The Gateway Guide to Star Wars Games
From Battlefront to TIE Fighter, we explore the universe of Star Wars games.
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
I'd rather fly a TIE Interceptor...
Well then, you should know that Star Wars has some of the best space combat simulators ever made. But, of course, it sort of depends on whether you want an arcade-like experience or something a little more realistic (as realistic as a Star Wars game can get, anyway).
Star Wars: Rogue Leader is a masterpiece - a phenomenal shooter that was first developed to show off how easy it was to develop for the GameCube (the incredible introductory demo was supposedly made in just 19 days). Weaving its way through the original trilogy, it covers the majority of the major battles from the original film to Return of the Jedi, culminating in the Battle of Endor. Of all the Star Wars games ever made, it comes the closest of capturing the original thrill of Luke Skywalker's trench run.
Despite being a launch game for a system that has an unfair reputation for being underpowered, Rogue Leader is one of the best looking games of its generation, and it still holds up very well today. Unfortunately, it's not the easiest game in the world to find. You can find a copy on Amazon for $10 or so; but with the Wii U not being backwards compatible, you'll have to settle for playing it on a Wii or an actual GameCube. No Steam release for this one! But if you haven't played Rogue Leader, go dig up a copy. It's worth it.
Outside of the Factor 5 games, there are the classic X-wing and TIE Fighter games, which I cover here and elsewhere. Honestly, there isn't much more to say about these games that hasn't already been said. They are some of the best games ever made, having largely defined the space combat shooter genre alongside Wing Commander. The fact that they haven't gotten a proper update is criminal.
Obviously, the X-wing games are worth visiting, but be sure to take note of a few things. Get yourself a good flightstick from Amazon, because it's not a lot of fun to play these games with a mouse and keyboard. Also, avoid the "updated" 1998 releases like the plague. They feature slightly better graphics, but at the expense of the dynamically-generated soundtrack, which is half the fun. Note that if you download X-wing Alliance, you'll want the mods. Trust me.
I should add that I have a harder time recommending Rebel Assault. Released in the midst of the FMV craze that briefly overtook PC gaming, both are rather gimpy rail-based shooters that traffic heavily in their graphical appeal. I think it's fair to say that they don't really hold up. If your moribid curiosity gets the better of you, though, you can find them on Good Old Games.
What other Star Wars games would you recommend?
Well, if you like real-time strategy, there's Star Wars: Empire at War, which features both a story-based campaign and a rather simple sandbox campaign. Star Wars doesn't have the best track record with real-time strategy - Force Commander was a disaster - so Empire at War is pretty much the best you're going to get. Well, unless you download the Star Wars mod for Sins of a Solar Empire. You can find it on Steam.
If you want a slightly different flavor of real-time strategy, check out Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, which is basically Age of Empires II in space. It's a bit denser than Empire at War, but it ultimately holds up better in terms of raw gameplay. It was criticized at the time of its release for being a derivative knockoff, but enough time has passed that it's less of a complaint. Of the higher-level strategy games out there, it's probably the best.
Star Wars: Rebellion is... weird. Vaguely reminiscent of turn-based 4X games like Masters of Orion, Rebellion puts you in charge of either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire and leaves you to try and take over the galaxy. Its most interesting component is its characters, who can move freely about the galaxy and are useful for boosting conventional forces and flipping wavering planets to your side. It's an interesting game, but like I said, a weird one. A couple tips if you decide to try it out: Find an enemy planet without a shield generator as soon as possible, bombard it, and watch as the entire system goes into rebellion. It's great! Also, play as the Rebel Alliance. Seriously, you don't want to spend the whole game hunting for that base. It'll make you understand why Grand Moff Tarkin decided to nuke Alderaan.
Finally, if you're looking for something other than grand strategy, check out Star Wars: Battlefront 2, which takes pretty much every element of Star Wars and mashes it into one big joyful mess. As described in my preview for DICE's Battlefront, Battlefront 2 is a third-person shooter featuring ground battles, vehicle combat, and space battles spanning the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. It's a ridiculously unwieldy combination, but also very fun. It's best enjoyed online, which is accessible via GameRanger. As for the EA game, we'll just have to see how it turns out.
Final Thoughts: Star Wars' Legacy in Gaming
More than perhaps any licensed property, Star Wars has had a tremendous impact on gaming. Its influence can be felt most acutely on shooters and space combat simulators, but the series has also featured in MMORPGs, platformers, and even racing games. Honestly, it's a shock that we haven't gotten a GTA-style sandbox game yet.
Jeremy gently teased me for being tough on Star Wars while still loving the games in the latest episode of From Us to You, but that has a lot to do with the fact that Star Wars is practically built for the medium. It's a massive universe with iconic characters, and its action translates far better to gaming than, say, Star Trek (which I also love). It's also fair to say that Star Wars benefited from the creative touch of LucasArts, which was at one point one of the two or three best studios in the industry.
As the years have passed, I've admittedly become less of a fan of the Star Wars universe - its brand of mythic storytelling and visual splendor isn't as novel as it once was - but I'll always have a special place in my heart for the games. They do a fantastic job of capturing the disparate elements of the Star Wars universe, from lightsabers to starfighters, allowing me to enjoy them in my own way. It's really quite remarkable how faithful they are to the source material in addition to being good, polished games on their own.
With EA now taking the reins of the series in the gaming space, a new chapter is about to begin. Fans are understandably nervous that much of the appeal of the original games will end up being lost in translation. But even if EA makes a mess of things, we'll still have Jedi Knight and Rogue Leader. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, that legacy will live on.