Mos Eisley Melee
I am not a hardcore gamer. I do love me some Star Wars games, and I try to keep my PC up-to-date enough to run modern games, but I find the initial list prices for most games (~$50) way too much, so I usually wait months or years for the games to come down to around $20. I don't play online, I don't care if my frame rate is above what the human eye can see, and I don't want to buy a water-cooling unit because I need a 900W power supply so I can add the next-generation bleeding-edge video card to my system.
Additionally, I generally go for role-playing games rather than first-person shooters, mostly because my reflexes just aren't that good. But, I must say that I am really into Star Wars: Battlefront II.
It has all the tricks and treats I want out of a Star Wars game:
- Instant action—Jump in and jump out; No long-term committment like KotOR (even though KotOR is an awesome game)
- Play either side—Feeling rebellious today? Grab an X-Wing and head to Yavin 4. In the mood to mood to mow down some clones? Assume the identity of a Super Battle Droid and have at it.
- The whole saga—It has a nice palette of characters, locales, and weapons. You can pick pretty much any theater from the Prequel or Original Trilogies, fighting on the side of the Republic or Separatists, Rebellion or Empire.
But, my absolute favorite part of the game (so far) is something I just stumbled onto: the Mos Eisley "Assault" scenario. It's basically just a big fat rumble in the mostly deserted streets of Mos Eisely. The best part is, you can choose to be a "Heroes" character, or a "Villians" character. I started with the bad guys (haven't tried the good guys yet), and you can choose from:
- Darth Vader (with armor)
- Darth Vader (the version that looks like Anakin Skywalker)
- Darth Maul
- Count Dooku / Darth Tyrannus
- The Emperor / Darth Sidious
- General Grievous
- Jango Fett
- Boba Fett
How awesome is that? Each character has strengths and weaknesses... it's pretty cool to bust out some Darth Sidious Force lightning, but Darth Maul can really move. Plus, you're fighting Yoda, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Ki-Adi Mundi, young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker, among others.
So, if you've ever wondered who would win in a fight between Darth Maul and Chewbacca, now you have your chance to find out.
Comments
If you want to try something different, try "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Now I'm a gamer, and not much into the role playing games. But this was great, I couldn't put it down. You gain jedi powers that you can choose from. You can make your character however you want. Your actions decide whether you go down the path to the dark side or not. For a Star wars fan as yourself, I think you would love this. it's been out for quite a while, so you could probably pick it up pretty cheap. Love the site. Ryan
Posted by: Ryan Shultz | January 13, 2007 02:47 AM
Thanks, man. Yeah, I played Knights of the Old Republic and I couldn't put it down either. I played the first one on the light side, then I started the second one on the dark side, but I haven't finished yet. Good stuff.
Posted by: Roger | January 15, 2007 03:28 PM