Star Wars has been hard to avoid. From the news that the Star Wars canon is now reduced to the movies and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon to Game Informer Issue 253 featuring Into The Shadows, a Star Wars article by Andrew Reiner's, Game Informer's Executive Editor, about the Darth Maul game that never was.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a (very) brief bright spot for Star Wars video games in the past console generation.
While the world waits with bated breath for more information about J.J. Abrams' film, Star Wars: Episode VII, the video game industry looks to the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo for news about the Star Wars games in development by Electronic Arts' game developers. In 2012, E3 brought us the amazing looking Star Wars 1313 that was subsequently cancelled and Mr. Reiner's article shed light on the complications previously inherent for game developers collaborating with LucasArts to add to the storied universe. For me, the most fascinating information in Mr. Reiner's article was that Red Fly Studios achieved recognition by LucasArts for their work on the Wii port for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Star Wars was ill served by video games in the last console generation (Star Wars: The Old Republic is a PC, not a console, game). but The Force Unleashed briefly brought us the promise that Star Wars could return to the consoles with glory.
In the last console generation, I owned a Wii first. The cheaper cost and the promise at the time of the new motion technology convinced me of the console's worth. Alongside my Wii was my Playstation 2 with its enormous library of gaming classics. Next to my shiny Wii was my recently purchased copies of Kingdom Hearts and Star Wars Battlefront for my Playstation 2. In a terrible gaming secret I popped in Star Wars Battlefront and I failed. Somehow the gameplay was difficult for me and after an hour I couldn't progress past the initial battle. Instead, I played through Kingdom Hearts and while I haven't completed Kingdom Hearts 2 yet I still have years before the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 (Just joking! Maybe...ask Square Enix).
This image is so ominous until we remember that his name is Starkiller then it's just silly.
In the library of Star Wars video games, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the Wii port was developed by Krome Studios, was one of my favorite Wii games. Owning only a Wii for the then current console generation was a difficult time as a gamer with the bulk of video game news coverage and third party games for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Additionally, I am not a Nintendo franchise fan. The Wii's system seller for me was Xenoblade Chronicles but the game didn't release until long after my Xbox 360 was plugged in.
As a result, my collection of Wii games lacked the Nintendo first party system sellers and instead featured a variety of games that I found fun amidst the system's shovelware.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Throwing Stormtroopers like a boss!
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was one of the very few games that I bought at the $60 price point. The Star Wars name combined with a desire for a game with buzz in the industry drove me grab the game with hope for a better Wii game than most. While the game gave me a main character named Starkiller (a name fail for George Lucas) the game also plunked me into a universe with a variety of alien planets and Star Wars with motion controls. The Star Wars universe is a given for motion controls. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed gave me use of the Force while Star Wars Kinect was a gimmick, a tech demo of motion controls that should've paid more attention to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Wii.
Using the Force with motion controls was a fantastic adventure. I used the Force to throw my light saber across the room, to Force Choke my pitiful enemies, Force Lightning for sudden electrocution, and Force Push to slam multiple enemies against a far wall. Lightsaber battles up against using the Force was no fun. Throwing my hands in front of me to Force Push gave me the feeling of using the Force more so than any other Star Wars gameplay. I even forgot that I was throwing around the Wiimotes and looking ridiculous in the process.
Wii Fit
The Balance Board's gameplay carried a game with minimalist graphics.
Gaming peripherals are notorious dust gatherers. What is the latest and the greatest in video gaming one day, is dusty and forgotten the next. However, one of my favorite gaming peripherals in the last generation was the Wii Balance Board.
I received Wii Fit with the Balance Board on a Christmas morning. The Balance board was a novel experience that I used daily for months. The workouts and games were a new type of gameplay with variations of monitoring my balance from the soccer game of leaning right or left to block soccer balls or to dodge panda bear heads to assessing the steadiness one maintains in yoga positions. While many of the cardio exercises were familiar variations of push-ups, sit-ups, high steps and the like I had no previous experience with yoga. Exercise classes are difficult for me because I cannot maintain a line of sight with an instructor in order to read their lips to know what is being said. In my own home I experienced virtual yoga and learned how well (or not so well) that I can maintain the Tree pose. I appreciated the new experience and the in-home gym experience for familiarity if I decided to pursue yoga classes in real life. Let's not discuss my high school gym classes of playing volleyball without wearing my glasses or hearing aids.
Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip
The in-home snowboarding was a ton of fun and less cold.
Few games, other than Wii Fit, successfully used the Balance Board.
Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip gave the Balance Board a game in which all but the Balance Board was superfluous. Graphics and story were pointless and only served to set players up on top of a snowy hill ready to run a new snowboarding course.
Snowboarding got a much more in-depth gameplay experience than available in Wii Fit. The balance and pressure changes on the Balance Board translating onscreen with moving and completing tricks was a novelty that carried an entire game. The experience felt like the in-home variation of ski simulator games at the arcade where we place out feer in skis that we move for the onscreen gameplay. The game wasn't powerful enough that I was hankering for its sequel but I enjoyed the time I spent on the slopes.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Silly but I actually felt like I was in a potion making class.
The Harry Potter franchise hasn't experienced the same bonanza of success with its video games given the curse of making games as franchise tie-ins (anyone remember Sony's Book of Spells for the WonderBook?). Regardless, the Harry Potter universe is magical with many opportunities for new ways in different mediums to experience the world. I may or may not own a black coffee mug that has a Marauder's Map appear when a hot beverage is poured into the cup. One summer I had a gift card for Best Buy and I wanted a video game, the latest AAA release (for the Wii) was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
The game gave the Harry Potter franchise a fun time with motion controls. The game was known as a gaming opportunity for open world exploration of Hogwarts. Casting the well-known spells with a flick of the Wiimote was an undeniable thrill from Stupefy to Incendio as was chasing the Golden Snitch in Quidditch with my arm outstretched as if actually reaching for the flying ball. But what I remembered after I turned off the game was the silly fun of a mini potion making game. Using the Wiimote I mixed together potions by picking up the correct ingredient, pouring, shaking, and stirring to create the correct potion. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on the Wii was not a game changer but combined motion controls with fun moments from the franchise. Think of the first time you tried Harry Potter's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in real life. While you may not have pursued an entire box of Dirt flavor jelly beans the experience felt lifted from the book.
The Bigs
Now I can use my learned baseball knowledge to talk semi-intelligently when the Pittsburgh Pirates play.
Wii Sports is an undeniable success that no console has recaptured. While mostly a tech demo of mini games, the game proudly highlighted the Wii's promise and provided a game with long lasting gameplay packaged in the box with the console.
The baseball mini game was mostly timing the bat swing appropriately. The Bigs brought more gameplay to baseball (and I am not a baseball player). Over a summer I became obsessed with seeing my player through the big leagues. I learned the nuance of throwing a curveball versus a knuckleball as well as fielding and throwing the ball to the correct base. I may still find watching a baseball game on television boring but The Bigs gave me an appreciation for the sport's nuances by bringing me physically into the game rather than yawning my way through button presses.
Motion controls remain a question mark with few, if any, games supporting long gameplay sessions with motion controls. Instead, camera and voice commands are the more widely used peripherals alongside a traditional controller. Nintendo's commitment to motion controls on the Wii opened up gaming with experiences that placed the player into the gameplay more so than any other aspect of the game such as story or graphics. My time with my Wii brought me novel experiences that I still remember fondly. Now I wait for the game that brings me Star Wars with motion controls that turns me into the Jedi (or Sith) that I always imagined myself to be.
Which is the Star Wars game that most felt you like a member of the universe?
What's your favorite Wii game?
Who will bring us the next classic Star Wars video game?