A History of Star Wars Video Games

GamePro has whipped up one of those “History of Star Wars Video Games” articles we see every once in awhile, which obviously sees the inclusion of Star Wars: Galaxies, Star Wars: KotOR, and Star Wars: KotOR II. Overall, 2003 was a pretty good year:

For the first time, Star Wars enters the realm of RPGs. Galaxies: An Empire Divided (PC) is Star Wars’ first MMO. It receives positive reception, but gameplay changes in 2005 result in an uproar from players from which the game has never recovered. More significant, the BioWare-developed Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC) amazes gamers with its morality system and story of betrayal and war. This epic tale of the Jedi Civil War 4,000 years before A New Hope not only launches a series-a sequel and an upcoming MMO, The Old Republic-but also carves out its own place in Star Wars Expanded Universe canon with comic books and other products. Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (N64) features more on-foot missions and co-op play consisting of missions from Rogue Leader. Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC) pits Katarn’s Jedi apprentice against a Sith cult (like other games in the series, it features endings for the Light Side and Dark Side). In Flight of the Falcon (GBA), you fly the Millennium Falcon as you fight Han Solo’s nemesis Boba Fett and his ship, Slave 1, and fly down a trench of a Super Star Destroyer. Star Wars: Starfighter also comes to arcades.