Since it first hit theatres, the Star Wars franchise has polarized audiences and developed itself one of the strongest fan bases out there today. In the three plus decades it’s been around, the franchise has only grown, gaining more and more fans as time goes by. Be it films, novels, comics or games, the franchise has set itself up within many different mediums – enough so that most fans will be willing to consume a decent amount of anything that’s thrown their way. But that doesn’t mean they have to like anything thing with Star Wars slapped🍌 on it. This is especially true in th🦩e demanding game market.

There have been plenty of Star Wars games since the 80s. We’ve seen the series explore pretty much every genre from RTS, to RPG and action adventure. While it’s true that some of the more unconventional Star Wars games have turned out better than some had imagined they would, some genres definitely work out better than others. Because of how vast the universe is, developers have had the chance to add or create a plethora of new additions to the mythos. As we look back on some of our favourites, let’s also take a look at those Star Wars games that weren’t as strong. Here are the 8 best and 7 worst Star Wars games.

15 Best: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

This was a bit of a short game, but fun nonetheless. Jedi Academy is the first game in the Jedi Knight series that doesn’t feature Kyle Katarn as the main character. Instead players are tasked with creating their own Jedi. The game offers a good deal of customization right off the bat as species, gender and clothing choices are pretty deep. But the one drawback on this is that once chosen, even the purely aesthetic choices are pretty much set in stone. However, once you add in the ability to choose your own unique lightsaber, you’ve got an instant winner. As we previously mentioned, the story is pretty short but has a ton of side missions to keep players occupied. The lightsaber combat is a little tricky to grasp at first but is pretty fluent once you get the hand of 🥂it.

14 Worst: Star Wars: Obi-Wan

This game was actually supposed to be a spiritual successor to the Jedi Knight series, but as you can imagine, wasn’t nearly as popular or successful despite being a tie-in to the prequel franchise. The game allows the player to take control of Obi-Wan Kenobi as you go through a number of events that prefaced the Phantom Menace and take par🧔t in some of the more recognizable battles in the film. Though offering some pretty interesting lightsaber combat utilising the Xbox’s analog stick, the game looked like a rushed mess. The controls were for the most part choppy and the environments were often empty, with enemies scatteওred around making the whole thing feel incredibly incomplete.

13 Best: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

While Starkiller’s character was pretty much hit and miss among the fan base, The Force Unleashed was a pretty solid game that had the potential to be one of LucasArts’ cornerstone 𝔉franchises. The hack and slash adventure let players fiercely cut through waves of enemies while putting an emphasis on the force and upgrading your force powers. The difference between the first few hours and the latter half of the game are incredible when you compare your powers at the beginning and the end. Full con🧸trol of the force, along with slick lightsaber combat and challenging boss fights, made this game a memorable standout that still holds its own today. If only the series could’ve continued on with this momentum...

12 Worst: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Everything that was great about the first Force Unleashed game was pretty much watered down in the second entry in the series. Building off the hype of the first game, fans were pretty excited to get their hands on the follow up that seemed like it would eclipse its predecessor with ease. The game was actually fun for the first few hours. But unlike the first Force Unleashed game, The Force Unleashed II’s novelty wore off quick and, with almost nothing new to offer, bombed hard. While the first game took the player to multiple planets, saw numerous kinds of enemies and bosses and allowed them to develop their force powers over time through an interesting narrative - The Force Unleashed II failed on all those fronts with the main gripe being a ridiculously short story that ended on a cliff hanger we’ll proba🐲bly never see theꦕ end of.

11 Best: Star Wars: Empire at War

While we’ve seen numerous action, adventure and shooter games based on the Star Wars universe, the series is perhaps best suited for RTS. After all, it does mostly revolve around war and the battles that take place within it. While mostly everyone wants to take control of a Jedi and cut through opponents, wouldn’t taking control of entire armies seem more fitting? Empire at War gives players th𒀰e opportunity to command eitheꦦr Imperial or Rebel forces, along with the various “heroes” associated with each side. Space and land battles are a highlight of the game, while planetary development and resource mining are a key component to ruling the galaxy. The best part of this game though, is that feeling you get when you line up your factions for Darth Vader’s epic landing on the battlefield.

10 Worst: Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes

The Clone Wars animated series was one of the best things to happen to the franchise in a long time. It served as a kind of redemption for the prequels and added an extra layer of depth and character development that wasn’t possible in the short time frame offered by the films. That being said, not everything about the series was great – this is especially true for its tie-ins. Republic Heroes is not a very g꧃ood game, which is sad seeing as it’s based on such a great series. The game was a total cash cow that marketed itself as a safe, fun option for children but offered very little in terms of gameplay.

9 Best: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

We’ve already seen one game in this series on our list and we’ll next look at the best the series has to offer. This time featuring series hero Kyle Katarn, Dark Forces II was the standard for Star Wars shooters for a long time. The original Dark Forces seemed more akin to Doom than what we saw from its successor. However Dark Forces II saw the series come alive in its own 3D world, feeling more and more like its own Star Wars game. The game also added in lightsabers and force powers making it more versatile than your average shooteꦬr. Shoot, slash or both – it gave players lots of different options as to how to go about clearing missions and♕ dispersing enemies.

8 Worst: Kinect Star Wars

Anything Kinect is going to be bad, let’s just get that out of the way now. Say what you want about it, but you’d be hard pressed to find that many gamers willing to defend this failed foray into motion control technology. At first glance, Star Wars seemed like it would make for a great motion controlled game. After all, who here hasn’t dreamed of swinging a lightsaber and using the force with their own hands? But like most Kinect games, this was a failure. The game was loaded with mini-games that were supposed to show the compatibility of the Kinect and the Star Wars universe. But all that came out of it was brok🦋en, barely functional gameplay and🎉 shallow mini games that weren’t worth the focus and effort they demanded.

7 Best: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

It drew some heat for being incredibly similar to its predecessor, but when its predecessor is the one of the best RPG’s of the decade then you can cut it some slack. Really the game plays very much like the first KotOR gam꧑e, that much isn☂’t deniable. But from a narrative standpoint the game does some interesting things. Yes, yes, there’s still the moral dilemma involved with choices that ally you to either the dark or light side of the force that much is still a prevalent factor in the game. But the narrative offers an insight to each path and the grey areas in between them. Any fan of the first game should check this one out as it plays more or less the same while offering a much stronger story as well.

6 Worst: Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing

Any video game fan from the 90s is well aware of the fascination game developers have with racing game spin offs. Mario has one, so does Sonic and Crash Bandicoot. So why wouldn’t Star Wars get one? A franchise so popular is bound to get its fair share of spin-offs, so it was an inevitable question of when rather than if. Among the Star Wars racers out there, Super Bombad Racing is by far the worst. The sloppy controls make controlling your car a pain and the deformed character designs push its status as a cheap Mario Kart rip-off even further. Ultimately the game offers nothing to the genre and is only mildly known due to its relation to the Star Wars series and the overwhelming pre൩sence of Jar Jar Binks.