10 Most Inspired Launch Games Ever Released

9. Star Wars: Rogue Leader

star_wars_rogue_leader As anyone who has been on a first date with me can attest, I bloody love Star Wars. I used to wake up at 6am to play Dark Forces before going to school and while subsequent games were good fun, no Star Wars game ever quite managed to make me feel totally immersed in a galaxy far, far away. The graphics were always a bit shonky or the gameplay sub-standard, that was until Star Wars: Rogue Leader, the sequel to the pretty average Rogue Squadron on the N64. Launching alongside Nintendo's aesthetically bemusing Gamecube, Rogue Leader finally answered the prayers of Star Wars fans the world over by allowing them to take part in the attack on the Death Star or the Battle of Hoth and have the graphics look almost as good as the films. While the gameplay was a little simplistic and repetitive, there was never a point where I cared, after years dodgy games it was simply a joy for console owners to get into the cockpit of an X-Wing and kick some serious Imperial ass in all of Rogue Leader's graphical splendour.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Tom is a budding novelist and film critic who is slowly coming to terms with the fact he might be too old to play for Arsenal. Follow him on Twitter for updates on his lunch @TomGilchrist