Photo courtesy of Edgecast.com | The 2005 video game allows players to truly enter the Star Wars universe by playing as a Battle Droid invading Naboo or Rebels invading Endor. Players can choose whether they align with the Dark Side or the Light Side.
1. Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Pandemic, 2005)
No, this game is not the recent disaster EA’s Battlefront 2. This game was released in 2005 by Pandemic Studios to much critical acclaim and is widely considered to be the Star Wars game that all other Star Wars games are compared to. Allowing players to play as Battle Droids invading Naboo or Rebels on Endor, this game had it all. Ever wonder what would happen if heroes from both eras duked it out in the Mos Eisley Cantina from A New Hope? What if you wanted to play as a Wampa from The Empire Strikes Back and just punch Rebels into oblivion for invading the ice planet Hoth? Want to fly an X-wing into an Imperial Star Destroyer, land and destroy its shields from the inside while fighting off Storm Troopers, then steal a TIE Fighter and destroy the bridge while being shot at from all around? You can find out the answers to these questions, do all this and more in this original Battlefront 2. Even though this game is more than 10 years old, it is available on Steam for only $9.99 to download.
2. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Tell Tale Games, 2007)
This game combines my two favorite games of all time, LEGO Star Wars 1 and 2, and adds tons of bonus features. This game tells the stories of the first six movies in endearing fashio, not using any dialogue to humorously recap the two trilogies in brick form. For example, and spoiler alert for The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader doesn’t tell Luke that he is his father; instead, he takes out a picture of Anakin Skywalker and Padme and shows it to him. This kind of humor is packed in with bonuses that include an arena mode where you can fight a friend in co-op, levels that were cut from the first two games and an unlockable Indiana Jones character. This game holds a special place in my heart, and it’s great that it’s available for download in the iOS and Google Play stores.
3. Star Wars: Empire at War Gold Pack (Petroglyph Games, 2006)
Now this game is a little more obscure than the others on this list, but that does not make it any less fun. This is a real-time strategy game that literally lets you live out Star Wars, as you are the commander of an army and must secure the Galaxy for good or evil. Even though the game has an interesting campaign mode, it truly shines in the Galactic Conquest mode. It is here where you must pick a side, create armies and battle for planets on the ground and in space. Its expansion, Forces of Corruption, introduces the never-before-seen — or heard from since — Zann Consortium, allowing you to create new ways of conquering the Galaxy through crime. This classic is available for download on Steam for $19.99, but watch for sales when The Last Jedi comes out.
4. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (Raven Software, 2003)
Before Disney bought Star Wars in 2012, it did away with the old expanded universe that was set by Lucasfilm. It’s too bad, because this game is one of the first to tell what happened in the years following Return of the Jedi. I won’t spoil much of the story, but this game allows you to create a new Padawan learner who attends Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. It is here where you will go on various missions for Luke, using either Light Side or Dark Side abilities. This game is a classic and has both a Light Side and Dark Side ending, and is worth every penny of $9.99 to download on Steam.
5. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Bioware, 2003)
This game answers a question that not many people ask: what was the Star Wars universe like 4000 years before Luke Skywalker boarded the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope? Knights of the Old Republic an action RPG that tells the story of the Jedi and Sith Wars, and your character’s quest to find the legendary Star Forge to use for either the Light Side or the Dark. Knight of the Old Republic takes you to new and familiar planets, and introduces some of the more memorable characters in the Star Wars universe. My personal favorite charcter? HK-47, the assassin droid you meet who wants to kill all organic life, or “Meatbags”, he meets. Knights of the Old Republic is available for download on Steam and on the iOS/Google Play store for $9.99.
By: Jack Dunn ~Staff Writer~