Poll: Favourite Star Wars game series | Movie Franchise Licensed Gaming

[sky pies]

I've been putting up a series of posts about Star Wars recently, and I thought I'd bring it to the gaming thread with a subject that has become very relevant to me in very recent times.

Star Wars games have been with us for a long time. About as long as games have been around. I vaguely remember that X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter was one of the very, very first games I ever played - I still remember a convoy mission, attacking or defending I couldn't say. A while later I was able to play Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, one of the first 'modern' 3rd person games I ever played, and that will forever be a seriously relevant and cherished part of my gaming life.

Many other series have come and gone along the way - X-Wing, Episode 1: Racer, Empire at War, Battlefront, Rogue Squadron, KOTOR, Galaxies, and perhaps we can put The Old Republic into the mix?

Which of these series has been your favourite? Why is that the case?

Also, I would like to bring some consideration of the nature of movie franchised licensed gaming. There are good ones out there, there are bad. Do you consider these games to be directly comparable to mainstream video games?

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is perhaps an example of a very good licensed game. Others may disagree but this was one of the first games I got on my old gamecube, and I will always remember it because I was in Germany at the time and consequently memorized the game in German and as such am always wildly excited whenever I play an English version. On the other hand we have ET, widely considered one of the worst games ever made *doo-DEE do dodo de doo dee.*

What are your thoughts on the relevance and fluctuating quality of movie franchise licensed games?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Favorite Star Wars game series is the Super Star Wars on the SNES, followed by Jedi Knight II on PC, and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds in third place (an Age of Empires clone).

I played a couple of Phantom Menace games (PC and PS1), both of them quite hard, glitchy as fuck and not very good, as well as Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of those broken F2P MMORPGs.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

In terms of "best for their time", probably the X-Wing/Tie-Fighter games. Jedi Knight series did a reasonably good job in its era of creating a "Jedi experience". SWTOR is probably one of the better Star Wars experiences on offer now, and the one I spent the most time with.

Most people will pick KOTOR, but it was always Bioware's weakest/shittiest RPG, from its M. Night Shyamalan twist to its creaky NWN engine to its hilariously binary good/evil dialogue where you could flip flop from hugging grandmas to kicking puppies in the span of a single conversation.

 

[sky pies]

SWTOR is probably one of the better Star Wars experiences on offer now, and the one I spent the most time with.

Most people will pick KOTOR, but it was always Bioware's weakest/shittiest RPG (...)

I played SWTOR when it first came out. I had began to miss WoW and agreed with a buddy that we were going to make TOR the next big MMO we got addicted to. This was when the game was still paid. I have to say, I enjoyed the first two worlds heaps - the intro world, the ship to Coruscant, and Coruscant. Coruscant was the first big world right? Anyway I liked grinding in Coruscant, the levels were well detailed and it managed to keep everything interesting. The problem is the instant I moved on from Coruscant, and went to that forest world (I can't remember which one it was, I think I was around 20-25 or something) I started to get super tired of the game.

EDIT: I actually completed that forest world and moved to the next world, the name of which escapes me but it was a world that I recognized from the wider universe... This world was a step up in difficulty and stuff, I remember, but was largely the same as the two worlds I had completed before and burnt myself out on, and I quickly decided the game wasn't worth the input.

EDIT II: Okay I'm quite sure my order of planets was Coruscant > Taris > Nar Shaddaa > Alderaan then I quit

The real failing of the game, rather than boring content, was the fact that pretty much everybody had the same gear. I mean there was a wide range of gear, but the only items anyone actually wore were quest rewards or instance drops, and I quickly realized that there was not going to be anywhere near the scope for individuality in this game than there had been in WoW. I was especially annoyed by the 'legendary' lightsabers which seemed to mean that I could use one weapon for the entire game, more or less.

I don't remember the specifics, how accurate these complaints are... But I really genuinely wanted to get lost in that game and it didn't deliver. A real shame, looking at gameplay videos reminds me of how fun Coruscant was.

---

KOTOR has wonderful mountains of content for a SW fan to get lost in, but it hasn't aged so well and probably had slightly sluggish pacing that was definitely improved upon by Mass Effect.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I played SWTOR when it first came out. I had began to miss WoW and agreed with a buddy that we were going to make TOR the next big MMO we got addicted to. This was when the game was still paid. I have to say, I enjoyed the first two worlds heaps - the intro world, the ship to Coruscant, and Coruscant. Coruscant was the first big world right? Anyway I liked grinding in Coruscant, the levels were well detailed and it managed to keep everything interesting. The problem is the instant I moved on from Coruscant, and went to that forest world (I can't remember which one it was, I think I was around 20-25 or something) I started to get super tired of the game.

EDIT: I actually completed that forest world and moved to the next world, the name of which escapes me but it was a world that I recognized from the wider universe... This world was a step up in difficulty and stuff, I remember, but was largely the same as the two worlds I had completed before and burnt myself out on, and I quickly decided the game wasn't worth the input.

EDIT II: Okay I'm quite sure my order of planets was Coruscant > Taris > Nar Shaddaa > Alderaan then I quit

The real failing of the game, rather than boring content, was the fact that pretty much everybody had the same gear. I mean there was a wide range of gear, but the only items anyone actually wore were quest rewards or instance drops, and I quickly realized that there was not going to be anywhere near the scope for individuality in this game than there had been in WoW. I was especially annoyed by the 'legendary' lightsabers which seemed to mean that I could use one weapon for the entire game, more or less.

I don't remember the specifics, how accurate these complaints are... But I really genuinely wanted to get lost in that game and it didn't deliver. A real shame, looking at gameplay videos reminds me of how fun Coruscant was.

SWTOR was never a successor to WoW (which still doesn't have a functional successor, and at this point I really wish people would stop trying and start innovating). It seemed to grow more comfortable with its niche as a story-heavy solo-friendly MMO after its FTP transition, a role it shares with The Secret World. GW2 has also nudged in this direction with their Living Story. Makes them far more accessible as casual MMOs, but relatively non-functional as "lifestyle MMOs" that you sink thousands of hours into and play for years, unless you're completely bonkers for the IP and/or the social aspects.

 

[happyninja42]

Favorite Star Wars game franchise for me is The Force Unleashed. The mechanics of it were incredibly fun and satisfying for me. It was one of the first games that made me really feel like a Force wielding badass, and why the Jedi/Sith were truly a terror on the battlefield. I had so much fun playing with the Force, that I hardly ever used my lightsaber, and just used the Force to hurl tie-fighers and stormtroopers around like ragdolls. Most enjoyable. xD

The story of the first game was pretty decent too. I thought it was a fairly well developed plot, and had some well rounded characters in it. It wasn't the best storytelling I've ever seen, but it was hardly the worst I've experienced. The second game's story...eh, not so much. I only played that game one time, because the story was just dull. But the gameplay was very fun.

I'd love to see more Star Wars games using that physics engine for Force powers. It doesn't have to be about Starkiller, hell they could set it anywhere in the timeline. Just let me wield the Force like a badass and I'll be super happy.

 

[Something Amyss]

Rogue Squadron. This is more or less what I want from Star Wars space combat.

Most people will pick KOTOR, but it was always Bioware's weakest/shittiest RPG, from its M. Night Shyamalan twist to its creaky NWN engine to its hilariously binary good/evil dialogue where you could flip flop from hugging grandmas to kicking puppies in the span of a single conversation.

I don't have much in the way of love for the game, but it's so beloved I'm always surprised to see someone else not sing its endless praises.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Jedi Knight games. Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy especially. In fact I'm replaying them these days and there are still active servers if you're itching for some online Jedi action.

 

[happyninja42]

Jedi Knight games. Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy especially. In fact I'm replaying them these days and there are still active servers if you're itching for some online Jedi action.

You know, I remember playing Jedi Outcast for the first time, single player. And I recall the final boss fight. The lightsaber combat in that game was interesting, but also kind of funny. It could be brutally swift, which makes sense given the weapons involved.

So I was fighting the final boss, standing on that ledge above him where the cutscene places you. I remember switching to strong saber stance, and popping force speed as I jumped down to begin my epic final battle with this evil person!!......and I killed him in 2 swings of my saber. xD First swing broke his guard, and the second hit swiped through is middle in slow motion victory.

I remember thinking "...." *blink blink* "...no way. NO freaking way. I didn't just one shot the final boss of the game did I?!?" But yep, I did. xD It felt so anticlimactic, but also pretty enjoyable at the same time.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

While I love KOTOR because of how it offers an excellent RPG experience even beyond being related to Star Wars, it's probably one of my favorite experiences as far as the blending the Jedi in with the universe more effectively than the movies do. You actually see the corruption of the Jedi first hand, and the Old Republic does it even better from there.

However, the Rogue Squadron games offer up the other side of the experience with all of the space combat, and while Battlefront is kickass (at least the first two were, beta for the upcoming game was just kind of okay), I didn't like the vehicle controls.

So I voted for KOTOR, but Rogue Squadron sits on equal footing for me.

 

[EHKOS]

Starfighter is a good one. The Old Republic builds the world well, and is my favorite time period of the Star Wars universe. I can't remember if Rogue Squadron 3 was the one where you got to go on foot and briefly pilot an AT-AT.

I'm going to say they're all good. I picked up Episode 3 for the PS2 recently, only played the first level, but even that seemed fun. And while The Force Unleashed is pretty terrible, the force attacks are fun to use.

 

[Synigma]

Jedi Knight games. Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy especially. In fact I'm replaying them these days and there are still active servers if you're itching for some online Jedi action.

Ya there are few great games on that list but ultimately I think the Jedi Knight games take the cake because they make you FEEL like a jedi. The RPG ones are great rpgs but there is a disconnect between you and your characters where as in Jedi Knight you are blocking laser beams and force pushing people off cliffs in real time... it's just a very immersive experience.

 

[byte4554_v1legacy]

Battlefront I is one of my favorites, though mainly because it's the first real shooter (besides Half-life) that I got into.
The KOTOR series, which I'm replaying is good for the story alone, and the gameplay, playing it again...honestly, isn't too amazing. Engaging though, so... (Also, there's another debate entirely, I or II?)

One more though. Maybe it's just because I'm a young'n but the Lego games are actually pretty solid. And while the clone wars isn't going to be anyone's favorite setting, the Lego clone wars game has a pseudo-strategy mode that's pretty interesting (For a kids game). It's basically: Blow the enemy buildings up, so you can build more vehicles and trooper stations, to blow more stuff up.

 

[The Madman]

Either Kotor or the Jedi Knight series. Both are fantastic but for entirely different reasons...

Hmm, as much as I love Kotor 2, going to have to go with Jedi Knight I think. Kotor 1 is pretty damned neat but once you know its twist kinda loses a good bit of its allure, while Kotor 2 is only really a complete (And amazing) rpg experience with the added addition of fan patches. By contrast the Jedi Knight series has a whole collection of great games all fantastic right out of the box and boasting some of the most fun lightsaber combat depicted in a game to date.

Yep, Jedi Knight wins.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Rogue Squadron, hands down. Good controls, nice mechanics, excellent feel.

Knights of the Old Republic, of course, comes in as a solid second.

 

[MetalDooley]

Super Bombad Racing and Masters of Teras Kasi are the best SW games by far......




To give a serious answer - Rogue Squadron particularly the 2nd one Rogue Leader.As someone mentioned above it's exactly what I want from SW space combat.The Super Star Wars games on SNES and the KOTOR series would probably come in 2nd and 3rd

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

SWTOR has probably consumed more of my time than all the rest combined (completed all 8 stories, expansions included), but Rogue Squadron was more enjoyable overall for its brief stay. Galactic Starfighter can't really compare.

The two types of action the series is best remembered for are dogfights and lightsaber duels (and lots of blasters and running around but we already have an abundance of shooters). While games still stuggle to find a completely perfect simulation of the latter, there have been some great renditions of the former. I'd quit SWTOR for life if it meant being able to play a perfect online SW space sim with more variety in ships and missions, for instance a fleet battle mission where each team gets 8 players as their 'ace pilots' to turn the tide.

 

[Hochmeister]

Empire at War; basically Total War but Star Wars. Amazing mods too. Close second would be Rogue Squadron.