MTFBWY #11: Your Favorite Star Wars Games, Future Video Game Speculation

Welcome back to May The Force Be With You, ComicBook.com’s weekly column on the galaxy far, far away. We’re one week away from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim! While we’re very excited about Rebels season two news, new comic and novel announcements, and–oh yeah–a ton of The Force Awakens updates, today we’re going to focus on Star Wars’ interactive element: Namely, the games. But while today’s focus is on video games, tabletop games have certainly been an important part of Star Wars history as well – some elements from pen and paper RPGs have even made significant impact on canon.

Conveniently enough, while I was almost done with the column, DICE and EA Games released this behind-the-scenes video of Star Wars Battlefront they showed off last E3 just today. 

But I digress. For part one of today’s installment, I asked you, dear readers, what your all-time favorite Star Wars game is, and you answered–and answered, and answered. The responses were all over the map, with fans showing up for basically every game under the twin suns. Let’s jump right in!

See what I mean about crazy variation? And it keeps on going, with the most recent AAA release getting a nod:

ComicBook.com’s own Jamie Lovett was very enthusiastic.

He later added, “that twist, man.” That twist, indeed. Moving right along…

Oh look! It’s Arthur Parsons, Game Director at TT Games, makers of the LEGO game franchise! I wonder what he’s going to pick! The anticipation is killing me…

Oh. Shocker. And now the “everything is someone’s favorite” award…

I’m contractually obligated to include ComicBook.com editor James Viscardi’s answers anytime he gives them, so:.

And yes, people love the KOTOR games.

And the Jedi Knight franchise, too–which Marvel Comic communications maven Chris D’Lando fondly remembers. 

Finally, we turn to Matt Moore, journalist and lifelong Star Wars fan for the mic drop of twitter responses:

Well done, Matt. Well done.

On Facebook, I received varied responses in what was easily this column’s most-answered question yet. 

Jacqui Collins, a game industry veteran and gaming addict made it simple: “KOTOR. Dat’s it,” referring to Knights of the Old Republic. There were other votes for KOTOR from fellow ComicBook.com contributor Lan Pitts. Even fellow New Yorl Videogame Critics Circle member Jeremy Voss said “KOTOR is the be-all, end-all,” and Forrest Helvie, who played the game while on deployment during Operation Iraqi Freedom 1. Shout-out to other KOTOR fans (and pals) Michael Andronico, Cassie Muldrow, Dave Maulding, and Steven Scott, as well.

Shadows of the Empire got a couple of votes, from David Pepose and Lan Pitts (he cheated and named two). Rogue Squadron 2 is the favorite of Vincent Slaven at Carbine Studios, and of Brendan McGurik. Dark Forces got the call from Dave Oshry of New Blood Interactive, a game that I don’t think gets enough credit. Battlefront and Battlefront 2, Super Star Wars, KOTOR 2, and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast all received nods as well.

Comic book writer Peter David went old school, reminiscing about the classic arcade game. “It was called ‘Star Wars.’ I played it in video arcades and it was great. Still remember the first time I blew up the Death Star.” That’s what journalist Chris Arrant and fan Josh Hill wrote in as well.

Finally, because I love including my nephews, they voted for the LEGO Star Wars games, along with the Rebels and Angry Birds mobile games on their tablets.

Looping back to analog games, I’d be remiss as well to not mention the board game Epic Duels, as mentioned by journalist and writer Bryan Young, and Aaron Duran, self-described “grumpy old school RPG nerd,” highlighted the Star Wars RPG pen and paper game – “2nd Edition, Revised and Expanded” to be precise.

Phew. Thanks so much for the overwhelming response to this one!

As for me? I’m quite torn. The old Jedi Knight games hold a special place in my heart. Like Forrest above, I also played KOTOR while on deployment in Iraq, and that twist, oh man what a twist. But The Force Unleashed had such a riveting story – I loved the idea of Vader accidentally being partially responsible for the Rebellion, I loved his secret war against the Emperor, I loved Galen Marek (and desperately want him brought to canon), and the love story. That’s not even mentioning the beautiful simplicity of the crest… and while the second installment’s story was roughly half a story and very muddled in comparison, it was still fun to toss Stormtroopers around like balloons.

Now then, we look to the future. With EA currently developing at least three Star Wars games, we only know one of them by name: The revival/reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront. The franchise-within-a-franchise originally debuted in 2004, and let players take part in the biggest battles from Star Wars history. A sequel and a couple of spin-offs hit as well. And while a third full game started development, Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm (and subsidiary LucasArts) canned the project. 

Star Wars: Battlefront is the first of a new exclusive console development deal between Electronic Arts and Disney for Star Wars games. DICE, Visceral Games, and BioWare are all working on new games alongside the Star Wars Story Group to truly bring in the next generation of Star Wars interactive experiences. With Battlefront on the schedule for Holiday 2015 from DICE, we’ll see our first real, concrete reveal of the game next week at the Star Wars Celebration. As of right now, here’s what we know:The general time it’s coming out, that DICE is making it, that it’s a reboot, and that there are battles on Hoth and Endor. That’s about it.

So what about those other games? For those, let’s cast a little speculation and a lot of wishful thinking, shall we? We know BioWare has continued to improve and expand the MMO (and, for the record, non-canon) The Old Republic. The RPG specialists are certainly working on a new role playing game for the franchise, but what will it cover and when will it take place? I know many fans are hoping for a true sequel to Knights of the Old Republic 2, with a third chapter of the story, but with the Story Group now involved, that would be complicated. They’d have to figure out what was coming into canon and what wasn’t. It’s not an impossible task, but it would fly against the somewhat-unified storytelling Disney has presented – three of the four comics take place in the Original Trilogy era, the other is a direct tie-in to Rebels. Likewise, the novels that have come out under the new all-canon umbrella fall in the timeframe of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, and in the era just prior to Rebels. It would be surprising if they went thousands of years into the past for a new game, but it’s not impossible. A BioWare single-player RPG set in any era of Star Wars is something to be excited about. After all, there are 30 years of stories to be told between episodes 6 and 7…

As for Visceral Games (Dead Space), the company hired Amy Hennig, a veteran creative director from the Uncharted game series to lead their new Star Wars chapter. She’s also writing the game alongside Todd Stashwick, another Uncharted veteran. Halo 4 designer Scott Warner is on the project as the Design Director, too. It’s quite a creative team they’ve assembled, but what are they working on? The developer and creative team make it sound like some kind of shooter, most likely in the third person. But with Hennig and Stashwick involved, we’re tempted to lean more towards a straight-up adventure game. Here’s where we go deep into speculation territory: Why not a new, all-canon Jedi Knight style game? Once again we look to the 30 year period after Return of the Jedi: the “journey to The Force Awakens” as they’re calling it in upcoming novels and comics. There’s just so much story to tell there. Now, it probably won’t follow anything close to the “Legends” continuity–where the Jedi Order returned and thrived–but a rogue Jedi or two out in the wild trying to rediscover the legends of old could be a great mix for a game.

There’s no guarantee we’ll hear more about these other two games (or any others in development) at Celebration, but hopefully we’ll at least get a hint.

If you were in charge of Star Wars games, what would you put in development next? Sound off in the comments below!