Best Star Wars Games Trial And Space
Best Star Wars Games Series To Legendary
Best Star Wars Games Zip Around Flattened

Best Star Wars Games Trial And Space

Developer Petroglyph, harboring designers whod worked on pioneering the real-time strategy games Dune II and Command Conquer, folded competent terrestrial and space-based real-time strategy battles into a galaxy-spanning meta campaign that gave players control of heroic figures like Leia, Han Solo, Darth Vader and the Emperor himself.

That, if you hadnt heard, is Disneys controversial wave-of-the-hand relegation of everything not the films, TV shows or recent books to maybe it diddidnt happen status.

So much for Luke Skywalker rubbing elbows with Kyle Katarn, or you usurping a 4,000-year-old Sith Lord to become one yourself.

But never mind that, because games are innately anti-canonicalsubversions in their DNA.

And while some on this list were more genre acolytes than pioneers when they first appeared a decade or more ago, a few managed to be exemplars of the medium for their time.

My only guideline in culling these 10 from the record books, was that they had to be playable on currently available platforms.

So think of these as less a best Star Wars games ever lineup (though theyre nearly that) than the best you can sample without having to track down the original hardware or software.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Arguably the apotheosis of all the Star Wars games, Biowares Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic transported players thousands of years into the galaxys past, folding iconic lore like Jedis, Sith Lords, lightsabers and droids into a baroque reinterpretation of Lucass science fantasy verse.

Youll find some wholl swear Biowares take on Star Wars bests even the original trilogy (including The Empire Strikes Back ), and given the caliber of games Bioware was releasing at the time (both Baldurs Gate installments), its easy to see why.

How to play: Android, iOS, GOG.com, Mac, Steam Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords was a bug-riddled and unfinished mess when it first arrived in late 2004.

Time and sufficient patching have thankfully rectified most of its shortcomings, allowing players to experience one of the most insightful and reflective Star Wars stories on the books.

How to play: GOG.com, Steam, Star Wars: The Old Republic What if the esteemed studio that gave us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic crafted a modern MMO that revisited the eras storied 4,000-year-old playground EAs Star Wars: The Old Republic, released in 2011 and still going strong, capitulates to MMO tropes (like fetch-and-deliver quests ad infinitum), but dressed in better-than-average, more personalized storylines.

Best Star Wars Games Series To Legendary

How to play: swtor.com Star Wars: TIE Fighter Sure, 1993s Star Wars: X-Wing was terrific, but it took 1994s TIE Fighter to catapult developer Totally Games series to legendary status.

For the first time in gaming history, players could campaign for the other side, exploring the Empires strangely compelling machinations--peace by the sword--through ingenious white-knuckled sorties, piloting vulnerable Imperial star fighters without combat backstops like deflector shields.

How to play: GOG.com Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga My favorite moment in the friendly, rollicking, collection-angled Lego Star Wars games happens early on, in Lego Star Wars itself when youre poking around Mos Eisley, playing co-op with a friend.

At one point you come across a pile of unassembled Lego bits and bobs.

But tap a button to whip the mess together, and youll find yourself staring down an Imperial AT-ST.

At which point my companion yelled: We just built our own boss monster How to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Steam Super Star Wars Im skirting my platform stricture here, but if youre still rocking a Wii, you can pull this platforming run-and-gun down via Nintendos Virtual Console for 800 points (8).

Best Star Wars Games Zip Around Flattened

Take note of the games first-person, pseudo-3D levels, where you can zip around flattened Tatooine landscapes in Lukes land speeder, lobbing energy balls at enemies.

Nintendo called this Mode 7 back in the day, and while it looks dated today, seeing it in games like F-Zero and Super Star Wars in the early 1990s was a revelation.

How to play: Virtual Console (Wii) Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II stands as the first Star Wars game that let you experience, however crudely, the combat life of a Jedi Knight.

Other games had let you swing the franchises iconic lightsaber or pull off Force tricks from sidewise perspectives, but Dark Forces II put that lightsaber (and those force powers) in your hands, then leveled the camera where your eyes would be, propelling you through puzzle-filled levels flush with enemies you could optionally choke or throw or envelop with tendrils of bluish lightning.

And it remains an essential play if the whole be a Jedi Knight thing ranks high on your list of Star Wars -ian fantasies.

Best Star Wars Games Free For Mac