5 of the best Star Wars games

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC/Xbox/Mac, 2003)

Bioware ventured very long, long ago in the galaxy far, far away with this RPG – it's set some 4,000 years before the events of the Star Wars prequel films. That gave them license to create a more wide-ranging story than other Star Wars games – packing in some killer plot twists and memorable characters like assassin droid HK-47.

Super Star Wars (Super Nintendo, 1992)

This absurdly hard platformer played fast and loose with the plot of Star Wars – when did Luke Skywalker engage in a gun battle with the Jawas, exactly? – but with the 16-bit grunt of the Super NES powering it, it was one of the first games to faithfully depict the characters from the film.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC, 1997)

The original Dark Forces put you in the shoes of grizzled Han Solo-a-like Kyle Katarn, in a Doom-style FPS. The sequel added a polygonal 3D game engine, Force powers and the all-important lightsaber to the mix – creating the perfect Star Wars concoction. A branching storyline let you follow the path of righteousness with boring healing Force powers, or turn to the Dark Side and blast your foes with lightning. Guess which one we chose.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (various, 2006)

The first Lego Star Wars game was an unexpected delight, mashing up the cute aesthetic of Lego, brick-bashing puzzles and action with the Star Wars prequel trilogy. But what we all really wanted to see was the original Star Wars films rendered in Lego – and the game didn't disappoint. The cutscenes were a particular highlight, with the mute Lego characters' rendition of the "I am your father" scene causing much merriment.

Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance (PC, 1999)

The last and greatest of Lucasarts' X-Wing space sim games, X-Wing Alliance followed the Azzameen star freighter business as it struggled to negotiate a safe path between the opposing sides in the Galactic Civil War. Naturally you eventually took to the cockpit of an X-Wing to do battle with the evil Empire – and got to fly the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star. Come on, LucasArts. Give us a sequel.

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