Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be releasing in theaters worldwide next week. But do you remember the time before Disney took over the galaxy? Well Unpause does! And we’ve dug through the sands of Tatooine and trudged through the ice of Hoth to come up with the Top 5 definitive Star Wars games.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
We definitely had to have a LEGO one in here. This action-adventure puzzler may be targeted at a younger audience, but there’s no shortage of references and gags that appeal to grown-ups, too. Swinging a lightsaber haphazardly and breaking things is a blast, especially with the movie-authentic sound effects and of course ‘inadvertently’ smacking our co-op partner and watching them explode into LEGO bits is always pretty damn entertaining too.
Don’t want to play as Luke Skywalker? Fine, swap over to one of the other 50-odd characters and mess around with their own unique abilities. LEGO Star Wars satisfies our eternal hunger for flashy lightsaber battles, and our equally eternal need to build LEGO contraptions, all in one go. The Complete Saga takes you through the events of all six movies, allowing you to relive everything from the dramatic dual of the fates, to the destruction of the second Death Star. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight 2 is the ultimate Jedi fantasy. The game lets you run around the galaxy fighting the Empire, slicing off any body part you want with a lightsaber, and using all of the Force powers seen in the movies.
Jedi Outcast makes you feel like a powerful Jedi Knight. Everything here is spot on, from the lightsaber clashes with your red-bladed, Reborn enemies, to the memorable encounters with powerful enemies and famous allies like Luke and Lando.
Multiplayer is a treat, too. Players can still be found online engaging in the usual swath of online multiplayer modes. But you can also find more dedicated groups of players taking part in movie-like, one-on-one lightsaber duels as spectators calmly look on. Yeah, that really happens. People get serious when it comes to lightsaber duels.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Thousands of years before the Emperor and Darth Vader ruled the galaxy with an iron fist, the Old Republic stood for over a thousand generations. That rich, rarely used history serves as the perfect setting for an ever-expanding MMO. BioWare jumped headfirst into this intriguing timeline with Star Wars: The Old Republic, giving players a vast, ancient galaxy to explore, unhindered by Star Wars movie canon.
In Star Wars: The Old Republic, you choose what type of hero or villain you want to be. You can take roles like a Jedi Knight struggling to maintain peace and justice, a shady Bounty Hunter looking to cash in on their next big contract, or a dedicated Imperial agent. Between the intricate storytelling of the main story (which is entirely unique to each class), abundant side-quests, and getting to know your ever-growing crew, The Old Republic lets you build your own space adventure one encounter at a time. It’s free-to-play if you’re feeling frugal, but subscribing lets you stick solely to main story quests, effectively offering eight epic BioWare stories in one place.
Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II
A Star Wars game was the Gamecube’s best launch title. Dropping players into the cockpits of a number of different ships from the Star Wars universe, amid some of the most memorable parts of the films, it’s as complete a Star Wars air-combat experience, as you could want.
Death Star trench run? It’s in there. The “It’s a trap!” battle above Endor? It has it. Not only is it in the game, but it’s done better than any other Hoth level in any other game before. Even today, the game looks beautiful, taking you to new and classic locations that range from the Cloud City of Bespin to hidden Imperial bases.
Rogue Leader is a blast to play giving you a chance to take on the Empire as you engage in dangerous frontal attacks on massive Star Destroyers and blast your way through innumerable enemy TIEs. This is the ultimate starfighter pilot experience.
Knights of the Old Republic
As to be expected with BioWare, Knights of the Old Republic has one of the most compelling narratives of any Star Wars game.
The universe – which is set during a completely different time period, thousands of years before the events of the movies – fleshes out the Star Wars lore in ways you’d never expect. You get to explore the galaxy when the Jedi Knights numbered in the thousands, discover the secrets of the ancient Sith, and even discover things like why Sandpeople hate outsiders so much.
Knights of the Old Republic is the definitive game for Star Wars fans. It has everything: witty characters, good versus evil, bucket-of-bolts starships and a plot twist that will blow your reverse power flux coupling.
