The Best Star Wars Games of All Time

PC Gamer has pushed out a list of Star Wars titles that are, according to their estimation, the best of all times. I doubt many will be surprised by the fact that it includes both of the Knights of the Old Republic titles (the original is ranked 5th, while Obsidian’s sequel only reaches the 9th position), but I have to confess I wasn’t expecting Star Wars: Galaxies to also end up in it.

Here’s why PC Gamer felt the sandbox MMO deserved a mention:

Star Wars Galaxies should have been one of the most important MMOs ever made. It had the ambition and the credentials for it one of Ultima Online’s lead designers creating a fully-3D persistent world where everything was driven by players. A ground-to-space simulation of the Star Wars universe with player houses, player cities, player ships, player factions. It’s the dream that currently powers Star Citizen, and it almost saw the light of day a decade ago. I’m still a little heartbroken that it didn’t. SWG sits near the top of the list of my personal games of all time, and I’m still angry about the way it all panned out.

This was an extraordinary game for roleplayers. The chance to just live in a totally open, totally customisable simulation of the Star Wars universe was an irresistible one, and when it worked, it worked wonderfully. I feel like Roy Batty at the end of Blade Runner saying this, but man I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. I’ve played through Star Wars stories that you’ll never get a chance to because they only existed because of the power SWG gave its players. I’ve taken down a rival bounty hunter in a duel in the streets of Bestine. I’ve flipped an Imperial gunboat upside-down so that the fleeing spy manning the top-mounted railgun can get a clear shot at the A-Wing on our tail.

Star Wars Galaxies was killed by two things: balance problems and its license. The former is something that should have been handled with far more care, and the latter is something that shouldn’t have been a problem at all. When the game was conceived, Star Wars was a place somewhere you could sent an MMO. By the time the game matured, Star Wars had become a set of symbols, and the game was ripped apart by the need to cram as many of them into it as possible. Iconic ‘theme park’ worlds. Collectible movie trinkets. A little button at the start that lets you be a Jedi by clicking a picture of Luke Skywalker. All of this was utterly contrary to the spirit of the game SOE originally set out to make, but it can’t take away from how many wonderful experiences I managed to have before it all fell apart.

I think I’m still angry about it, guys. Wait, no. I’m definitely still angry about it.