Why I Love Star Wars Single Player Games

Channel:

Stoked

Subscribers:

19,600

Published on June 7, 2018 11:06:16 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv1iHKK-RMw

Game:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008)

Duration: 10:04

2,404 views

162

Single player Star Wars games. I love them. Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Jedi Knight, Knights of the Old Republic. The cancellation of 1313 and the closure of Visceral made me think about Star Wars single player games and their impact on me.

I've been a Star Wars fan for well over two decades and embarrassing as it is to admit, Star Wars is something which is quite dear to me. I first saw Star Wars when I was about 13 and after I saw the films, I bought every book I could find. What I loved about these books was I was wearing the shoes of this Star Wars character and living through them. I soon started playing Star Wars PC games and the game changed completely.

On this channel we have a great culture of Star Wars fans; generations of people all united though the love of several very good single player Star Wars game experiences. Jedi Knight 2 was probably the first computer game to actually affect me on an emotional level. Jedi Knight 2 is about a three-dimensional character who I empathised with. It was a powerful experience to be on Kyle’s side, to act out his will and to be a part of that story. I loved those water-cooler moments; talking with mates about the twists or events in the game’s story. And then later when I was at uni, KOTOR was a really hot topic. This fantastic Bioware RPG with the Star Wars template applied, another creative and different single player game in the Star Wars universe.

I’m going to mention this early; there’s nothing on The Game Show that brings more people together than The Force Unleashed. In 2008, Lucasarts introduced us to another grounded, three-dimensional character. One who players enjoyed playing, acting out his will vicariously through the medium of two single player Star Wars games. For some viewers on this channel, The Force Unleashed was their first and favourite Star Wars gaming experience. How fantastic! What a great gateway into the Star Wars EU! But if they ask “What's next for me, what can I play next?” Unfortunately, the only way to get more single player content like that is to go back to the past. It's a shame to then say “You’re not likely to get anything like The Force Unleashed for a long time”. That’s a sad thing to have to admit because the story of Star Wars The Force Unleashed ends with LucasArts getting bought by Disney and The Force Unleashed 3 getting canned because it didn’t align with EA’s financial vision.

Other than sharing killstreak GIFs on Reddit I’ve not seen online shooters engender the same water-cooler moments I got with a great single player Star Wars game. Your focus is always on the action. I’m not having a go at multiplayer shooters or Battlefront 2; the action is really enjoyable. The multiplayer maps are exceptionally well-designed, there is clearly an art to making great Star Wars multiplayer games. It's a different kind of game and it’s still important to serve that large, hungry portion of the market. One isn’t better than the other but still, we’re losing one to the other. I feel there’s more to the Star Wars universe than just taking part in the epic multiplayer battles, and I find it upsetting to think that’s all EA wants to do with the Star Wars IP.

A cynical person could point out that it's a lot cheaper to develop Star Wars multiplayer games. Good writing and good voice acting takes a lot of time and a lot of skill; they’re expensive so if you can do without them, do without them. It's also much easier to attach microtransactions to multiplayer than it is to single player Star Wars games because what are you gonna do, pay to skip a chapter of the story? You might pay to skip the grind.

You would have thought Disney would have a vested interest in telling great Star Wars stories, as this has pretty much been their MO for over 90 Years. You’d think they'd be more interested in innovating and pushing the boundaries of the storytelling experience in the framework of a single player Star Wars game as well as reaping the financial benefits.

When I think of the history of the Star Wars franchise, all of the positive, memorable experiences I’ve had have been through the Star Wars single player games experience. It's a shame to think we’re not likely to get anything like Jedi Knight, The Force Unleashed or even 1313 for a long time to come. I’m too optimistic to say it will never happen, there is always hope for the future. Let’s keep Battlefront, but can we have some top-tier single player Star Wars games too?


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