Star Wars Games--Why Are They So Bad? (1 Viewer)

[Rob_Pierce]

I don't know how everyone else feels, but as a huge Star Wars fan, I feel pretty dissapointed in the vast majority of SW console games. I don't play PC games so I can't comment on those, but quality SW console games are few and far between.

Both Rogue Squadrons are good, especially II on the GC, but other than that, few exist. The Super Nintendo games were also fun, but games like Obi-Wan, Jedi Power Battles, and Super Bombad racing are average at best. The latest game, Bounty Hunter, had all the elements of a great game (good story, fun gadgets, very cool character), but the game was poorly put together and overall not very fun. The two Star Fighters were fair and I don't even want to play the Clone Wars. I have great hope for Knights of the Old Republic, but only because it is created by a third party.

Am I being overly critical and unfair, or am I justified in holding SW games to a higher standard? Also, what does everyone think about more third party games? I know this is not likely (I'm sure Lucas Arts is a cash cow for Georgie-boy), but Lucas Arts simply does not make good games, no matter how much I want them to. All I ask for is a solid RPG with Luke, Han, Vader, Yoda, or any other character who is not completely made up just to suck cash out of SW fans. Sorry to rant, but I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The console games aren't that great
You need to play PC games. Jedi Knight 2 is a much better game on PC, all the X-Wing/Tie Fighter titles are superb

 

[Graeme Clark]

The PC Games have all been pretty hit or miss also. Rebel Assaults, Force Commander, Rebellion, and a smattering of console ports all come to mind immediatly along with the great X-Wing/Tie Fighter and Dark Forces games.

Part of the problem is that most of the guys that designed the majority of LucasArt's great games have all left, and it seems their replacements haven't been able to match the old guys. Who there is filling Ron Gilert, Time Schaefer, Larry Holland, Justin Chin, and Larry Ahern's shoes over there?

Obviously LA figured out that whoever they have not can't quite compete anymore, so they've outsourced alot of their projects to other teams that are very good at what they do. So now Verant gets to do an MMORPG, Bioware gets to do an RPG, Raven got to do a FPS, and Pandemic does a tank/action game (and an RTS was built of the existing AOE engine). This is great because A) We get some pretty good games (although not a superb as the classics) and B) LucasArts can now revisit some old classic Adventure franchises and hopefully revive the adventre genre to some degree.

We may hold the Star Wars games up to somewhat higher standards, simply because we've seen what can be done with games in the Star Wars universe, and it's a terrible shame to see the best movie license ever go to waste on a poor game.

Keep some faith, and try and sift your way through the bad, and eventually you'll get to the good.

 

[Kelley_B]

One of the greatest games of all time is a Star Wars game, Tie Fighter on the PC.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Lawrence Holland's group is still contracting for LucasArt. They're doing a WW2 flightsim game

 

[Mark Evans]

Graeme hit the nail right on the head though, LucasArts no longer has all the stars that made them great these days. Unfortunately they were pretty much forced out of the adventure game market since so few of us enjoy adventure games these days (naturally that WOULD be my favorite genre) that no game will sell enough to turn a profit.
As for the Star Wars games, yes, I think overall the quality is about half-and-half for both console and PC. In defence of the PC though, Rebel Assault was originally a CD game for one of the consoles first I believe

 

[Romier S]

Unfortunately they were pretty much forced out of the adventure game market since so few of us enjoy adventure games these days (naturally that WOULD be my favorite genre) that no game will sell enough to turn a profit.

Thankfully there are some lower key companies out there working to make a bit of a come back for the adventure game genre. One day hopefully Funcom will have the smarts to do a follow-up to The Longest Journey (Such a good game) and get off of thier MMORPG fixation.
Microids is one great up and comer in this category. If you have not played Syberia yet I highly recommend it. Microids has already announced the sequel: Syberia 2 (original eh?).

 

[Kelley_B]

And you can't forget that LucasArts has sequels to Sam and Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle on the way!

 

[Rob Varto]

All I ask for is a solid RPG with Luke, Han, Vader, Yoda, or any other character who is not completely made up just to suck cash out of SW fans. Sorry to rant, but I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks.

And how!! Im with you on that one. Im looking forward to KOTOR but I'd much rather play a Final Fantasy IX type game with the SW universe represented.

 

[Mark Evans]

I agree Romier, with the exception of the pizza box puzzle at the end (because you had to actually fail the entry once to get the box to appear at all, grr) The Longest Journey was a super adventure game, and I do agree that it begs for a sequel...

 

[LarryDavenport]

Rogue Squadron and Rogue Leader are great and I think Jedi 2 for the Gamecube is a blast (though the jumping parts drive me crazy and the cut scenes are pretty badly rendered). I think your standards must be way too high.

 

[Dave F]

A few years ago there was a mass exodus of all the big talent. That, combined with the big business mentality of "slap the name on it and ship it" has resulted in a lot of turds.

Thankfully they started outsourcing with Verant, Bioware, and Raven.

-Dave

 

[Adam Nixon]

Thankfully, Lucasarts HAS realized there's a lack of internal talent, and the outsourcing of projects is a sign that the company wishes to change their image.

It's not really fair to judge the entire "brand" by recent console duds. Lucasarts ruled the PC landscape years ago, and seems to wish for better success in the console world. I've got more hope for KOTOR then I used to, especially after reading many Bioware interviews.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Rob,
Check out Star Wars Galaxies. It's an upcoming MMORPG in the universe of the classic trilogy.

 

[Rob_Pierce]

Great conversation. I'm not informed enough to know about the actual game designers at LA, but it certainly answers a lot of questions I had about LA. Thanks to all of you that replied with this info.

And you can't forget that LucasArts has sequels to Sam and Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle on the way!

I forgot all about these titles! I played them several years ago and really enjoyed them; I'm not sure if this post was sarcastic or not, but these were two of the funniest games I've ever played.

Thanks again for the comments; I'm glad to see I'm not alone and that the tide might be turning for SW fans like me.

 

[Graeme Clark]

And you can't forget that LucasArts has sequels to Sam and Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle on the way!

I just pray that the talent is there to pull them off. LucasArts adventure games are by far the best in the genre IMO, and it's going to take a lot to keep that tradition alive. Escape From Monkey Island, while good, was just missing something that their previous titles have had (Curse on the other hand is my favorite of the series and Grim Fandango is just phenomenal, even the 5th time through).

And adventure game is not really an easy thing to pull off. It takes just the right combination of story, dialog, and puzzles for it to be interesting and hold your attention.

How come we've never seen a Star Wars adventure game (excluding Yoda's desktop adventures)? That could be kinda cool.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

True!

Sigh, I'm so upset Sierra has killed their adventure game division. I still haven't played Gabriel Knight 3

 

[BrianB]

And you can't forget that LucasArts has sequels to Sam and Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle on the way!

Am I being too cynical when I suspect the only reason we're getting sequels /now/ is because they're so hard up for ideas & finding it hard to sell games?

 

[Yoshi Sugawara]

I'll echo Kelley and say that Tie Fighter is one of the greatest, if not best, space combat simulation. Very immersive, excellent storyline. I've seen it in the value CD-ROM sections for about $9.00. You get expansion packs, and it runs using DirectX - I remember I bought the game when it came on floppies! It's too bad to see the Star Wars space combat being dumbed down into arcade shoot em ups like Rogue Squadron...

I found an old copy of Full Throttle lying around and installed it just to see if it would run under Windows XP - still a great game, with well-written witty dialogue.

I remember LA consistently put out good games - I hope they do better down the road....

 

[Dave Bennett]

I'm in total agreement on X-Wing and Tie Fighter. I had both when they were dos based and shipped on floppies. Excellent games. I then purchased the Windows Direct 3D enabled versions and wow talk about a graphical improvement. It's too bad we won't ever see another game like that. I like Rogue Leader but I'd rather see an updated version of Tie Fighter. Space combat sims just aren't as common as they used to be.