The 10 best Star Wars games of all time

The 10 best Star Wars games of all time

Happy Star Wars Day! No, there’s no new film out, it’s a pun on the date. Get it? Oh nevermind. No matter what the date is there’s a Star Wars game out there for you to play, and while they haven’t all been stonkers – Kinect Star Wars, anyone? – there are plenty that will remind you why you fell in love with the films in the first place. Here are 10 of the very best from the past 25 years.

10) Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (1999)

We may never know why Sega opted not to bring Star Wars Trilogy to the Dreamcast, but it was one of the most stunning arcade games ever released when it debuted in 1999. Revisiting the classic films for a cinematic rail shooter, it put the Model 3 hardware to great use, immersing you in key moments from the series. Assault on the Death Star? Battle of Hoth? Speeders through the Endor forest? We’re excited just reminiscing about it. Available on: Arcade

9) Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005)

Republic Commando strikes an odd tone for a Star Wars game: it doesn’t star Jedi warriors or have most of the familiar sights and sounds of the series. In fact, it looks like a cross between Halo and Metroid Prime more than anything. Yet this squad-based shooter did a great job of focusing on a relatively unexplored part of the universe, putting you in command of a chatty group of elite clone soldiers. It’s an unexpected highlight. Available on: PC, Xbox

8) Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999)

The pod racing sequence is one of the rare scenes in Episode I that briefly makes you forget about the existence of Jar Jar Binks, and sure enough, the racing game based on it is arguably the best game based on all three prequels. It’s a Wipeout-esque affair, as you zip around in the rocket-propelled pod avoiding hazards and outrunning rivals. It looks like hell now (especially on N64), but the sense of speed then was incredible. Available on: N64, PC, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color

7) Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007)

It’s easy to forget now, what with seemingly hundreds of licensed Lego games, but Lego Star Wars was the first to render a pop culture juggernaut in virtual plastic bricks and douse the result with plenty of humour. Following a separate game for each film trilogy, The Complete Saga brought it all together in one extra-large game, complete with new and redone levels. It’s a gigantic smash-and-bash game that’ll have you grinning with mates. Available on: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS, iOS, Android

6) Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (1997)

Whereas the original Dark Forces was more or less a Doom-alike, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II went well beyond to make you feel like a proper Jedi in a 3D world. Lightsaber duels, Force powers… it helped Jedi Knight seem distinct from the juggernaut shooters of the era (like Quake II). That was especially true in the new multiplayer mode, wherein lightsabers swung freely through the tight corridors. Good luck in there. Available on: PC

5) Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994)

If you only played console games in the early-to-mid ’90s, you missed out on truly captivating Star Wars space sims, starting with X-Wing. One year later, TIE Fighter applied much the same formula, but taking command of the titular ship and fighting as the Empire put a fresh spin on the franchise, and made things more thrilling. A couple more sequels followed, but TIE Fighter is considered the best of the bunch, and still one of the franchise’s top games. Available on: PC

4) Super Star Wars (1993)

Remember when Luke fought that Sarlacc Monster in the first 10 minutes of A New Hope? How about when he then had to leap between moving platforms on a Jawa sandcrawler? No? So Super Star Wars takes liberties with the source material to amp up the action, but the end result is an awesome and challenging run-and-gun side-scroller. It’s one of the earliest licensed games that we remember truly loving, and it spawned stellar sequels too. Available on: SNES, Wii, PS4, PS Vita

3) Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)

Now this inclusion might be controversial but hear us out. Battlefront II is brilliant at capturing the cinematic experience in FPS form, with environments, characters and weapons that look and feel just like what’s up on the big screen. The 40-player online battles are immense, while the single-player campaign is a real step up from the glorified tutorial of the first game. Sure, EA messed up the launch and put a lot of people off but the progression system has now been fixed, meaning you can get on with the serious business of having fun. Available on: PC, Xbox One, PS4

2) Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001)

Arguably still the finest original trilogy-spanning game ever created, Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader took the strong core of the N64 original and elevated the flight combat experience with the added power of the GameCube. It was a stunning achievement for its time, and pretty easily the best launch title on the system, letting you zip through iconic moments as part of the X-Wing crew. Truth be told, it still looks pretty decent now. Available on: GameCube

1) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)

Knights of the Old Republic eschewed the films’ timeline, yet still delivered an engrossing tale—one that you could shape as you made decisions and nudged either way on the Force spectrum. BioWare’s seminal role-player is widely considered one of the strongest licensed games ever created, and it helped pave the way for the studio’s beloved Mass Effect series, too. Knights of the Old Republic II isn’t as consistently strong, but it’s still recommended. Available on: Xbox, PC, iOS, Android, Mac