When the Wii was announced several years ago, there was one franchise that we gamers knew could definitely benefit from the controller mechanisms of Nintendo’s newest machine. It wasn’t any of the first-party franchises, but actually its Star Wars. If you checked the online boards from years ago, we were stoked of the potential the Wii had on our fabled space epic franchise. But several years later, we are still on square one with the saga as its best game was the simple-yet-engaging Lego Star Wars games. Instead of a spiritual sequel to Rogue Squadron, instead of re-creating the gameplay from the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game, and instead of that lightsaber game that we always wanted---we get next to nothing. As a matter of fact, Star Wars honestly hasn’t hit its potential in any of the systems. Here is what the next big Star Wars game should look like:
Star Wars Saga (tentative title) takes you through several of the iconic Star Wars scenes throughout the six movies (yes, I have to include the prequels). Now I know this has been done to death, but usually in small doses, and never in a true epic presentation scale. Can you imagine engaging in the Battle of Hoth with the graphical presentation style of Modern Warfare? Can you imagine having Halo Reach’s epic presentation in the X-Wing aerial battles? The last game to really up the ante in Star Wars presentation was Rogue Leader for the Nintendo Gamecube, which to this day remains one of the best-looking games of that generation—and it came out at launch. I would throw in Jedi Academy for the XBox, but I'll admit I skipped out on that game. All the Star Wars games have had small doses of the films, but we’ve never had one that extensively embedded itself into the six films, and wrapped it all together in a nice package (that’s not consisting of Legos anyway). This game can change that.
Remember N64’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire? Or Rebel Strike for the Gamecube? They offered some variety in their missions, as they all weren’t aerial. There were some (even if flawed) on-foot missions that kept the game from being stale. Perhaps the best variety amongst the Star Wars games was the fabled Star Wars Trilogy arcade game that inexplicably never made its way to any console. With Star Wars Saga, you can podrace, fight in several space missions, wield a lightsaber, wield a blaster, do some exploration levels, visit several familiar locations, and finally immerse yourself into the Clone Wars and do some battling there—Call of Duty-style.
You don't have to be just one character, you can be many. One mission you are Han Solo, another mission you are Luke Skywalker. Hell, at one point you can be a random fighter in the aerial Battle of Endor. Part of the appeal of Star Wars is just the immense amount of stuff that goes on throughout all the films and television shows. We’ve literally seen action scenes at land, sea, air, and space. So why has that never been translated successfully into the video games?
The Wii version could have been by far the best version, but there is still hope with the WiiU. With the Wiimote, lightsaber battling would be far more fun as opposed to the controllers of the XBox 360 and the PS3. With the WiiU being backwards-compatible, the Wiimote still has relevance. And with MotionPlus accuracy, this could be like Twilight Princess—Star Wars-style. I think running around mowing down enemies with a lightsaber could definitely be one of the most fun things to do in all of gaming. And then add the blaster missions with the WiiMote, which I still say is the best controllers for first-person shooters. Lastly, the WiiWheel can be utilized for the Podracer missions, which hasn’t gotten extensive video game time since the infamous Star Wars Episode 1 Racer game years ago.
Bottom Line: All in all, we have come far enough in gaming in which we can re-create all of our favorite Star Wars moments with incredible accuracy for a new generation of gamers. When you see games like Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare, Halo Reach existing, LucasArts has no excuse as to why they can’t push the envelope with the Star Wars brand. There is too much potential here to be wasted in games that just never make the quality cut. It is time for Factor 5 or Sega or maybe even Bungie to take helm of the brand name and work with George Lucas to create the ultimate Star Wars game. It is time to combine the best of Star Wars gaming throughout the years (Episode 1 Racer, Rogue Squadron 1-2, Star Wars Trilogy) and put it all in one well-deserving package.
Star Wars Saga can be the next “Halo”, the next big gaming event.
We just need to see more effort out of it.
P.S. Some Dark Side missions would be pretty darn cool. Did anyone say Boba Fett missions?
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