Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The Return of LucasArts

I think Stars Wars fans can be divided pretty easily into three groups:

Those Born in or before 1972: These are the people who were five or older when Star Wars first came out. I love Star Wars, but these guys had an entirely different experience. You have no idea what you're in for when you walk into that theater, but when you walk out, the world has changed. Imagine not knowing the Death Star was going to be there, seeing the Falcon for the first time, or not knowing Darth Vader was human, much less Luke's father.

Those Born Somewhere Between 1983 and 1997: This means the first time you saw Star Wars on the big screen, with a few exceptions, was the Special Edition. Your fandom is a lot of minutia- the books, the games, watching VHS tapes literally hundreds of times, action figures, etc. It also means you lived waiting for the next thing, the constant tease of the roman numeral IV.

Which, of course, means you had your heart broken.

Those Born After 1997 or So: Not that I bear the younglings any ill will, and I suppose, it's how the first group must feel about the second, but man, kids. Y'all are spoiled. Star Wars LEGO, for crying out loud. How many of the first and second groups build an X-wing with old LEGO pieces? Those wings suck. Seriously. No one has made fun of these guys for liking Star Wars in school (this is a good thing). As above, they are growing (grown? How is it almost 2015?) up in a different world.

I bring this up because all of those groups really, really love Star Wars, and man, we have something to celebrate. As you probably already know, Good Old Games has gotten the rights to a boatload of LucasArts games, most notably TIE Fighter, X-Wing and Knights of the Old Republic. All are $10, and I defy you to find a better expenditure of $30.

What's so great about these? Several things, most notably Battlefront 3 won't be out for a damn year. I mean, group B up there grew up on these games. Group A probably had disposable income at that point to, and kids in group C, you missed out. I, for one, played the ever-loving crap out of these games.

Leave my Star Destroyers alone, scum!
It will come as a surprise to exactly no one that I preferred TIE Fighter (Empire 4 lyfe, yo), and played the ever-loving crap out of it. The graphics aren't blowing anyone away today, obviously, but that's like saying you can't enjoy a play because it doesn't have Michael Bay explosions. There still hasn't been a game with such great, simple storyline that just strapped you into the original trilogy and cut you loose. Despite playing (I am pretty sure) every game that had Star Wars plastered on it, I still think these are the best*.

So grab your credit card and join up. Oh, they still require a joystick. So make sure you have that first.

*The Old Republic is pretty great, though.

D.E.S. Richard is a science fiction author. You can buy his debut release, 3024AD: Short Stories Series One here: Kobo | Nook, and read his free, ongoing choose-your-own-adventure, the Venturess.

He is also an aficionado of good drinks (extra dry martini; onions, not olives), good food and fine dress. When not holed up in his office tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore.
He also has an unhealthy obsession with old movies and goes through phases where he plays video games before kind of forgetting they exist.