The Force Is Strong with This One (but Not That One): What Makes a Successful Star Wars Video Game Adaptation?

Matthew Barr

doi:10.3390/arts9040131

Abstract

The Star Wars films have probably spawned more video game adaptations than any other franchise. From the 1982 release of The Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600 to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order, around one hundred officially licensed Star Wars games have been published to date. Inevitably, the quality of these adaptations has varied, ranging from timeless classics such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, to such lamentable cash grabs as the Attack of the Clones movie tie-in. But what makes certain ludic adaptations of George Lucas’ space opera more successful than others? To answer this question, the critical response to some of the best-reviewed Star Wars games is analysed here, revealing a number of potential factors to consider, including the audio-visual quality of the games, the attendant story, and aspects of the gameplay. The tension between what constitutes a good game and what makes for a good Star Wars adaptation is also discussed. It is concluded that, while many well-received adaptations share certain characteristics—such as John Williams’ iconic score, a high degree of visual fidelity, and certain mythic story elements—the very best Star Wars games are those which advance the state of the art in video games, while simultaneously evoking something of Lucas’ cinematic saga.

Highlights

For this Star Wars fan, Atari’s 1983 Star Wars arcade machine, replete with its cutting-edge vector graphics and digitised movie sounds effects, remains a formative experience
LLC 1999) is their equivalent of the Star Wars arcade cabinet. What do these lauded adaptations of the filmic saga have in common? With around one hundred officially licensed Star Wars video game titles released to date1, and many of these already consigned to memory’s garbage compactor, why do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_video_games
While Attack of the Clones may represent something of a nadir for Star Wars video games, the question of what makes a good adaptation may be explored by examining the better reviewed games to be released under the Star Wars moniker

Summary

Introduction

For this Star Wars fan, Atari’s 1983 Star Wars arcade machine, replete with its cutting-edge vector graphics and digitised movie sounds effects, remains a formative experience. While Attack of the Clones may represent something of a nadir for Star Wars video games, the question of what makes a good adaptation may be explored by examining the better reviewed games to be released under the Star Wars moniker. To this end, we can look to the review aggregator website, Metacritic, which has conveniently compiled a list of the most critically lauded Star Wars titles for the 20 years to 20172. A number of themes are identified in relation to the qualities of each adaptation, including the games’ visuals, audio, gameplay, and story

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