 With Star Wars Celebration bringing us news of a brand new adventure from a galaxy far, far away in the form of strategy title Star Wars: Zero Company, we’ve been thinking back at our favourite games from years past. This new title is a strategy game from Bit Reactor, former developers from Firaxis Games, which brought us Civilization and the original XCOM, and marks the first time we can remember in a while that Star Wars has had the strategy game treatment – outside of mobile games at least. Star Wars and gaming has a long history, with the first tie-in released back in 1982 for The Empire Strikes Back, so there’s plenty to choose from. Which game is strongest in The Force for you? Let us know in our Discord.
Knights of the Old Republic| Chris Brand  I've waxed lyrical about Knights of the Old Republic before, but it deserves another mention as one of the greatest Star Wars titles ever conceptualised. Though it was close between this and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, KOTOR just edges it with its more fluid approach to storytelling. Whilst Cal Kestis is undoubtedly one of the good guys, KOTOR presents multiple moral quandaries which can shift your Dark/Light alignment, allowing you to be the exact kind of hero, or villain, you desire. The freedom to make sure each character gets what they truly deserve is something I'd like to explore one day, however, every playthrough so far has seen me drift over to the Dark Side. Though I can't be sure of this, it certainly feels much harder to resist the pull of the Dark Side than in other titles with a morality, or reputation, system. It could be that this was an intentional development decision to give the story a bit more of a bite, or maybe if I turn the microscope on myself I'll find that I'm just not a very good person. Given that my player character usually ends up with "Darth" in their name before I've even started playing, it's probably the latter. As much as I enjoy revisiting KOTOR, it's a hard game to recommend today due to its advanced age. It can run a little slow, is a tad too choppy at times, and the controls are just good enough to be passable, while still feeling like nothing is quite right. I'm almost certain that you, person reading this, have fought through worse games before just to give them a fair chance, but the long-awaited remake could potentially fix most of these issues. A virtue, patience is. The Clone Wars and Bounty Hunter | Liam Andrews  With James championing Rogue Squadron (which is the correct choice for best Star Wars games) I thought I’d use this opportunity to talk up two of my other favourite games set in a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars probably wouldn’t be most people’s choice for best Star Wars game, but I thought it was very enjoyable. The Jedi hover tanks were super fun to control and taking out waves of droids with the LAAT clone trooper ships and their big green lasers was very satisfying. I also really enjoyed the game’s multiplayer modes, especially the Geonosis level where you tried to last as long as possible against waves of enemies in the arena, which was great fun with friends. My other pick is another Clone Wars era game: Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. I always like it when tie-in games expand upon the source material’s story, and Bounty Hunter does that nicely, explaining how Jango Fett comes to be chosen as the blueprint for the clone army. It’s also a lot of fun playing as a Mandalorian and using a jetpack, wrist mounted flamethrowers and double blaster pistols to take out enemies. Honourable mentions go to 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront for its highly addictive Drop Zone game mode, as well as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for its superb story and combat.  The second of the recent Nintendo Directs brought a smattering of technical details, a few game reveals, and plenty of distinctly Nintendo bits and pieces to get us interested in the new Nintendo Switch 2. As well as that we got a release date and price: 5 June and £399.99 – unless world trade changes things before then, of course. So, what did you make of it? Are you more or less excited now? Does the price make you think twice? Natter about it in the Discord.
GameCube titles and improved Switch games | Liam Andrews  One of the biggest highlights for me from the Direct was GameCube games being added to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass. The GameCube was probably my favourite console so I’m very happy to see it finally being added to NSO, and the initial library of games looks good. The inclusion of The Wind Waker as a launch title pretty much confirms we’re never getting a port of the Wii U HD remaster, but it’s such a fantastic game I will more than happily play the original version again. My other highlight was upgraded versions of old Switch games. As someone who still hasn’t gotten around to playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I’m quite glad I ended up waiting as I now get to experience it with updated visuals and improved performance. Releasing the upgraded games as more expensive Switch 2 versions was a bit disappointing, but the being able to access them through the NSO Expansion Pass softens the blow somewhat. Donkey Kong Bananza was another title that looked great, I liked the mix of 2D and 3D platforming and the destructible environment seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun to play with. I am also extremely happy to see the new Pro Controller will finally have a headphone jack! Mario Kart World | Chris Brand The big reveal of the true function of The Mystery Button™ was rather anti-climactic after I'd hyped myself up imagining the endless possibilities.
As someone who hasn't owned a Nintendo console in months (hundreds and hundreds of months), I wasn't aware that game chat was a big enough request to warrant its own dedicated button. Maybe Nintendo folks are just more friendly than everyone else? Putting aside my gripes about the Button of Disappointment, Mario Kart World looks like the game everyone wanted without realising it. It's quite a departure from the standard kart racing fare, with discrete tracks connected by an open world and a whopping 24 players able to compete at once. It sounds genuinely chaotic, which is where Mario Kart really shines. I think things may have fallen apart for a lot of people when the cost of everything was revealed. A higher price for the console itself is not too surprising (and, from what we've seen, it's justified too) but the pricing of first-party games is higher than expected and Nintendo does an Astrobot – a glorified tech demo showing off the Switch 2 itself – having a price tag at all just smacks of corporate greed. Has the world's richest plumber run into financial problems? Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't even have his own console anymore but that dude can still afford to fund three films. The flip side of this is Nintendo's new GameShare feature, which allows you to share select titles with friends who don't own said titles. It may be the case that the price point for games is higher to mitigate their losses for implementing this feature, in which case it's understandable, but will still leave a bitter taste in the mouths of fans.  It’s Nintendo season, and with the Switch 2-focused Nintendo Direct only days away, the iconic Japanese gaming company has already spoiled us with another Direct talking about software coming to the original Switch. Not only that, but theory talked about an interesting software update coming to the Switch in April, which gives us an indication of what the Switch 2 experience might be like – and how they are going to succeed in convincing you need one day one. What stood out for you at the Direct? What are your predictions for the Switch 2 update? Let us know in our Discord.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion and Shadow Labyrinth | Chris Brand Upon first seeing the trailer, I was surprised that Marvel Cosmic Invasion doesn't already exist. It seems like an obvious idea that should have been done many times before, but here we are with a brand new Marvel beat 'em up. It seems like The Avengers and X-Men will make up the bulk of the roster, but there's room for a few lesser-known characters outside of the usual suspects. It's an even more attractive package with the promise of 4-player co-op, despite me lacking the required number of friends to really make the most of it, but at least I only need to find 3 more to give it a go. This may have flown under my radar and landed quietly in the corner without me even noticing, if it wasn't for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge being the absolute best that the genre has to offer. The other thing that caught my eye was Shadow Labyrinth. When it comes to boring, tedious, soul-crushingly dull games, Pac-Man is unmatched. But the pointless yellow circle has been completely reimagined in, what I'm calling, a reboot of the series. The story of Shadow Labyrinth eluded me each time I rewatched that section, though I assume it doesn't differ all that much from the original: you swallow hundreds of pills and fight ghosts. But this time, Pac-Man is known as Puck and he's more of a side-kick or a pet. Kind of like how Tintin has his stupid little dog, or how Elon Musk has Donald Trump. Thankfully, they've kept the only good aspect of the franchise which is, of course, the iconic waka-waka noise. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond | LiaM ANDREWS  I’m a big fan of Metroid Prime. I enjoyed the original back in 2002, and the 2023 remaster was my personal game of the year, so it’s no surprise that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was my highlight of the Direct.
The gameplay shown off looked great, and I really like the look of the new location, Viewros, with its lush jungle setting. The opening few moments of the trailer nailed that Metroid Prime feeling, especially with the melancholic operatic music and I can’t wait to go exploring. Combat looked as satisfying as ever, and the new psychic abilities seem very interesting, being able to control projectiles with them seems like a very cool idea. No solid release date was a bit disappointing, but I am still very excited to play this, hopefully not too much later in the year. Elsewhere I enjoyed the reveal of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. I was aware of how popular the first Tomodachi Life was on 3DS, but I never played it. It’s a shame it’s coming in 2026 as I’ve been looking for another relaxing game to play after dropping Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but it at least looks like it’ll be worth the wait. |
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