GOG Star Wars Day releases and sales

Only two days before the unofficial worldwide Star Wars Day celebration, but digital distributor of classic games GOG already has plenty on offer already with new releases and sales.

Two of the biggest and also most pleasant surprises are Rebel Assault 1 & 2, interactive movies with lots of on-rails shooting and also the reason for many, including myself, to get a CD-ROM drive back in the old days. This might sound strange for those growing up with DVDs or even BDs, but it was a big deal being finally able to relive the famous moments of Star Wars history with FMVs.

The video quality might look pretty bad in comparison to today’s technology, while the gameplay isn’t the most refined, but to understand what an impact these games had, one really should check them out. The second title even had a completely new story with newly filmed video sequences and mostly unknown actors. I don’t remember much of it, other than it was fun without experiencing the same wow factor. But then again, it’s one package for a very small price on GOG to try out both.

If you like space sims like me, then X-Wing and TIE-Fighter are must haves, this time even being upgraded with the Collector’s CD-ROM editions which feature better graphics and controls.

I haven’t played the new versions yet, but spent a lot of time with the originals. Compared to today’s console-centric gaming, these are pretty difficult and need some getting used to when learning all the different keyboard layouts. But they’re totally worth it if you want to have that special fighting-for-the-rebels or fighting-for-the-Empire feeling, and also to see how intriguing and unique joystick gaming was.

It was only a matter of time, but they’re finally available on GOG as well: the sequels to Dark Forces and Jedi Knight: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.

I haven’t finished the former or even played the latter. But what X-Wing did for the space sims genre, the Jedi Knight games did for FPS games, namely transporting the space saga atmosphere with lightsaber duels and blaster shootouts to the computer screen. The graphics might not have altered that well, but there’s surely no better way to relive the past glory days when the games were way better than what George Lucas came up with later on his unimaginative own.

To celebrate these releases and the upcoming Star Wars Day, GOG has two sales going on until Thursday, May 7, 6:59 AM GMT, the Blaster Bundle and Saber Bundle, including even more Star Wars goodness of various genres.

So if you want to have some games which are true to the source material and bridge the gap of waiting for new films, then there’s no better time than now on GOG.

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