The Star Wars franchise is as old as gaming. Almost every single console or platform in the last 35 years has had at least one Star Wars game. First being Star Wars: Jedi Arena in 1983 and the latest is Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens this year (2016). The entire franchise has luckily had more hits than misses *coughs* Masters of Teras Kasi*coughs* and a lot of the better ones are on the PC. So get your gaming laptops and PCs ready so you can be part of the Star Wars lore.
The LEGO Star Wars series
In the last few years, LEGO’s popularity has exploded into an unstoppable plastic collectible monster, but it doesn’t just dominate the toy section. It has cemented a place in the annals of gaming. In the last few years, LEGO has released a variety of games based on the franchises that they have; games like Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and yes, Star Wars.
The LEGO Star Wars games are a fun and accessible way to introduce Star Wars to the younger generation, in particular for parents who want to get their younglings into the lore but feel that the movie series might be too much for them. The game successfully emulates the playing with toy feel with the gameplay.
The game isn’t just for kids, though. It’s fun and entertaining even for adults. Plus, the entire series is laden with references from the lore to make any hardcore Star Wars fan smirk.
The Jedi Knight Series
The 90s was a great and golden time for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The Jedi Knight series introduced several cult characters but none as famous as Kyle Katarn.
Kyle Katarn is a mercenary that learns the ways of the Force; he even becomes a Jedi Master (second only to Luke Skywalker). The story is so engaging and well-written that you get so involved in the growth of Kyle as an angry mercenary to a protective Jedi Master over the course of five games.
Gameplay-wise, the game is a first person shooter that develops into a third-person game. The first game in the series, Dark Forces, has one incredible claim to fame. It’s the first game to give players the ability to look up and down, meaning the first game to have free head movement.
The Force Unleashed
Springboarding from the reception to the gameplay of Jedi Outcast (from the Jedi Knight series), The Force Unleashed became a well-loved game because of the combat and the immersive feel of being a Sith warrior in training. It had some bugs, but the overall enjoyment of the game helped in making players overlook it.
Plus, the story was great. The story setting placed between the prequel and the original trilogy; it’s about Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller. Fun fact, Starkiller was the original name of Luke Skywalker in the initial draft of the first Star Wars movie. The best gaming laptop can be made even better by having this game in it.
Just don’t play the sequel. Do yourself that favor.
The Battlefront series
In the backdrop of all Star Wars movies is, well, war. In the midst of all the drama, mystery, adventure, and political issues in the films, war raged in the background. So it wasn’t surprising that there would be a series of Star Wars games set in all these conflicts.
The game was well-received because of the multiplayer options, as well as being able to fight on land and space. While on land, you can fight on foot or commandeer a vehicle. And space missions was more on dogfighting but with the option of invading an enemy vessel to take it down from the inside.
The games were so well-received that people still play the older versions to this day. And the reboot that came out recently has taken the gaming world by storm.
Last but not least.
The Old Republic Series
There is no game quite like it. Both games are similar in gameplay and the stories as so attached to each other that you’d be missing out on a lot if you only played one of the two. Painstaking care and deep respect are clearly evident in all aspects of the game. Legends and references that mentioned in full or off-hand in all the movies, books, shows and comics are part of it.
You start off with a nameless Force-user, whose allegiance (Jedi or Sith) is determined by your choices and that even affects the powers you end up using. Picking Jedi or Sith will change which characters you end up recruiting (and fighting) in the course of your story. You’d need a lot of playthroughs to see all of them and go through their fleshed out backstories.
But the game is a game that can be finished so if you still need your Old Republic fill and you don’t want to play the games again; there’s always the MMORPG. The Old Republic is also a popular and free to play MMO. You can enjoy the story in free mode and dive in the lore of the Old Republic.
***
There are a lot of other Star Wars games that you’d enjoy playing on your PCs and gaming laptops, but these are the more iconic and unforgettable ones. And the fun part is that these games and lots more are on Steam. Meaning you don’t have to search high and low for the older games.