Why I Loved LucasArts

Other Mentions, Honorable Or Otherwise

Grim Fandango (PC, 1998) – This game receives a lot of credit for being well-produced and original and it is definitely both. Serving as what history calls Tim Schafer’s best game, this follow-up to Full Throttle puts you in the robes of Death. Well, not Death, but Manny Calavera, a guy who’s trying to pay down his debt to escape the Land of the Dead. Littered with abstract humor in one of the most unique settings ever, the game didn’t sell particularly well and served as LucasArts’ last big adventure game before their drastic shift to prequel trilogy content. I honestly didn’t fall in love with it, but despite that, it deserves an honorable mention.

Star Wars: Episode I – Racer (PC, N64, PSX, 1999) – This game is forever tied to Futurama in my mind because we picked this up while the show was still in its original airings. While I didn’t play nearly as much of this as my brother did, Racer did a pretty good job building out an entire pod race league and roster of courses, itself expanded from one of the best (or most repetitive) sequences of the film.

Star Wars: Battlefront (PC, PS2, Xbox, 2004) – Shipping alongside the DVD release of the original Star Wars trilogy, the Pandemic-developed Battlefront was my favorite game at E3 2004 and ultimately became the best-selling Star Wars game franchise ever. Taking the Battlefield 1942 formula and applying it to a variety of Star Wars settings, allowing you to conquer worlds as a Rebel or Imperial team, was a blast. Ultimately though, the maps were simply too small, preventing much in the way of tactics and really just being a big, objective-based team deathmatch. Others loved it, I wound up pretty disappointed.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC, 1997) – Following up on Dark Forces by turning Kyle Katarn into a bearded Jedi sounded neat on paper, but tragically uninteresting in play. Gone were the punchy visuals of its predecessor, replaced by muted earth tones and some genuinely ugly-looking early 3D models and levels. As Kyle advanced and acquired Jedi powers, he became ‘simply another Jedi’ and I found myself far less interested in him or his story. I never wound up finishing it without just futzing through the levels and cheating. The game also included multiplayer, but had no cooperative play, which would have probably saved the game in my eyes. Those FMV cutscenes? Oh my. After the release of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, this became the second strike against LucasArts.

Star Wars: Rebellion (PC, 1998) – This game was probably the easiest sell in the universe: take Master of Orion, apply Star Wars. Sold. What the world received though was a weird, confusing mess and a fatal third strike against LucasArts’ track record in my eyes. Familiar stars in the Star Wars universe were organized into clusters that could be swayed to join your side by either heroic influence or military presence. Of course, it wouldn’t take much for the opposing side to do something to wipe out your influence in a sector easily. The game did little to explain itself or how it worked and I spent many a game losing despite building a Death Star at a point. In-game combat was largely hands-off and ugly while fighters buzzed around like flies in one of the most discomforting visuals I’ve ever seen. Rebellion is easily the most disappointing game I’ve ever played.