The Star Wars franchise has spawned a wide array of media from movies to books to games. It's unsurprising that much of the story content for Star Wars leans towards serious tones. Lucasarts took a chance with Kinect Star Wars by adding in some lighthearted game modes that provided a change of pace from the often darker stories taking place in the Star Wars universe.
Kinect Star Wars was developed by Lucasarts and released for the Xbox 360 in 2012. Its game modes include Jedi Destiny, Rancor Rampage, Podracing, Duels of Fate, and Galactic Dance-off. While the main mode, Jedi Destiny, follows the trend of having a story with a darker tone, Kinect Star Wars is controversial among players because of the silliness of the other game modes it features.
Star Wars games don't need to always be serious, and it's nice when some levity is included for a touch of comedic release, like with a Greez cutscene in Jedi: Fallen Order. Kinect Star Wars has moments that players can't forget, such as Han Solo dancing in the Galactic Dance-off mode to the song "I'm Han Solo." Lucasfilm Games needs to take the chances that Lucasarts took in exploring a breadth of genres in its games.
Lucasarts Exploring Genres Made Kinect Star Wars Into A Hidden Gem
While the controls for Kinect Star Wars can be a bit clunky due to the nature of the Xbox Kinect, it still provides plenty of entertainment and a bit of exercise for players. The Jedi Destiny mode has a story for players who enjoy diving into more Star Wars lore by allowing them to play as a Padawan and work to survive an attack on Kashyyyk. However, the additional game modes are what Lucasfilm can use as an example in order to fix the problem of Star Wars saturation facing Jedi: Survivor and other modern Star Wars games. Even when there's a saturation of Star Wars content, that saturation comes in the form of heavier material in the Star Wars universe. Therefore, lighter content like that of Kinect Star Wars can set a game apart and make it a refreshing experience for players who are inundated by serious stories.
From classic Podracing to the hilarious Galactic Dance-off, Lucasarts had some fun in creating Kinect Star Wars. It showed that the risk of trying new content or expanding on genres can create a unique, fun game and ease the repetition the franchise can fall into, such as so many Jedi having blue lightsabers in Star Wars. Lucasfilm should follow the example of Lucasarts and not be afraid of taking risks with future Star Wars games.
