The Top 25 Star Wars Games - Based on Lore, World-Building & Exploration

[Jack Of Owls]

There were some very nice, slick and high quality Star Wars games over the years but first impressions mean everything. First Star Wars game I played - The Empire Strikes Back - was on the Atari 2600 and it had no ending. So all these bug-eyed kids were madly playing this game back then, chanting inside to themselves, "I'm gonna beat it! I'm gonna beat it! JUST WAIT AND SEE! I'M GONNA BEAT IT!!" And they never could, poor things. The game had no ending. At least Emilio Estevez in that horror movie Nightmares about the teenager who beats the game but then gets sucked into the arcade machine to become the game's avatar for all eternity got his reward. But in The Empire Strikes Back there was no reward. Just the acute sensation that you were a loser; a soiled gerbil running on his exercise wheel, forever and ever. I had no strong desire to play a Star Wars game after that though I have tinkered with a few. Those side-scrollers for the SNES were nice enough.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

The only Star Wars games worth playing are those made before the prequels.

Spoiler

 

[Neuromancer]

02). Star Wars: Dark Forces
by LucasArts, 1995

The game does not grovel around main trilogy characters making cameo appearances; they are are absent.

There are actually quite a few characters from the movies in Dark Forces.


While the main bad guy is General Mohc, he is working for Darth Vader, who is present in serveral cutscenes - even in the intro and ending cutscene ("The Force is strong with Katarn").
Kyle gets his first mission briefing from Mon Mothma.

During the game he is captured by Jabba the Hutt and you fight of a Rancor on his space ship.

Also there is an ingame boss fight against Boba Fett.


But you are right on this with Dark Forces 2 - Jedi Knight.
I don't remember any movie characters featuring in this one.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Vader makes sense, what I really meant was when they throw Luke, Han, Leia into things.

Like for example, Star Wars comics under Dark Horse covered a wide variety of subjects.

Then when Marvel got it, a ton of series were about an Original Trilogy character, rather than an adventure in itself, as if we need biographical series about 'familiar faces' constantly.

Also around maybe 2017, there was a tendency to put minor B-list characters like Saw Gerrera into every show, whether it made sense or not. He cameos in games, TV, and comics.

Personally, by random chance, he knows virtually every Jedi that survived Order 66, including both Cal Kestis and Ezra Bridger (having fought alongside Ahsoka in the Clone Wars TV).

Note the difference:

Typical Old Star Wars EU title: "Shadows of the Empire", "Tales of the Jedi", "Dark Forces"

Typical New Star Wars EU title: "Lando", "Leia", "Darth Vader", "Doctor Aphra", "Kanan"

Says a lot I think.

They think we want Star Wars for some name and face, thinking like a clueless marketing/PR department, when we want Star Wars for it's spirit.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Where's Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Frontier?

You're the only one here with the correct mental age to have played it. Where does it rank in your favourites?

I played it. It’s not bad, Droidworks is better though. TBH Droidworks would probably make my list of top 15 SW games.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Wow I strongly disagree with that ordering.

I knew going in this was going to be controversial compared to the Star Trek one, because my tastes are pretty firm on which Star Wars games I think are better than others, and they don't match the usual rankings. I absolutely think that Jedi Outcast was a step down from Dark Forces II for example, just in artistic terms, whereas some people absolutely worship that game. Some people worship Republic Commando, and I like it, but it did have flaws. I also know placing Jedi: Fallen Order highly is going to be a controversial one, as it wasn't a masterpiece, despite games journalists usual high scores.

How would you rank them, excluding multiplayer stuff?

I'm just going to list 15, because frankly even 15 has me starting to really scrape the bottom of the barrel. The unfortunate reality is that Star Wars has not had that many great licensed games. The top 7 of the list here are locked in for sure, but the rest are somewhat amorphic and could move around or get booted entirely based on how I'm feeling. I also am not ranking them on contributions to lore and canon because
A: They're games and I evaluate games primarily on gameplay

and

B: Even the pre-Disney EU, when taken as a whole, had a massive amount of stupidity present in it and I'm not the sort of person who takes canonicity as some unassailable sacred cow.

1: TIE Fighter.
The best SW game ever made by a country-mile, and one of the best games ever made period. The fact that this isn't number 1 on your list is mind-boggling.

2.Jedi Knight
Easily the second best SW. Still nowhere near as good as TIE Fighter.

3. Jedi Knight II
A good game, but with worse level design but better lightsaber combat than its predecessor.

4. X-Wing Alliance.
Drops too much of TIE fighter's complexity and difficulty, but is still fun. Story is dumb.

5.KotOR II.
Avellonian writing saves the final product from the same brain-dead gameplay loop Bioware introduced for the original. Still very boring gameplay.

6.Mysteries of the Sith
A mixed-bag. Some really good levels and some really shit ones. Starts too slow.

7.Dark Forces.
Decent knock-off of the build engine games. Starts strong, but the last 1/3 is pretty weak.

8. X-Wing
Good game, but made obsolete by TIE Fighter. Very difficult to go back to after playing its sequel.

9.Racer
Fun game. Not particularly complex, but good couch multiplayer. Probably the best thing to come out of Episode 1.

10.Fallen Order
Art and audio departments nail the vibe, and gameplay is decent, if nothing particularly amazing.

11. Jedi Academy.
Mixed-bag. First half is quite fun, but the last third is utter trash, and it's overall a very short game.

12. Rogue Squadron 2
Fun arcade game, but no depth here. Play it once and forget about it

13.Rebellion
Buggy and janky, but at least decently complex. Worth a playthrough if you enjoy unique strategy games.

14. Droidworks
Cute little physics puzzle/droid- construction game from Lucas Learning. Probably not of interest to most Codexers, but those with kids may find some value.

15. Republic Commando
Mid-2000s console shooter with Star Wars branding slapped on it. Not terrible, but not all that interesting.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I agree with most of your reasoning, including that it's harder beyond the top 10 or so. We seem to agree on a lot.

That is why I was surprised at the negativity of the first page, because everyone seems to agree on most of the generalities (JK1 better than JK2, TIE Fighter high, RC somewhat overrated, Fallen Order competent but not masterly, few real classics). When a list is long and the difference is only 2-3 places, we are essentially saying the same thing. It seems folks were splitting hairs over individual preferences and not providing reasons such negativity (not you). I just ranked TIE Fighter slightly different but still called it "timeless", and it was in the top 5 which is essentially a similar position of honour. I was going more for lore references for people's pleasure/recommendation too, as per the title, so the difference is understandable.

All the controversy proved is Star Wars lists are divisive. Ranking Republic Commando lower would have pissed off a lot of people too, even though I agree with you. Like I mentioned, I think some of these games are inflated by their relative ease of installation/familiarity and Republic Commando is probably popular because it is easier to play for many than Dark Forces.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

When a list is long and the difference is only 2-3 places, we are essentially saying the same thing. It seems folks were splitting hairs over individual preferences and not providing reasons such negativity (not you). I just ranked TIE Fighter slightly different but still called it "timeless", and it was in the top 5 which is essentially a similar position of honour.

Eh. I kind of disagree with this, just because I think there is such a large difference in quality between TIE Fighter and JK1 and everything else that follows. But sure there's no need for negativity outside of that this is the Codex.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The Old Republic was an exception, but I mentioned I would exclude most multiplayer games.

Your homework is to go play both major versions of SWG(SWGEmu for pre-CU and SWG Legends for NGE) and review it. I will see you back in 6 months.

are you finished yet?

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Give me time rusty, I have shit tons on my list