Personally it would be Republic Commando - the books were good too, but I just want a sequel!
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight
This one for me. Such a solid, classic shooter. Only problem was the first level or so was obnoxiously hard, at least for 10 year old me.
This was the era when FMV cutscenes existed. So much glorious B-movie acting.
KOTOR 1+2 and battle front 2.
Oh I can’t forget about the GOAT empire at war.
Easy. X-wing vs Tie Fighter. Had so much fun with those games on the PC back then.
I would go further back and say the original X-Wing and TIE fighter 1993-1994
Yes I played the heck out of those two games as well. I just liked xvt better because it brought the best of both those games together.
A huge part of that game’s impact came from the sound (music + sound effects). They really sold the illusion that you were in a starfighter, and the incredibly low-res polygons in front of you were other spacecraft.
Definitely Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars Battlefront II
Knights of the Old Republic, especially the second one with the restored content mod.
Star Wars: Rebellion by a long shot. And that’s saying something considering how much I loved Jedi Academy and X-Wing vs TIE.
Having characters run missions that shaped the course of the Galaxy really helped the game write its own stories in the Star Wars universe. Things could happen like Chewie becoming force sensitive, getting trained by Luke, and then Chewie could lead a mission to blow up a Death Star!
The constant cat and mouse game between the Rebels and the Empire was exciting. The game has kind of been reimplemented in a board game by the same name by Fantasy Flight Games. The board game is good, but there’s still magic about the original that I haven’t seen replicated anywhere else.
Rebellion was one of my first strategy games and I absolutely loved following the careers of all the characters I read about in the books. It’s what built the foundation of my love for grand strategy games like Stellaris.
Jedi Academy has always been my favorite, love the lightsaber combat in that one
Yesss!! I really feel like they nailed lightsaber combat in Jedi Academy. I loved all the different stances and styles you could learn
Kotor hands down. Yet to find another star wars game that engaged me the same way
I liked the Rogue Squadron games…and obviously Episode I: Racer. Played the hell out of Racer.
KOTOR is the obvious choice, but there’s a part of me that feels really nostalgic for Super Star Wars on the SNES.
Galaxies. RIP
RIP 😭
I’ve always loved Galactic Battlegrounds because RTS are fun. Rebellion is another great one that another commenter mentioned. I was also a fan of Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy and replaced them on switch a year or two back.
forcebuild
forcesightGalactic Battlegrounds brings back memories
There are a few contenders which I struggle to choose between. Battlefront II (2005) was my go-to PS2 title for which I still hold a soft spot. The freedom to hop into a ship, dogfight through space, infiltrate an enemy capital ship, sabotage their systems, and cause massive damage from within honestly captured my imagination in a way no other game has quite managed to do.
The Force Unleashed (2008), on the other hand, stands out as one of the few Star Wars games that fully embraces the medium’s potential for indulging in power fantasies that unashamedly put you right in the middle of iconic characters and locations from the films. While the story is lacking in isolation, it serves its purpose as an excuse to allow players to step into the role of dark side using hero who gets chance to fight both rebels and imperials alike, along with Jedi, and even Darth Maul (sort of). It went so far as to even lets you defeat Darth Vader and take on the Emperor, a level of pandering to fans that LucasFilm seems to have forgotten games are uniquely well suited to provide compared to any other medium.*
Curiously, my favorite I think might be the one I have the least to talk about. Empire at War (2006) has a spectacular modding scene, granting it a longevity and replayability that has me coming back to it even to this day. It’s because of of how I find myself still returning to play it, rather than just nostalgically reminiscing about it, that I’m inclined to name it as my favourite.
*The excessive protectiveness alluded to is largely rooted in my discontent over hearing that DICE had planned for the the Bespin DLC of Battlefront (2015) to include some form of Battlefield style “levolution” in which AT-ATs advancing through the Cloud City would damage/destroy buildings… Only to be shut down due to concerns from LucasFilm about damaging the image it has as a pristine city in the sky. I feel this level of protectiveness only serves as a barrier to developers trying to give players a fun experience. Hell, I recall reading that the Fallen Order team had to fight hard just to have their main character to be an actual Jedi, as LucasFilm were uneasy about allowing use of the “Jedi” title and instead pushing for him to be an unaffiliated force user…
X-Wing (1993). I’m old. It is still one of the best games I’ve ever played.
I spent so many hours on that game as a kid. I had a Sidewinder joystick on my Acer i386 running Windows 3.11.
Years later I played X-wing: Alliance but it just wasn’t the same.