May the Force be with us, lol.
Ever since it was announced yesterday that Electronic Arts has exclusive rights to the Star Wars license, everyone and their mom started brainstorming what the giant publisher might have in store. So here at GameRevolution, we decided to compile all of our thoughts—for good or ill, or for good old-fashioned hilarity—on our Top 10 picks for what that Star Wars game should be.
Boba's Edge
Anthony Severino: While little kids everywhere wanted to be like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, or Darth Vader, for me, I idolized the silent killer, bounty hunter Boba Fett. Imagine a gun for hire like Fett, quick and agile, leaping from AT-AT Walker to the battlefield for a well-timed assassination—all in first-person view through the trademark helmet of his. Got a long jump ahead? Well, Boba Fett has a jetpack to give him that extra boost.
Plus, Mirror's Edge wasn't exactly a financial success, hence the reason EA has been reluctant to produce a sequel. Throw an iconic, yet underused, Star Wars character on the front cover, and you've got the sales EA would want, coupled with the gameplay fans would love. And with a character that takes no allegiance with anyone, his story is left open enough that the right writer's would have a field day with it.
Star Wars vs. Mass Effect
Nick Tan: If we can't have Patton Oswalt's Star Wars Avengers X-Men movie fantasy, then for me, Star Wars vs. Mass Effect would be the next best thing. Both series already have numerous similarities, but the collision of both universes has the power to tear galactic rifts in the time-space of our puny brains. The premise for the story could be as easy as saying that the energy burst from The Citadel at the end of Mass Effect 3 has distorted the fabric of reality, allowing the Star Wars universe to tear into the Mass Effect universe.
Just imagine the pitch: "The remnants of the Galactic Empire join forces with the few surviving Reapers. Renegade biotic Asari squads battle against Jedi Knights (then make love afterwards). C-3PO interfaces with the geth, while R2-D2 hits it off with EDI. The salarians campaign to rid the world of the Gungan. Chewbacca and the Krogan roar at each other. Aria T'Loak and Boba Fett face off in a duel to the death. Princess Leia and Liara T'Soni realize their parts are underwritten. The Ewoks and the elcor have a dance party (curiously). And Garrus is still busy with calibrations."
Star Wars, You Know, Viscerally
Daniel Bischoff: When EA said Visceral Games would be working on a Star Wars title of their own, it made total sense. Space, spaceships, people in space, planets in space, planets that aren't ours, galaxies far, far away, monsters who vomit. I mean, the connections between Dead Space and Space Wa… I mean, Star Wars, are endless. Who can forget that pivotal moment in A New Hope when they go into space? I can't wait to see what Visceral does with that. If you've finished Dead Space 3, you already know that "that's no moon." Of course, if I'm being honest, I'd love to chop Jar Jar Binks into pieces with a Plasma Cutter too, but that's just me.
It's not as if limb-chopping isn't feasible in the Star Wars universe. Luke had his hand chopped off by his dad… whoops, SPOILER ALERT. We know it's not like there are a bunch of little, floating things in Star Wars that will stop people from chopping each other up on a Star Destroyer somewhere. Look, dismemberment isn't really the point; the point is space and Visceral and how they've done space before. I can't wait to see what Star Wars space looks like compared to Visceral space!
The only problem I see inhibiting the developer from making an amazing Star Wars game is that they've kind of science-d themselves into a corner. Kinesis energy? No, that's force power. Engineers who fix spaceships? There's a droid for that. Um, also Star Wars and Disney being all family-friendly, will Visceral get to make another, er, "visceral" experience?
KOTOR 3
Alex Osborn: BioWare won me over on the original Xbox when they released Knights of the Old Republic. Since then, fans have been clamoring for another BioWare-developed entry. Sadly, all we've received since then is an Obsidian-developed sequel and an overly ambitious MMO that felt more like a reskinned World of Warcraft clone than a proper entry in the Old Republic universe.
Now that EA has the exclusive rights to make Star Wars games, one can only hope that one of the several BioWare divisions (be it in Montreal, Edmonton, etc.) would take the reigns on a proper KOTOR sequel. With all of Casey Hudson's additional experience gained after having worked on the Mass Effect franchise, one could only imagine how awesome a Knights of the Old Republic 3 might be. Please, EA and BioWare, make this happen.
Uncle Owen's Family Moisture Farm
Free-to-play games often require players to wait for long periods of time before collecting their spoils and playing further into build trees. Sounds like a moisture farm to me! Think about watching a timer tick away the seconds until you can collect another drop of water from your very own plot of dirt on Tatooine! Leave your farm unattended long enough and Tusken raiders will steal your bottles of water crops. Buy credits from Origin so you can head into Mos Eisley and drink away the fact you're just a moisture farmer to make time pass faster. Shooting womp rats in your T-16 would be a different app. Remember you're playing Uncle Owen, so wait patiently for death your moisture to… grow.
Rogue Squadron IV
Alex Osborn: Early adopters of the GameCube will undoubtedly remember just how incredible Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II was thanks to its gorgeous visuals that put Star Fox and his anthropomorphic pals to shame. Those who wished to live out the epic space battles seen in the Star Wars films were given the opportunity to do just that in a way that had never been done before. Rogue Squadron II was easily one of the best launch titles for Nintendo's miniature gaming box, and it will go down in history as one of the best uses of the Star Wars license.
That is why I would love to see a fourth proper entry in this star-bound series. The follow-up to Rogue Leader wasn't as amazing as everyone had hoped, but just imagine what one of EA's studios could pull off with the technology available today. With Frostbite's unparalleled capabilities and realistic destructibility, there's so much that the publisher's stable of studios has to offer. Heck, put Criterion in the driver seat on this one and see what they come up with.
The Sims Star Wars
Nick Tan: This has guilty pleasure written all over it. Most gamers will likely scoff at the idea of playing a "dollhouse simulator" featuring Star Wars and some might claim that it's offensive. I mean, who wants to play as a padawan who must attend the Jedi Academy, learn new techniques from Yoda, become a Jedi Knight, and… yeah, who doesn't? Sure, it might be weird to introduce elements of hunger and bladder to the high-action fantasy of Star Wars, but if anyone should laugh at a Sim who pisses their pants and wets the floor, it should be at a Jedi Semi (who then goes to the dark side and destroys everyone).
As a standalone title, The Sims Star Wars can feature ship-building instead of home-building and focus on adventures on distant planets. Sims can learn various skills for piloting, engineering, charisma, martial arts, and bartering, while players experience the daily routine of a citizen living in the Ossus Academy, Tatooine, Naboo, or Alderaan (before it… you know). The amount of planetary and cultural information Maxis could draw from to craft cities and objects authentic to the Star Wars universe would be incredible. And who doesn't want to befriend Jedis and beings of every alien species and make "woohoo" with (nearly) all of them?
Republic Commando II
Star Wars: Republic Commando is a tactical squad-based first-person shooter that launched several years ago back on the original Xbox and PC. The game has this unique visual blend between Halo and Metroid Prime (two of my favorite franchises, mind you) and features some really interesting tactical mechanics akin to what Ubisoft was doing at the time with Rainbow Six. It was a blend of so many different awesome things all encapsulated within the shell of the Star Wars universe. Seriously, what's not there to love?
So why hasn't there been a sequel?! Hopefully now that EA owns the rights to the license, we'll see a proper follow-up. And honestly, I think either DICE or Visceral would be excellent choices for Republic Commando II. The team behind Battlefield has proven that they can make compelling first-person shooters, and Visceral has the development chops to make an incredible sci-fi universe full of tension and intrigue (see Dead Space). Oh man, the more I think about the incredible potential, the more I can't wait to see where EA takes Lucas's incredible sci-fi world.
Star Wars UFC
Nick Tan: Hey, I'm entitled to a ridiculous idea too. (My other ideas weren't ridiculous, shut up.)
Now that Electronic Arts has the exclusive rights to both Star Wars and UFC, why not have underground hand-to-hand fights between the scariest mercenaries in the Star Wars universe and the toughest brawlers in the UFC. In hand-to-hand combat, who would win? Georges St. Pierre vs. Han Solo? Chewbecca vs. Cain Velasquez? Boba Fett vs. Anderson Silva? Darca Nyl vs. Matt Hughes? Obi-Wan vs. Ken Shamrock? C-3PO vs… okay, he would just be the training dummy…
If that doesn't cut it, how about a bonus mode where everyone gets a lightsaber. What's meaner than Chuck Liddell with two red lightsabers? Sure, there may be a lot of blood when someone gets their arm cut off, but UFC is a bloody sport, and I don't have to worry about the ESRB when I'm caught up in my own thoughts.
Star Wars Sports Sim ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) 25
Daniel Bischoff: First, did you know that Star Wars years use the Battle of Yavin as a starting point? Second, think of all of the Star Wars sports EA could create a simulation franchise from. EA Tiburon can't possibly hope to feign improvements in next year's Madden forever, right? At some point they're going to have to sit down and decide between Nuna-ball, Limmie, Otoh Gunga Challenge, and Phrenbi.
Phrenbi is the sport popular among Whiphids on the planet Neftali, if that means anything to you. The following year, ABY 26, EA could release "Phrenbi 26" and include an option for playing it like polo… but with banthas. If that doesn't float your boat, maybe you should check out "Limmie 26" where you can create your own player on Team Fondor and take him all the way to the Galactic Cup of Limmie. There, you can read HoloNet News reports generated by "Limmie 26" about your player from real Limmie commentators in the league.
Star Wars 1313
Anthony Severino: (Extra Pick) All of the games above sound amazing in one way or another, but they're either a stretch of the imagination or just layering Star Wars over an existing idea. Star Wars games have always stuck to flying and/or Force powers that never felt all that powerful. That's why when I saw that Star Wars 1313 featured a previously untouched locale and an unnamed bounty hunter, I fell in love. This was the Star Wars game that I truly wanted.
I first layed eyes on it just under a year ago at E3, long before there was ever talk of a Next Xbox or a PS4, yet I knew then it was only possible on next-gen consoles or one hell of a powerful PC. Particle effects, smoke, and fire were unlike anything I've seen yet. It was clear that LucasArts was tapping into every resource made available in the films to create a game that truly felt and looked "Star Wars."
The news that it may have been cancelled was almost as depressing as the studio closure itself; especially because around the same time, I had heard that the main character shown before was just a placeholder to hide the fact that the game would actually star Boba Fett.
Sure, it borrowed some of Uncharted's gameplay style and cinematic presentation, but what game hasn't these days? Also, why shouldn't they? And although with EA inking a deal with Disney for the Star Wars license means that Star Wars 1313 may live on, not having the original minds behind the idea very well may hurt the initial vision. It won't be the same game, and I'll always be left wondering what might have been.
