Ranking The Golden Age of Star Wars Games
[List] There are many great Star Wars games of the late 90's and 2000's but which are the best?
This is going to be a very Star Wars-themed month on the Journal.
After putting together last month’s list, I realised that I played an absurd number of Star Wars games growing up; in the days of the PS2. Xbox and GameCube you had a Star Wars title for every genre.
I’m going to be focusing primarily on the late-1990’s to about the year 2010 with this list: what I would call the golden age of Star Wars games, which ended when The Force Unleashed 2 came out and was about 3 hours long and with its only innovation being a second lightsaber (I’m still annoyed about that game.) This isn’t an exhaustive list of every Star Wars game released in that period because some (Jedi Power Battles for one) I’ve never played and the modern EA games fall out of this timeline.
KOTOR - Top 3
Let’s get the easiest one out the way first: KOTOR is the best Star Wars game ever made.
KOTOR has the greatest plot-twist in video game history, a cast of fantastic characters, unforgettable locations an the alignment system paired with 2 distinct endings gives KOTOR heaps of replay value too; I’ve been playing and replaying this game for about 20 years: since I was a kid. I just reviewed this game so I won’t talk too much on it here.
KOTOR II - Top 3
I’ll be reviewing KOTOR II next week so I don’t want to betray my thoughts on this game just yet. What I will say for now is that KOTOR II has a few small but welcome gameplay improvements, I love the atmosphere and Kreia is an amazing character but I have a preference for the first game overall. KOTOR II fans can be pretty annoying, this is one of those sequels the internet is obsessed with.
Ideally, you should play these games one after the other for a combined 40-50 hour runtime and the full story but they are disconnected enough to work alone.
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - Great
Other than KOTOR, Jedi Knight II: Outcast and Academy are in my opinion, the best Star Wars games.
Jedi Outcast features some maze-like level design and some seriously cheap sections but also a more coherent story and a darker atmosphere than its sequel; both titles have the best lightsaber combat ever designed. I played an ungodly amount of this on my Xbox as a kid and recently just started replaying it there but this is a title that’s best on PC. It’s a shame Disney has wiped Kyle Katarn off the face of the galaxy, if you weren’t aware then he was the character who retrieved the Death Star plans before the EU was made non-canon.
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy - Top 3
The topic of Jedi Outcast vs Jedi Academy is still debated today but this is where I fall on the debate: I grew up with Outcast but I prefer Academy.
I really love that game structure where there are many short missions as opposed to around 8-12 longer ones; Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is like this and so is Jedi Academy. The addition of double-bladed and dual wielding lightsabers perfects the fantastic combat introduced in Outcast and you can even choose to join the Sith in your campaign (which features a fully customisable character) for 2 different endings. Jedi Academy’s multiplayer is amazing, life and time zones got in the way but I have fond memories of playing with this small group in 2021, costume mods are commonplace so it’s not unusual to see Darth Vader fighting Darth Revan.
Rogue Squadron: Good
I grew up with the GameCube port of Ocarina Of Time so Rogue Squadron was actually the first N64 game I ever played; I was gifted the console for my 9th birthday, that was awesome, I miss when retro gaming was dirt cheap.
Rogue Squadron, in my opinion, is a better arcade-style flying game than Ace Combats 1 and 2 on the PlayStation, the missions are fun and varied, your starfighter choices have more defined niches and the graphics, particularly if you use the Expansion Pak, are high-end by N64 standards. Squadron is only this low because its GameCube sequels took things to the next level.
Rebel Strike And Rogue Leader: Great
Rebel Strike and Rogue Leader blew me away on the GameCube growing up. Like I’ve said before, even to idiot kids like me, it was obvious that the original Xbox was the most powerful machine of its day, so seeing the GameCube manage graphics that looked this good was spectacular.
It’s been a very long time since I last played these 2 so I’m putting them together on the list and counting them as equals. The graphics are superb, the spacecraft selection is wider, missions are varied and challenging. Somehow, they managed to squeeze the entirety of Rogue Leader onto Rebel Strike’s disc as a CO-OP experience. I remember the ground missions being ineffectual but the speeder bike one on Endor seems to be a favourite online.
Star Wars Bounty Hunter - Average
Star Wars Bounty Hunter might be one of the most mixed reputation games released under the Star Wars IP; both me and friends I’ve had in the past were able to converse fondly about this game while all of us simultaneously remembering the bullshit difficulty.
Bounty Hunter is a less a bounty hunting game and more like an action platformer/third person shooter starring Jango Fett, there are a lot of fun levels and it’s impressive looking for the day but I remember the difficulty being a bad joke and the controls get a lot of stick. Worth trying but don’t expect an amazing game.
Jedi Starfighter - Average
Jedi Starfighter is a game that reviewed well and yet nobody talks about it today, the online discourse I can find isn’t particularly positive either.
I can’t remember much of this game other than not liking it very much. The implementation of force powers is a bit odd -Jedi don’t use force lightning because it draws on emotions that are against the Jedi philosophy- and I remember the game being more focused on a plot I didn’t care about (when the Rogue Squadron games before it knew what you were really there for) I might get some stick for this but compared to the original trilogy I don’t think the prequels’ ship and fighter designs have aged as well either; the Clone Venator-class is awesome but let’s be honest: it’s awesome because it looks like the Star Destroyer.
Super Bombad Racing - Bad
Super Bombad Racing has become a bit of a meme in the past decade because of its appalling soundtrack but I’m one of the poor sods who played this growing up and it wasn’t just the soundtrack that was crap.
Super Bombad Racing was one of the many kart racing games that came out in the late-PS1/early-PS2 era who wanted to sponge off Mario Kart’s popularity and offer a similar experience for players on other consoles but Crash Team Racing this is not, Super Bombad Racing features a hideous chibi art-style, insipid music and garbage tracks. Don’t play this one. Racer Revenge isn’t an amazing game either but it’s a better option than this.
Racer Revenge - Average
Star Wars Racer Revenge is a racing game based off the pod racing sport seen in The Phantom Menace; whereas in the films this was only seen on Tatooine, Racer Revenge has courses across multiple different planets.
Racer Revenge isn’t a fantastic racing game but it looks, feels and sounds like the pod racing from the films and considering that sequence is one of the better parts of The Phantom Menace there is an appeal there. Furthermore it has an interesting perma-death mechanic where racers who crash and blow up are out for the rest of the race and you can collect additional prize money by taking out other racers.
The Force Unleashed - Good
Like I said earlier, there used to be a Star Wars-themed foot in every genre’s door; The Force Unleashed is Star Wars’ God Of War equivalent. The hack and slash, button prompt heavy combat of those first 3 titles is brought across and given a huge splash of Sith goodness.
The Force Unleashed has a couple of different versions but the one I remember best is the PS2 version. This game may have pilfered its formula from God Of War for the most part but it told a great story, its non-canonicity allowed for a fantastic power fantasy and it’s not that often you get to play as the villain in Star Wars outside of actively choosing to do so in KOTOR or as Imperial cannon fodder. If you played the 360 and PS3 version of this game back in the day then I recommend trying it on the previous generation and the Wii.
The Clone Wars - Bad
The Clone Wars was Pandemic’s pre-Star Wars Battlefront attempt at the licence: a clunky, boring and ugly looking vehicle combat game that begins on Geonosis and then takes you across the galaxy fighting the CIS.
This was one of those games I got as a kid where I played 1-2 levels and barely ever picked it up again. I’ve heard the multiplayer (which you can now access again via Insignia on the original Xbox) was quite fun but that wasn’t my experience of the game, my experience was trying to pilot vehicles through ugly missions on the PS2 and feeling a bit annoyed that only the first mission had anything to do with Attack Of The Clones.
Lego Star Wars I & II - Good
Before TT’s Lego games completely oversaturated the market there was only Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, I had both of these growing up and while not the best games ever made they were an easy pick for CO-OP and had plenty to unlock.
Later on, these 2 games were bundled together and re-released in full HD on the Xbox 360 as The Complete Saga, which was actually one of the first 360 games I ever played. Since The Skywalker Saga essentially reimagines these titles, I recommend grabbing TCS if you want to relive these today.
The Force Unleashed 2 - Bad
Even as a 10 year old I found The Force Unleashed 2 incredibly disappointing; this game’s special edition was bought for me as a treat since I was soon to finish primary school and the day it came out I was unlucky enough to be booked in to get some shots at the doctor (no, not the fun kind.)
I finished it twice the day after it came out and for a whole weekend I tried completing it as fast as possible, with as little damage as possible, every difficulty etc. etc. and I just couldn’t believe the game was really that short and that the rest of the game was hidden behind some kind of performance barrier… but it really was just that short. TFU II’s story paled in comparison to the original and the gameplay didn’t really innovate either; by the time its DLC was released, I’d already sold the game.
The Old Republic - Great
The Old Republic falls slightly outside this article’s timeline as it released in 2011 but I wanted to include it; if you can look past the fact that SWTOR is an MMO then it’s almost like a third KOTOR game.
SWTOR is focused on solo or cooperative questing rather than PVP or grinding for loot; there are over 700 hours of quests if you want to complete the storyline for every class in this MMO and all of them are voiced with some big names like David Hayter and Cam Clarke in here too. As well as that, there are years worth of expansions which you gain permanent access too just for signing up for one month of their very affordable subscription model, as a result, this is the only MMO I’ve ever become a paid member in. If you can stomach the tab-targeting combat and repetitive MMO gameplay then there is a lot to love here and you never feel compelled into multiplayer if you don’t want to.
Before I get complaints, Star Wars Galaxies was gone by the time I was online gaming regularly.
Obi Wan - Average
The original Xbox exclusive Obi Wan game isn’t generally looked back on too fondly but I enjoyed the lightsaber combat, the graphics are impressive and the boss fights were quite fun so I’m putting it in average.
Obi Wan suffers from some huge difficulty spikes, the use of the right stick for the lightsaber instead of the camera makes things awkward and Obi Wan’s voice actor isn’t very convincing but for the sake of cheapness and the historical curiosity that is this forgotten Xbox exclusive, I recommend giving Obi Wan a try.
Republic Commando - Good
Republic Commando is like an entry-level Tom Clancy game for Star Wars fans, you have squad commands, a breaching system and a tone that strays closer to that techno-thriller feel of his novels and the games based upon them.
Republic Commando has a fantastic soundtrack, a likeable cast of characters and takes place across 3 highly memorable locations but I replayed it recently and unfortunately, the game is let down by a small enemy roster and repetitive gunplay; you get 4 basic weapons to use from the beginning and all the others bar 1 LMG are terrible. It’s a shame the sequel never came to pass.
The Revenge Of The Sith Tie-In - Good
Revenge Of The Sith is probably Gen Z’s favourite Star Wars film. From my own perspective, this was the firs tone I watched -on a VHS in 2005- before I dived into the rest of the series. It’s no wonder than that many of us grew up with the tie-in game.
Revenge Of The Sith isn’t a masterpiece or anything but it has a serviceable, combo-based lightsaber combat system, the graphics were quite good for the time, bosses are fought from a 3D fighting game perspective and the local CO-OP where you can duel your buddy on controller 2 was great fun. There was even an alternate ending where Anakin kills Obi Wan and Palpatine seizing the galaxy for himself.
The Classic Battlefronts - Great
Let’s end on a high note: the classic Battlefront games, of which I played 1, 2 and Renegade Squadron for PSP, are fantastic. Renegade Squadron for PSP was even the first game I ever played in online multiplayer.
As I said last month, I think Battlefront 1 has the sequel topped in infantry combat and map quality but general game balance, the vehicles and extra features make Battlefront 2 the most popular today, there are countless mods out there. Renegade Squadron was like a slimmed down Battlefront 2 with higher levels of customisation and smaller maps: a perfect handheld conversion and one I have fond memories of being surprised with after school one day.
There are a couple of games I didn’t include in this ranking, like Star Wars Lethal Alliance and the original Starfighter which I’m convinced I played but have next to no recollection of.
Thank you very much for reading to the end. The majority of my readers don’t leave a like on their way out so I’d really appreciate it if you did, it does wonders for the publication. I’d love to chat as well, so be sure to comment.
Subscribe for more articles just like this one and please consider a monthly subscription or one-time donation to my Ko-Fi page via the ‘Support Scanlines’ button below. I also run a science fiction publication where I publish stories roughly every week, I encourage you to give it a read.
Good job recognising KOTORs and SWTOR as all time greats. I feel if they had made SWTOR a single player game like the KOTORs, it could be legendary. But alas, capitalism won.
I'd have said Republic Commando was excellent. Forgot some great ones too, Dark Forces, X-Wing, TIE FIghter, X-Wing Alliance, Empire At War, Galaxies (this one also thr only realy amd true MMO where you could do anything you wanted, you weren't lead to anything. It was a true sandbox)