way that kids games on the NES would be insanely difficult to give them longevity, LEGO Star Wars II demands the player replay the same 30-50 minute levels again and again in search of collectibles. I like how the LEGO games play, but they can be unforgivably slow.
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There are some great sequences in Rogue Squadron 3 - NONE of them are in the hilariously stilted on foot sequences. If you'd like a laugh, Youtube some clips from this game, they're incredible.
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Although I do feel like the hate for this game is a bit over the top, I have to admit...it does kinda suck the big one. it's got the clumsiest roster imaginable, too. Who wants to see Darth Vader fight...some pig guy?
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The only thing I liked about this game was that they added fighting game-style multiplayer to it. You'd just thunk your bud with your big blue stick over and over until one of you got bored or gave up. Just like the movies!
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There were a zillion tie-ins to Episode 1, and Phantom Menace is by far the least remarkable. It's like if you took every single mediocre Episode 1 game and mashed them into one a single dry mashed potatos-mass of dull game design.
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