Remember when LucasArts made good games?

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Do you remember in the 90's when you could buy any LucasArts game without ever playing a demo and it would be an awesome game? I don't know what's happened, but I finished The Force Unleashed II and it was about half as good as the first. Fighting the same enemies over and over (stupid droid with a shield), less interaction with the environment, lame enemies, lame story, lame end boss (Vader... AGAIN!). I'm glad I had a $15 off coupon from Best Buy... This is soooo much better than another Dark Forces/Jedi Knight, Republic Commando 2, or another X-Wing/TIE game... C'mon LucasArts clean house or something!

 

[Wes R]

The only one I ever played back then was Maniac Mansion. I never did get to play the sequel but it was a good game.

 

[letmebestormy]

They have cleaned house. significantly. a few times.

 

[Wes R]

Its not just them that aren't putting out good stuff. 10 years ago you could go to a game store and find 20 games from Square on the shelves and 95% were good solid games, now they're barely putting out any and not even half are worth the cash. So far Bethesda and EA are the only ones who are able to do good quality 90% of the time. Most of these companies, including Lucas, are more interested in pumping out games as fast as they can and are aimed at younger gamers who want stuff exploding and no storyline.

 

[jts1031]

They have cleaned house. significantly. a few times.

And that's the problem. There is no in house production to speak of anymore. They farm everything out and you end up with mediocrity.

 

[Kris Lyssara]

Cobalt, did you forget about Blizzard and Bioware? Blizzard not only releases MAYBE one game per year, but maintains them LONG after one would expect (Warcraft III patch, anyone?) Bioware continually produces high-quality games with immersive storylines that are anticipated for about as long as the public knows about them, and the routinely fulfill expectations.

 

[Wes R]

I never played Warcraft. Didn't Bioware just make Mass Effect 2? i swear i just played something by them but since it was also an EA game i counted it as by them.

 

[Jannix Quinn]

Imagine an Xwing vs Tie Fighter game with modern graphics. Sweeeeet.

 

[BRRogers]

The Dark Forces series could have been a GREAT new direction in the Star Wars franchise, but they really dumbed it up with JK:Outcast and the T-Rex head Desann (whatever that was all about).

Honestly, I don't know what they're talking about Force Unleashed giving us something we've never seen before: Jedi Knight invented the idea of "kill everything around you with chain lightning".
I probably will never play Force Unleashed simply because... well it's just TOO absurd. Jedi's cannot do those things in my Star Wars universe. (Bringing down whole Star Destoyers? Physically THROWING Tie Fighters? Disintegrating storm-troopers? ALWAYS WITH THE DOUBLE LIGHTSABERS NOW?) The prequels started to dive into that sort of absurdity with (pretty much everything about) Anakin.

Anyway...
Dark Forces was great. Xwing v. TIE was great. JK Outcast was acceptable, as was Obi-Wan and Bounty Hunter... but everything else recent has been crap unless it was 3rd party:

(Galactic Battlegrounds, Knights of the Old Republic, Republic Commando)

On A general scale... it seems like the newer studios are more in tune with the emerging markets. That is to say, games from Bungie, Ubi-soft, Bioware, Bethesda all have incredible stories with insurmountable odds. But these guys don't take it into the "absurd" territory where I roll my eyes.
Maybe it's a taste-thing? Maybe the old guys are over-estimating the need for over-stimulation and absurd story-lines / abilities?

 

[Wes R]

I agree. Look how much trouble Yoda had lifting the x-wing let alone moving anything else. Anakin was always supposed to be exceptional but the prequels kinda made him seem godlike on some levels. Throwing around droids and people is one thing but after you get larger than that you're kinda out on a limb even for science fiction. I have to say i'm not all that impressed with the game industry these days, I actually fire up my old SNES games and play as they lacked graphics but made up for it on storyline.

 

[jlee562]

Dark Forces II, TIE FIghter....oh those were fun games. I'm holding off on TFUII, but that's mostly because I'm broke. The visuals and physics of the first one was great.

 

[LordFett]

Full Throttle and Sam And Max Hit the Road have been two of my favorite games of all time. I still break out S&MHTR from time to time and quote it constantly.

Percent sign, Ampersand, colon, asterik... I'm swearing at you long hand.

 

[Jamanticus]

Didn't Bioware just make Mass Effect 2? i swear i just played something by them but since it was also an EA game i counted it as by them.

Yeah, the Mass Effect games and Dragon Age have been Bioware's big releases since 2005. Bioware's part of EA mostly the same way Bethesda Sofworks is part of Zenimax.

 

[Jannix Quinn]

I quite liked Lego Star Wars.

 

[Wes R]

I never heard of Zenimax before Bethesda lol. I hate admitting i like the new fallout games because of how Bethesda treated and still treats the original creators of the series. I love the Mass Effect games and i hope they keep going after the original trilogy, after all it is a huge universe. Alot of companies do what Lucas has done and strayed from what made their stuff popular.
The X-Com games are that way: turn base strategy with aliens. then it went to a bad flight sim and a even worse 1st person shooter which is a shame as the storyline continuing through them all was really good. The sudden shift from turn based RPG to FPS is another one choice that i think will make these companies regret it. I think it is too late for Lucasarts unless they get their stuff together but the other companies I would hope can save themselves.

 

[Contec]

Monkey Island series is still good.

 

[Whiskey]

I still play rebel strike. Love that game.

 

[Jennigirl]

Zak McCracken was a heck of a funny game until I lost the airport security code book, also had the codes for maniac mansion in it, as well as a complete guide to loom, last crusade, monkey island, Maniac mansion, and zak McCracken and the alien mind benders.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

A Rebel and Empire star fighter game would be cool... with two separate stories depending on what faction you choose.

SWEET.

All that Jedi crap is so yesterday... give us the real heroes who didn't need magic do fight for what they believed in and had the balls to do it and risked dying.

 

[SVTStingRay]

tie fighter (d vader as your wingman, dont give him any orders!), x-wing hard levels, secret weapons of the luftwaffe, full throttle. great games