With Star Wars : The Force Unleashedcoming out afterwards this year , it ’s a gross sentence to reckon at the history of LucasArts television games . unluckily , the tenacious route of Star Wars tie - in games has n’t always been pretty . We ’ve follow a tenacious way of life since the erstwhile 8 - bit games of 1983 , and here are some of the high and low points of the past 25 years .
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The first secret plan to turn out the Star Wars name was The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 . You could vanish around as Luke Skywalker consider down AT - ATs which inexplicably had one tiny space on their backsides which allowed you to destruct them easy . Too unfit the Rebels did n’t make love about this in the movie .
They followed that one up with the every bit forgettable The Return of the Jedi : Death Star Attack on the same organization , and it faded like a an Fe - on tranfer that ’s been washed 2,000 time .
in all likelihood the worst ( or at least mere ) Star Wars game to come out of the Halls of Lucas was 1983s Jedi Arena , which featured an overhead shot of … two dueling lightsabers . The little Star Wars mark investigation would drink down out every now and then to irritate the dirt out of you , and you ’d essay to vanquish your opponent .
The real Star Wars game that most people think of and remember as the first in the music genre was the coin - op secret plan Star Wars from Atari in 1983 . The affair came in both standup and sitdown translation , and featured digitalize voices from the game . It was transmitter pictorial good , and for some rationality it was also addictive as netherworld . You could even “ utilise the Force ” by not burn down a shot during the trench rivulet on the Death Star for bonus dot .
Atari also put out adaptation of Return of the Jedi in 1983 , and a strangely out of edict The Empire Strikes Back in 1984 . Jedi featured a uncanny 3/4 angle looking down at speeder bike , but Empire return to the vector graphic format . You could find Jedi at theatre across America , but Empire was super strong to occur by .
Star Wars games fade from the limelight until 1991 when Ubisoft Games released Star Wars on the Nintendo , but the game really look best on the Super Nintendo where it appeared as Super Star Wars , Super Empire Strikes Back , and Super Return of the Jedi . These were side - scrollers that were surprisingly fun to play , especially since the Jawas would say “ Utinnin ! ’ over and over .
Part of what I can blame my downhearted grades for in college was the dismission of Star Wars : hug drug - Wing in 1993 . It was a flight and combat simulator base on the X - Wing , and it was obsessively fun because … well , you ’re in the cockpit of an X - backstage . What kid has n’t dream about that ? It had expanding upon pack for more missions , dissimilar kinds of ships , and later leave to Star Wars : TIE Fighter in 1994 .
By 1996 , the Star Wars gambling renaissance was in full golf stroke , and LucasArts released Shadows of the Empire for the Nintendo 64 . It was set between Empire and Jedi , and followed the exploit of Dash Rendar , a sort of Han Solo - ish mercenary . In fact , Shadows of the Empire was also a novel , a amusing book , an action figure personal line of credit , and a soundtrack spill for Lucas , in an attempt to take advantage of all type of multimedia at once .
In 1997 , the popularity of fight back games on gaming console was hard to hold out , so LucasArts released Masters of Teras Kasi , where you could pit Chewbacca against Luke Skywalker , and so off . The secret plan had some decent vivification , but mostly sucky gameplay . Just explain to me in what humanity a Gamorrean Guard could beat Darth Vader .
With the prequels came more chance for video biz , and there were a mess of forgettable Episode I back on the consoles and on PCs . However , Episode I Racer in 1999 , which was a secret plan alone about podracing , can still be establish in most arcade around the land . It ’s not half bad , even if that movie did suck .
In 2001 LucasArts created a launch game for the Nintendo GameCube with Rogue Squadron II : Rogue Leader , which feature the Son “ rogue ” in the title two time , just so you ’re indisputable . It was a sequel to 1998 ’s Rogue Squadron , which was a Nintendo 64 ( and later Windows ) form of address . It traverse all three film , and tried to satiate in gaps in the story .
In 2001 , 2002 , and 2003 LucasArts released Star Wars Starfighter , Jedi Starfighter , and The Clone Wars , all with declining gross sales , and they featured elements like stale gameplay , and repetitive missions .
2001 was also the class that LucasArts tried to go after the hardcore strategy gamers with Galactic Battlegrounds . It sport gameplay similar to Warcraft ( not World of , bear in mind you , which had n’t been invent yet ) .
2002 was a yr of Star Wars continuation games , hold us not only Jedi Knight II : Jedi Outcast ( which was a sequel to Dark Forces : Jedi Knight , which was itself a sequel to Dark Forces ) but also Racer Revenge , which was an update to the Episode I Racer biz .
Dark Forces actually followed a character create specifically for the video game , Kyle Katarn . He was originally an Imperial Officer , but afterward plow and became a spy for the rising . He was played by actor Jason Court for Dark Forces : Jedi Knight II .
2003 saw both the release of Star Wars : knight of the Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies , both of which were the first Star Wars roleplaying games . knight was set 4,000 years before A New Hope , but Galaxies was in the “ current ” Star Wars universe . However , while Knights was a huge hit and spawned a sequel ( and perhaps an approaching third biz ) , Galaxies was vilify for having sucky gameplay and affair like trip the light fantastic toe Wookies .
In 2004 Lucas bring Battlefield style gaming to the table with Star Wars Battlefront , where you could play as a unmarried soldier in monolithic battles set in the Star Wars storyline and universe .
Republic Commando in 2005 was , for my money , one of the most underrated Star Wars games , featuring you as a clone trooper who had to issue squadron command to the other clones under his command . It was set amidst plot of land holes in the prequels , and was genuinely Anakin - free play .
However , one of the most merriment Star Wars games , both in gameplay and with the cater lingua - in - cheek humour was Lego Star Wars : The Video Game . It was irreverent , sassy , and pure dumb fun . It was followed up with Lego Star Wars : The Original Trilogy in 2006 and Lego Star Wars : The Complete Saga in 2007 . later on this year you ’ll also be capable to cull up Lego Indiana Jones : The Original Adventures .
While there are many to choose from , what wins the accolade for the crappiest game ever to bear the Star Wars name ? That would have to be Star Wars : Super Bombad Racing from 2001 . It featured big - channelise adaptation of the movie persona racing around go - kart way . While the Star Wars Lego claim could take something like this and make it fun , this biz just sucked , bombad .
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