The Chewbacca Awards

1up.com is doing a comprehensive run-down of Star Wars video gaming. From the reprehensible Masters of Teras Kasi fighting game to the sublime story of the original Knights of the Old Republic, they have it all. From the article: "Whatever the case, nothing puts us quite in the mood for a pre-movie celebration like diving in and playing some good Star Wars videogames. With roughly 80 such games having come and gone over the past 20-some years, we figured now would be the perfect time to single out the best and worst that this beloved franchise has to offer."

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Shadows of the Empire

[DamienNightbane]

I'd say they were spot on with their placement of Shadows of the Empire as the best action game. I loved that game so much. I wish I still had my N64.

Re:RPG Amendment

[Mishura]

Yes. KoToR II was a great game.. until the endgame. Man I was disapointed. KoToR I is considered on of my favorite RPGs next to Planescape, BG, and Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X.

There is a mod project going on right now to sort of "finish" the ending using assets that were "deleted" yet not implemented or finished in the final game. I look forward to their completion so I can play KoToR II and not feel .. empty.

As far as that mod project, I forget the URL.. google it or scan the Obsidian forums for it.

Jedi Outcast...

[aztektum]

was way better than Dark Forces II. I've played both multiple times and I just think JO offers a better experience as a whole (it was the first SW game I *wanted* to finish, prior to KotOR, to see how it all worked out) And even for its time, DF II's graphics were piss poor.

I wish SWG would just die. Their complaint about there not being Jedi accessible to players is exactly how it should be based upon the time period. Now, from how it sounds, I guess just running through Mos Eisley on the right server you can see/hear numerous lightsabers being used. Launch bugs still exist, performance is abysmal and the run back and forth to get the same kill lair but in a diff. location mission is a joke.

The SNES platformers also were really weak when compared to really good games of the same genre (Super Metroid being the most obvious).

Of *ALL* the Star Wars games, the only above average ones are *both* KotOR games, JO, the X-Wing/TIE games and the first couple Rogue Squadron games. Yea KotOR II's story dies before the end but the game mechanics are still excellent.

I played a lot of Galactic Battlegrounds back in the day, but it's just Age of Empires II in a Star Wars theme. Not terribly unique. Empire at War so far has potential to be something special.

Star Wars Rebellion Was A Great Concept

[SirBruce]

I'm surprised they haven't tried remaking this game. It was a turn-based strategy 3x game with battles played out in 3D -- isn't that all the rage now? The concept was solid, and it had a lot of cool elements -- not only did you build a variety of rebel fleets, ships, ground forces, etc. to fight the empire from planet to planet, but the game also had all the special characters you could send on missions and such. Some could even become force sensitive!

It was a great idea that was sadly completely buried behind a horribly designed, low-res graphical interface that made it almost impossible to do anything. Had the game come out two years earlier minus a couple of features, it would have been great. And if they remade it today with modern graphics, a slick UI, and updated gameplay, it could be awesome.

Bruce

Re:Galaxies Sucked?

[Anonymous Coward]

So you never played Galaxies? In a word: Don't.

It makes no sense for it to win both best and worse game - but unfortunately I think the "best" award is pushing it given that the game really is as abysmal as they say it is under the "worst" category. It is undeniably the worst $50 I've ever spent on games, a mess of Daikatana proportions. I've not played a worse MMO, or a worse RPG. Ever.

It is a level grind from the very start. Just getting through the tutorial is a hassle - then the first 10 minutes of gameplay suck. Getting lost, confused and starting to hate the user interface. Then you start to figure out how to do things - and the game gets *worse* - not better. I wanted to like it. I really did. But it takes all the things that an MMO should do - and goes through the motions like a robot that simply doesn't get it. It's like they forgot to ask the most important question: "Is this fun?". The answer being: "No, it isn't".

The only thing that I would have to add is that the Jump To Lightspeed expansion also sucked. I bought it thinking that "oh, it'll be just like X-Wing". Nope. Very quickly (and through no fault of my own) I found myself in a situation where the cost to repair my own Tie-Fighter was vastly more than the money I was making on missions. Result: Limping around failing missions because I couldn't afford to repair my spaceship. Game over. The best course of action would have been to delete my character and start again.

So instead I stopped playing and cancelled my subscription.

Atari Star Wars

[bVork]

Yet more proof that 1Up is dominated by 'snes kiddies.' (People who have never played a console before the 16-bit generation.) The oldest game they list is from 1992.

The Star Wars arcade game by Atari was absolutely incredible. It is, by far, the best Star Wars action game ever. Heck, its one of the best action games ever.

They could've also mentioned The Empire Strikes Back on Atari 2600. That was a fun defender-type game on a system that couldn't handle defender that well.

Some of the categories seem stupid, too. Whats the point of an RPG category when there are two RPGs? A fighting category when there's one fighter? A better system would have been to group the games into three categories: Action (including platformers, the action-oriented flight combat games, FPS, fighting, and racing), Simulation (since there are a pile of Star Wars space sims, this deserves a seperate category from action), and Thinking (the RPGs, strategy games, board games, and that godawful Episode 1 adventure game).

And for the record, the best Star Wars game of all time is TIE Fighter. Somehow X-Wing VS TIE Fighter just didn't do it for me. But Atari Star Wars is the a close second. KOTOR1 is in third.