For a Star Wars fan(atic) there’s been a suprising dearth of SW games on this list so far. That’s about to change and we start with Jedi Knight. Or, to give it it’s full title, Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces 2.

While id were paving the way with titles like Doom and Quake, Lucasarts were hot on their heels with their own FPS titles set in the expanded Star Wars universe. The first of these was the 1995 game Dark Forces. While it followed Doom, the graphics engine that it used (called, obviously, the JEDI engine) was actually more advanced than that used by id Software. Unlike Doom, levels in Dark Forces could be constructed with rooms above rooms, allowing for multi-storey buildings and so on. (One of the best levels in the game - Level 6: Imperial Detention Facility - used this to excellent effect with one of the best FPS puzzles ever.)

Jedi Knight was the first fully 3D FPS game that Lucasarts released, shortly after id had released Quake. Again, in my opinion, Lucasarts developed a more advanced 3D engine: a significant difference between Jedi Knight and Quake was the size of the levels. The Quake engine couldn’t render big outdoor areas but the levels in Jedi Knight were sometimes huge. Also, there was a story.

Once again, the protagonist was Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working for the Rebel Alliance who, in this episode (which is set after the fall of the Empire as seen in Return of the Jedi) learns that his father was actually a Jedi Knight and that he also has the ability to weild the force. It’s a very hokey set up (much lampooned in cartoons like this one) but who cares - you get a lightsaber and force powers and what more do you want out of life. Then it’s off to avenge the death of his father who was slain by a nasty, blind and bald dark jedi and his cohorts.

Jedi Knight also gave the player an inhabited galaxy to explore. Towns contained civilians who would run away as soon as there was a gun battle and who you could also gun down if necessary. Obviously this was not a good thing to do and (allegedly as I never worked out if it made much difference) doing so would earn you Dark Side points. Yes, Dark Side points. If you showed a tendency towards selecting all the cool Dark Side force powers (choke, lightning, that sort of thing) rather than Light Side (Heal, Persuasion etc.) then you’d become, well, dark. This meant that a couple of levels would play out differently and that there’d be a different ending on completion of the game. (What I found was that while Dark Side powers were more fun, the final battle against Jerec was actually easier with Light Side powers so what goes around, comes around).

There have been two further sequels to Jedi Knight - Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, the latter of which re-introduced a choice between light and dark side. For me, however, the joy of original Jedi Knight puts it on this list instead of the others. Generally I felt it had better level design with the outstanding level being the Falling Ship. During this level, you have to escape from a vast spaceship that’s plummeting to the ground meaning that the level rolls and shakes and that up becomes down and you can never rely on gravity. It’s not really a combat level (enemies are trying to escape too) but there’s a sense of urgency as it there is a time limit you must beat. It’s a great, great level with truly inspired design.

Jedi Knight has dated and very much looks 10 years old but it is a classic game and one that every Star Wars gamer should have played.