Key

Throughout the Star Wars video game franchise, there have been a few times that I was just caught by surprise at how good they have portrayed force powers in game form. Some of them are better than others, but I have always found it cool how developers have found a way to incorporate such a cool concept as the force through video games. Here's some of my personal favorites:


Force Lightning (Force Unleashed)

Don't get me wrong, I think both KOTOR games did a great job at portraying what Force Lightning is, but I feel like I had a lot more fun with that particular force power in the Force Unleashed series. I know there's a popular opinion that the Force Unleashed games aren't that great, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of them, and yes, that includes the second game. The force powers portrayed in that game is a big reason for my enjoyment. I just love the power you felt when you pushed an enemy away with force push, jumped up into the air, and force lightning'd the crap out of your enemy, as portrayed in the picture above.


Force Crush (Kotor 2)

I always felt it was very well done in the way it was portrayed in this game, because it made you feel like you had the upper hand, and being on the dark side of the force, you'd definitely expect to have the upper hand in cases such as the one portrayed above. Here's a preview if you're interested:


^As the title suggests, yes, Force Crush can definitely be ridiculously OP.

Certainly one of the coolest force powers you learn as a sith lord, i'm sure.


Throw Lightsaber (Batllefront 2)

This particular force power has been portrayed through a number of Star Wars games, but the one I loved the most was how it was portrayed in Battlefront 2. I remember fond moments of finally being able to play as a jedi or sith, and reeking havoc on the enemy whether it be through lightsaber throws or force powers. I just loved running towards an enemy, throwing my lightsaber at them to get the final blow, and seeing it woosh back into my hands for me to do it again on the next unfortunate being that stood in front of me. Loads of fun was had playing as the jedi and sith in these games. I'm excited to see what the next installment of the Battlefront series will do with that.

That's it for now....

...don't worry, there'll be a part II.

Key

So, every now and again i'm going to take it easy and do some basic posts such as this one. It's not going to be super wordy or things like that, it's just going to highlight certain planets from the Star Wars franchise that I like. There'll probably be more from the Knights of the Old Republic franchise over anything else, but i'll try to change it up a bit.

Anyway, let's get right into it...



System: Pyrshak
Region: Inner Rim
Classification: Aquatic
Climate: Temperate

If i'm going to start with a planet, it may as well be my favorite planet of all time. Yes, Manaan is my favorite planet in the Knight of the Old Republic. I don't really know why that is, I guess I just have a soft spot for calming / relaxing environments while I play games. It's the same thing with Verdandurf Town in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, the music along with the scenery just make both that and this planet very memorable and fun for me.

Music:



By far, one of the best songs on the entire soundtrack. Sure, that's not fact, but I certainly think it's true.

Species: Selkath



City/Cities Within: Ahto City, found on the surface of Manaan



Honestly, if there was a game made on the side that would focus strictly on Manaan, i'd probably play the **** out of it. It's seriously one of the most beautifully made planets in the game.

Key

Let's talk about...



Star Wars Battlefront 3

First off, before any of the haters start coming in, I don't give a **** if EA is going to be a part of it. Unlike a lot of people, I really don't care too much about who's behind a game just as long as the game is good. From what I can see in the trailer, it seems like it's going to be really promising, at least from a graphics perspective. I imagine something like the graphics card that I have will be able to handle it, at least that's what i'm hoping, because with how graphics are nowadays, that's a big reason why I got the one I did. Anyway, with how the trailer looks, I can't really say there's too much to say in terms of what I think the game will be like. However, if EA can come and match the amount of hype that The Force Awakens has been getting, I can see a great game in the horizon.

The only thing i'm afraid of is that they'll use the hype that they'll get from people with this particular release trailer, and use it to their advantage and end up not being able to deliver. I'm also afraid that they may just change the game altogether instead of just making a 3rd game in the series. I would like to be able to pick this game up, turn it on, and literally feel like i'm playing the next game in the Battlefront series, instead of having to learn a whole bunch of new stuff. Obviously there's going to be new weapons and mechanics etc, but I just hope the gameplay style will still be the same as it was in the first two games.

I guess we can only wait and see.

Key

No post for Star Wars month today. Home too late, much too tired. Double post tomorrow to make up for it.

Key

I probably didn't word that correctly, but basically I want to talk about some of the best cutscenes you'd run into while playing any Star Wars game, whether it's for the funny dialogue, or if it's to finally finish the game. I know i've been focusing a lot of the later era of Star Wars games, but that's because i'm more familiar with those games. Later in the month, i'm going to try to go back a few years and see what I find, but for now, this is what you get. Anyway...let's talk about cutscenes...

So, the first one I want to talk about was possibly the most irritating parts in the game, because when it happened, I thought I was hopefully going to be getting a lightsaber early on because of the sith lord showed up, and he would somehow drop the lightsaber for me to take it, however, that wasn't the case. Instead, we just got a "hand" full of problems to start the game with...


(begins at 2:02)

And what I mean by problems is that from here on, Kreia can no longer duel wield weapons, which almost makes her useless in the later parts of the game, because I personally would try to influence my team to all be duel wielding jedi, and if you couldn't do it, I didn't use you.

Next up...this one may be a little controversial just based on the kind of game it is, but I personally found a lot of enjoyment out of these games:



I'm not going to choose a super specific cutscene, but pretty much most if not all the cutscenes in the lego star wars video games are always fun to watch. Trust me, i'm all for seriousness in video games, but I feel like the cutscenes in these games have a bit of comedic charm to them that makes them worth watching. Plus, it's always interesting to see lego renditions of cutscenes that are seen through the movies.

Next, we have one from the first Force Unleashed game:



Is it cliche of me to use the opening cutscene in a post like this? It is? Well, I don't really care, i'm posting it anyway. Before I even had my own copy of these games, the opening cutscene was the only thing I was able to rely on in terms of getting excited for a game like this, and seeing this cutscene got me pumped. It's simple, but it's really effective if you're interested in starting to get to know the story behind the games. Plus, it's always good when a game like this had a good cutscene, just gets you pumped up from the get go.

Part II coming later today.

Key

Doing this in two parts, because for one, I didn't update yesterday and i'm making up for it, and two, I don't like to have more than 2 or 3 youtube videos in one post, it ends up looking cluttered and annoying, so i'm using a "part II" to deal with my OCD in a sense.

Starting things off with another cutscene from KOTOR 2, i'm sorry to be so repetitive but this game has so many strong points to it that it's impossible to summarize everything about the game in one post:



One of my favorite things about the game is the influence you can have on your characters, but there was one character whom was very difficult to crack, and that was Kreia. However, in this cutscene you come to realize that she has a much bigger role in the game than you would have ever realized. It takes time to get to this cutscene because from what I remember, you have to really become a big influence in Kreia's life in order for her to spill her backstory. The first time I saw this cutscene, I was amazed at the depth that it went, and once I knew what had happened, I always looked at Kreia a bit differently, sort of feeling bad for her in a way. Powerful stuff, and certainly one of the best cutscenes i've seen in any game.

Here's another cutscene from a game that was created because of a movie, and I sort of halfway hinted that I like "Revenge of the Sith" in part I of these posts, but I do...



I love that this game sort of has a very blocky / retro feel to it during it's cutscenes and it's gameplay, and this is just a great example of it. It's obviously a games recreation of the final scene in the movie, but they did such a good job. The voice acting is over the top in ridiculousness, and the extra lines of dialogue that were added that differentiate from the movie were just as ridiculous. I remember playing this game for the first time, and it was just fun to sit back and watch as they duked it out, and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the super cheesy moments during the cutscene. I also like how this game gives you a look at what it'd be like if Anakin had actually won the final battle during the movie. Then again, had that actually happened, the 3 original movies wouldn't have made any sense. The cheese factor is just over the top, and it's perfect.

Key

Character: Sebulba
Game: Star Wars: Podracer (N64)
Vehicle: Plug-F Mammoth Split-X



^Above is an example of what Sebulba's podracer sounds like in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, but that's now what we're here to talk about.

I wanted to highlight a character from the Star Wars: Podracer game for the N64, and although a lot of characters came to mind, I always went back to thinking of the times I played as Sebulba. From what I can remember, it wasn't until later in the game that you unlocked the ability to play as Sebulba, but one thing I do remember is how ridiculously OP his racer was. I remember having absolutely no trouble taking sharp turns and things like that when I was playing as him because his handling was fantastic. I also remember that his speed and everything else were above and beyond. I can't find any official pictures of what his stats looked like in game, but I remember they were all way way up. I do remember that when I played multiplayer with my brothers way back when, we always said that nobody can play as Sebulba, because it would just be an instant win, which is fair, because it pretty much always was an instant win, unless you managed to make whoever was playing as Sebulba crash multiple times putting them way behind 1st place and far far away from any chance of passing anybody.

Unknown Soldier

Have read through all your Star Wars material here and its great stuff, easy to read and factual. I'm definitely going to get a pc version of Knights of the Old Republic and I see that there is a second one as well. Question is do you recommend playing these games as the dark side or light side?

Also on the Star Wars chronology these games are set in the 'Old Republic era' and I know the comic series 'Tales of the Jedi' and 'Knights of the Old Republic' are set at this time as well, do you know these comics? And if so are they worth reading?

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Key

I'm not too familiar on the comics, but I will say that in the games, especially the second one, it's fun to play the dark side because you can influence almost all your allies to become dark jedi. It's pretty badass, but it does take some know how to do so.

Key

So, going into this month, I wanted to look up how many Star Wars video games there actually were, and I was struck by surprise when I realized that there are seriously a lot of Star Wars video games I have not played. I have played my fair share of them so don't get me wrong, but damn, throughout multiple platforms, there's been a handful of games released within the Star Wars franchise, and i'm going to try to talk about as many of those as I possibly can.

So, let's start on the older consoles and move up to the more recent ones:

Back when the N64 was in it's prime, I did manage to get my hands on a copy of Rogue Squadron, but what I didn't know is that there were two more games made after that one that were released on the Nintendo Gamecube:


Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader & Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike

I'm honestly amazed that I never actually picked these two games up, considering how much I was in love with the first game. Back in the day, I was never too good with games that involved flying mechanics, so trying to figure that out with an N64 controller was never a truly fun time for me, but I do have fond memories of trying to beat it, but was never able to do so. To find that not only were there two games released after this one, as well as finding out that the next two games did fairly well, both receiving high praise, i'm thinking it may be time for me to pick up a Nintendo Gamecube the next chance I get and really experience these games for what they truly are.

Next up we have another game that was nowhere on my radar upon it's release, and as well as the other two above, I never actually got to play it:


Star Wars Racer Revenge

I suppose in my defense, I never actually owned a Playstation 2 growing up, I was more into the Nintendo systems, so not actually knowing this game existed isn't too much of a surprise, but still, to find that Star Wars Episode I: Racer had a legitimate sequel made is pretty amazing. From what the wikipedia page says about it, the character list seems to have expanded a little bit, with a new version of Sebulba(?) How could they possibly make Sebulba any better than he already was? And apparently Darth Maul and Darth Vader are playable characters in this one as well. I may have to find a way to play this one (perhaps through a ROM) to experience it for myself. I wouldn't say i'd go out of my way to buy a Playstation 2 for this game, mostly because even today, i'm not really a fan of the Playstation systems.

Part II coming soon