TekRevue

/

The Dark Side: The 10 Worst Star Wars Games Ever

By on at • @mggjim

2. Star Wars: Jedi Arena (1983)

Platform: Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 was one of the most important products in gaming history. Unfortunately, it also had its fair share of absolutely, inexcusably terrible games, including Jedi Arena. Supposedly based on the Episode IV scene where Obi-Wan teaches Luke lightsaber combat with the help of a hovering blaster droid, the game pits two “Jedi” against each other. With one player controlling a blue lightsaber and the other a red one, players are tasked with swinging their lightsabers back and forth to deflect blasts from the droid, in a mechanic similar to that of Pong. The game featured four difficulty levels, the highest of which made the blaster droid invisible, but the gameplay was too simple, the games themselves over too quickly, and the graphics and sound poor, even for the era.

Sign Up for the TekRevue Weekly Digest

Read more in Editorials or Games on TekRevue

  • Jacob Clipsham

    I’ve only fond memories of Star Wars Demolition on my Dreamcast and don’t care too much for you tarnishing that 😉

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Indeed, I *remember* loving several games on this list (Rebellion, Rebel Assault, even Yoda Stories) from when I was younger, but revisiting them now as I prepared the list made me realize how powerful nostalgia is. I loved Star Wars so much at one point in my life that I didn’t care what it was, so long as it featured blasters, X-Wings, and Wookiees :)

  • Andy

    How about Kinect: Star Wars?! Lol, people hated it so much they forgot about it.

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      That’s on page 12, our “Dishonorable Mention” :)

      • Andy

        Haha, that comment made my day! Rare occasion that the original posters comment on these things. =) Nice Top 10 Star Wars games list too. As a lifetime Star Wars fan, I think you really nailed it and truly understand what Star Wars is about.

        • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

          Thanks for the kind words, Andy. And thanks for visiting!

    • James Vetzal

      I will say that I did enjoy the podracing quite a lot, made me feel like I was playing the old arcade game version of Podracer, which was a fantastic game.
      That needs a new sequel or a star wars open end racing game set on corouscant

      • Dan Rizzo

        Pod racing did have a sequel with Hayden Christensen. It had the same maps but it looked more modernly built

    • Sean Roberts

      I like Star Wars Kinect personally.. I mean you got to force push and choke people…

  • Kieran Cameron

    I am all for everyone gets their own opinion but I have only good memories of Star Wars episode 1: Jedi Power Battles. I wont say its not without bugs and issues but i would definately say there is much worse star wars games out there!

  • James

    How dare you put Star Wars: Obi-Wan on this list! That is one of my all time favorite Star Wars games. I thought the controls for the game were amazing!

    • Habib

      couldnt agree more! most original

    • Tyler Osso

      i agree completely… plus 1v1 jedi battles

      • Jesse Manners

        Thank you for saying this, I quietly screamed when I read Star Wars: Obi-Wan and Jedi Battles. Spent COUNTLESS hours on both.

        • Tyler Osso

          haha same here same here

      • David Mumford

        those were the best

    • Kody Adams

      such a great game, back when i had a modchip in the first xbox

    • David Mumford

      thank you! i’m not the only one who loved that game.

    • Sean Roberts

      Yeah they got this wrong, but they think it’s a good thing that EA has the rights to Star Wars games now.. So shows a lot about the authors haha.

  • Christopher Riddles

    I enjoyed Rebellion, I even go back to it now and again in this day and age.

  • Ramon

    I also respect everyone’s right to their own opinion, but you are loony tunes for having Masters of Teräs Käsi and Rebellion on this list. Both of these games gave me and my friends many, many hours of entertainment. Empire at War was probably the first game I bought when it was brand new and uninstalled after the first hour. And Masters is the only fighting game from that era that I felt had perfect character balance.

    • ShadowMarshall

      all this proves is that you seem to have an extremely poor taste in video games.

      • Ramon

        And that is, of course, your opinion. I like what I like.

    • Cody Paff

      I too was very disappointed with empire at war. there was no balance of time (travel, income, production) i did like the strategy of real time space combat. uninstalled after only a few hours, opened rebellion (as it’s never uninstalled, and actually the only reason i’ve kept my old laptop) and finally had an enjoyable experience

    • Moe Sasseville

      I agree Rebellion was pretty fun, and if you could get used to the interface, it was possible to use tactics to defeat a superior force unlike what the review states. Teras Kasi was basically like Shaq Fu…sorta clunky and only passingly fun…but not exactly one of the worse Star Wars games.

  • Fred101

    Star Wars Rebellion is a great game, one which I keep going back to play even now. Yes it had its fair share of problems, but the scale was amazing. To say that Empire at War gave us players satisfaction is (at least to me) completely false. I thought Empire at War would fix the mistakes of Rebellion and be great, but I ended up hated it very quickly.

    • Robert Bray

      Empire at war is how I’d imagine a sixty year old would feel if he thought he’d bought Viagra but instead was sold a placebo.

      Fantastic potential leading to epic disappointment. Picked up Rebellion on GOG. Still brilliant.

  • http://www.thepurgemusic.com The Purge

    You used an image from Rebel Assault 2 in the Rebel Assault description, I think. I played the shit out of that game when I was like 7.

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Whoops. Thanks for catching that! Should be fixed now once the cache clears.

      Indeed, I played every game on this list for hours when I was younger (except for Kinect Star Wars), and I remember loving them all. But looking at them now, they don’t hold up like the games on our Best of Star Wars list.

      • Ceri Cat

        RA2 was even more disappointing than the original given how far it strayed from established lore at the time.

  • Milo Cremer Eindhoven

    What about the horrible Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing?

  • Austin Beckstrom

    I might be the only person I know who enjoyed Rebellion.

    • Michael Castleberry

      I liked it a lot also. The game was broken as hell though once I got an Interdictor cruiser when I played as the Empire. Have a big ass fleet with a few star destroyers and a super star destroyer, and an interdictor so they can’t retreat into hyper space, and you basically just mop up the galaxy pretty easily. Then capture every planet except the rebel base, and destroy it w/ a Death Star,

  • Patrick Furlong

    How could anyone NOT like Rogue Squadron 2 on the Gamecube?

    • Kris

      Rogue Squadron 2 was good, the bad one was Rogue Squadron 3. That one had all the horrible ground missions.

  • William Grundmann

    I want to talk about Force Unleashed II, although the gameplay and level design were good. The extremely short length and crappy storyline did not come close to compare to the first Force Unleashed. I finished its 3 levels in an hour and I was like thats it, its like the forgot to make the 75% of the game.

    • Ron Trackwell

      I agree, and its not even really three levels, you just go back to the first world in the end.That game was such a big disappointment.

    • Cory Alexander Rubin

      Finishing that game, I just sat there going “Is that it? That Can’t be it.” I think I sat there for a good 10 minutes just staring at the screen in disappointment.

  • Joshua Hunt

    Im Sorry i know that some people disliked Jedi battles, But my brother and myself Sat there for hours on end trying to finish it Granted today i would only play it in memory of my brother, But i love that game with the actual hard game of 2001.

  • Matt James Krause

    I’m sorry but clearly you didn’t try Star Wars Obi-Wan on the Gameboy Colour, that shit was the best

    • Matt James Krause

      really different to the console/pc version

  • Tony Horton

    Are any of you KIDS who created this list old enough to know the 1983 arcade classic sit-down Star Wars? I thought not, seeing as you omitted it from the Best 10 list…….jeeeesh. Ask your parents, or do your homework better.

  • Robert Xiste Plouffe

    The worst star wars game ever made was star wars kinnect

  • Dan Rizzo

    Obviously you sucked at the game. This was the best star wars game of all time. This is a pathetic review and you should be banned for your top ten best and worst. Just seeing that picture makes me miss the game horribly. Ever hear of the evolution of graphics? Too bad man. Work on your gaming skills. You even get to play as Darth maul but you probably weren’t good enough for it. TWIT!!!

  • Dan Rizzo

    Time your attacks right!!!

  • Dan Rizzo

    Can’t stand the truth? No constructive criticism? Work on your controls bro!

  • Dan Rizzo

    Bad list!

  • Steven Klein

    Star Wars Rebellion is one of the greatest games ever made. It just takes an investigative mind to figure out how it works! I doubt any living person could beat me. But there may be a handful of challenges out there.

  • William Petersen

    BOO! Rebel assault was awesome!!

  • Christopher Bodenberger

    I really enjoyed Force Commander and rebellion when I was young. Trying to play them recently left me with a bad taste. Mostly for the reasons you mentioned but also because they aren’t playable on modern hardwareand I’ve been spoiled by Empire At War. I’ve bought the game several time and only play it Modded now days. Absolute Corruption Mod ftw.

    • Robert Bray

      Bless GOG.

  • Isaiah Timothy Miller

    what about battlefront with the poor AI

  • Mike

    Did the author seriously say “with EA in charge, the future looks good”? Does he even know who EA is?

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Yeah I did, because compared to what LucasArts was doing with the franchise for the past 10 years, the future does look bright. EA makes plenty of mistakes, and it’s fun to beat on them, but they still produce good games from time to time, such as the Mass Effect franchise, which would be right up the Start Wars alley.

      • Mike

        Bioware already had those franchises established though. Hopefully EA doesn’t screw Battlefront up, I might actually buy one of their games again if it’s good. I am still struggling with purchasing dragon age inquisition on my ps4, I want it but it’s EA, ugh.

        • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

          I’m with you on that. EA represents both ends of the spectrum for me, making or publishing both some of my absolute favorite games (Mass Effect, last-gen NHL, Left 4 Dead) and my worst gaming experiences (NHL 15, SimCity, Battlefield 4, etc.). But LucasArts was doing absolutely nothing good with Star Wars, and I’m happy to have at least some progress, even if it ends up sucking the first round through.

          • Mike

            My fingers are crossed that Battlefront turns out great. I will most likely get DA: Inquisition eventually breaking my ban. Although if I don’t get it before the Witcher 3 comes out, I may not worry about it.

  • Daniel

    You can’t really lump the Playstation, Dreamcast, and Gameboy Advance versions of Jedi Power Battles all into one listing. The Playstation version was meh. The Gameboy Advance version I never played but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that a game on those two systems cannot be compared. The Dreamcast version was FANTASTIC (for its time). It sported far cleaner and pleasing graphics, better controls, and a fantastic co-op. Just look at the available reviews: the Gameboy and Playstation reviews average around 60% whereas the Dreamcast version is around 75%.

  • Austin Kennedy

    The GBA version of Jedi power battles was actually pretty fun.

  • dustyn

    I loved force commander honestly…

  • David Mumford

    Obi-Wan should not be on this list

  • Sharpe

    I am going to start accumulating authors who can’t do research for my article called “The Sith Side - The 10 Most Uneducated Journalists Who Think They Can Write About Star Wars”. Here’s a great example. Where is Star Wars Episode I The Gungan Frontier on your list? Or how about, Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo? Both of these games were atrocious. Meanwhile, on your list of good games we get Jedi Outcast. How about Dark Forces? or Dark Forces II? Or even Jedi Academy (Which had far, far better level designs with the same engine). You have X-wing - which was terrible, story and all - but where is X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter, which finally let us blow each other up in true multiplayer style? I get that true honest unbiased journalism is dead, but come on, this kind of article you can justify buying EVERY STAR WARS GAME and playing them as a Business Expense, and you just did what? Perused some fan forums? Disappointing.

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Hey Sharpe, great examples of both good and bad games. Just one point, however. You see that big blue word at the top of the article that says “Editorial?” This is opinion. Our opinion. “Biased” journalism is the entire point. As mentioned several times throughout both lists, these are our favorite Star Wars games. The ethics of the situation would only apply if we included games that we knew weren’t bad (or vice versa) due to some personal connection with the game or other reason unrelated to our enjoyment or lack thereof (depending on the list).

  • Douglasde

    Looking at this list It’s not hard to see why Lucas Arts was shut down. I must say I did kinda enjoy Rebellion, but that game was ridiculously hard to manage at certain points. Not to mention a game manual that was the length of a novel.

  • bandack

    i loved jedi power battles

  • ssmithjr

    MoTK was great! Why isn’t SWG-NGE on this list?

  • Shannon

    I’d have to add Star Wars Arcade for the Sega 32x. No plot, horrible voice acting & incredibly tough level design. I’m a die hard star wars fan & with unlimited time on my hands but I still couldn’t stomach this game.

  • Franklin Sherwood Holland III

    Rancor Rampage was pretty fun too

  • Miles Hilario

    It’s funny that one of my most memorable Playstation games is Masters of Teras Kasi and it was impossible to find when I repurchased the first playstation many years later. Granted when I got the game I was only 7. Viewing a youtube clip of the game makes me realize that I’m glad I never found it or I would have been disappointed. 😛 I think I was too excited over the fact that I could play as Darth Vader and I always kicked my older brother’s ass at it. 😀

  • Johnstradomus

    I figured Star Wars Obi Wan would be on this after it failed to make the best games list. The lightsaber combat, multiplayer and story were fun and one of the only drawbacks was the camera at times.

  • Johnstradomus

    First Obi Wan and then Jedi Power Battles? I respectfully agree to disagree. Perhaps it was poor marketing to be faulted here for their lack of commercial success.

  • Paul Peterson

    Yoda stories? A random generating ultimately replayable star wars adventure? awesome to me

  • Johnny P

    Honestly surprised Force Unleashed II wasnt in here…graphics were okay, but repetative enimies, and a story that took 4.5-6 hrs to beat was terribly disappointing.

  • Iain Mac

    I’ve heard the non dreamcast versions weren’t as good, but from my experience jedi power battles was fantastic. I went out and bought a dreamcast the second I played it. My friend and I have a save file @ 99%(I think there’s a glitch, qui gon won’t max out). Survival mode was brutal hard to finish but it unlocks ultimate saber so the one hit kills thing adds to the realness. Not to mention it was really the only thing before cline wars that had adi gala, ki adi mundi and plo koon(i was super bummed watching ki adi mundi get taken out in ep 3).

    Republic heroes has a similar feel but lacks the difficulty.

    I had high hopes for rebellion, but the only way to play without being bored to death which made the computer near impossible, and multiplayer games took longer than risk. So I get why it made the list.

    No dark forces jedi knight? Come on it was far better than jedi outcast(as was jedi academy, but they’re all worthy)

  • John Casey Dean

    I really enjoyed Jedi power battles when I was younger. I feel like going back yi it would be rough, but that can be said for most games we loved as kids. Other than platformers most genres don’t hold up well over time, at least from my observations.

  • Nate Barrett

    I really don’t know how anyone could write “the future is bright” with a franchise in the hands of EA, a notoriously greedy company who have all but destroyed every franchise they’ve absorbed.

  • Richard White

    I did actually enjoy Rebellion, but more for the novelty than anything else.

  • Treyvon Darnell Morant

    I found power battles fun but that was back when I was young that I played it. I’d love to give it another try just to see if I still find it good.

  • Sean Roberts

    How is EA taking the rights for Lucas Arts games in anyway a good thing? You do realize EA is the most hated game publisher on Earth right?

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Sean, I hate to break it to you (because nobody hated EA more in the past than me), but the company has changed a lot in the past year or two. New leadership (Andrew Wilson), more consumer-friendly return policies, more engagement with consumers (i.e., the multiple Humble Bundle charity events), and the fact that they seem to be taking their time with their first major Star Wars game (the EA of old would have rushed Battlefront) all point to a company that is certainly improving.

      On top of all of that, please tell me the last time that Lucasarts did something positive with the Star Wars franchise. The studio was effectively dead, and had let the IP languish for years. The fact that new Star Wars games were announced within weeks of the Disney purchase and EA license agreement underscores the disparity in priorities between Lucasarts (what was left of it, anyway) and its successors.

      I loved Lucasarts games during the studio’s golden years, and sure, I wish that it could have remained strong and kept pumping out quality titles. But it was dead, long dead, by the time it was official dismantled. And you’re free to go on hating EA (they’re far from perfect, of course, and they’ll need to prove they can sustain their improved policies). But to argue that Star Wars fans eager for new games aren’t better off now than they were three years ago is objectively absurd.

  • Oranji Juusu

    Star Wars Episode I: Gungan Frontier is at least close to earning a place on this list.

  • Michael Duquette

    What is judging this games on? If he is comparing them with games of today, that is pretty foolish. Fella should judge things with games of their time. Jedi power battle was a pretty game for its time.

  • Mark Becker

    I disagree with #5. Jedi Power Battles was and still is one of the best Star Wars games ever made. Sure it had some bugs…but what PS1 game from 99 didn’t? I still play that over Battlefront 2 sometimes. 16 years still going strong? That’s more than you can say about other games. JPB deserves to be on the Best Star Wars Games list. No doubt.

  • James Tompsett

    Saying Empire at War is better than Rebellion is like saying the prequels are better than the original trilogy.

    The effects might have been prettier, and the lightsaber battles flashier, but where was the soul man, where was the soul?

  • William Thomas

    Screw Tekrevue for its ridiculously annoying pop up asking me to subscribe with each page in the article. You can shove a light saber where the sun don’t shine

    • http://www.tekrevue.com/ TekRevue

      Hey William, I’m sorry about that. The popup should only appear once, on the first page, and not keep reappearing. I’ll check with our Push Notification service ASAP.

      By chance are you blocking cookies or running an ad blocker (or any other setting that would prevent the code from remembering that you already dismissed it)?

  • Youngie76

    Rebellion was awesome. Even better against a human player. By far the best SW strategy game. Get with the program

  • Robert Parker

    Star Wars: Rebellion was an awesome game. I wish my modern PC would still run it. Perhaps the developers should make a vastly updated Rebellion 2!

  • Allen

    Star Wars Rebellion was one of the best games of my child hood. I would stay up into the early hours of the morning playing that game.

    Why no Star Wars Kinect is on this list is beyond me.

  • Sammy Moore

    Rebellion’s a great game that unfortunately has a very poor interface. Once you get used to it, it’s fun and challenging.

  • SeTTi

    You are kidding me? SW Rebellion is one of the best PC games ever.

  • Vader the White

    I can’t imagine Masters of Teräs Kasi being worse than The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Wii. You know how very, very few third party developers could make good use of the motion controls? Yeah, this sums up the problems with this sad excuse of a fighting game.