Star Wars: Demolition

Imagine a vehicular arena brawl in the style of Twisted Metal – except instead of gloomy streets, you wreak havoc in the middle of the Star Wars galaxy. That is exactly how Star Wars: Demolition came about, one of the most unconventional offshoots of the famous brand on the PlayStation.

Instead of X-wing pilots and Jedi knights, you take the controls of combat machines crewed by characters and vehicles from the Star Wars universe. The game is built on the principle of vehicular combat: in enclosed arenas, armored opponents equipped with firearms and special attacks face off against one another, and the goal is to shoot your opponent to pieces before he does the same to you. The game openly acknowledges its debt to the Twisted Metal series, which makes sense – this type of adrenaline-fueled arena action was very popular in the late 1990s.

The charm of the title lies in how it tries to smuggle the familiar faces and settings of Star Wars into a genre that has nothing to do with the saga. For fans it was either a refreshing trip off the beaten track, or a curiosity that treated the brand rather loosely. Arenas set in familiar locations and the chance to duke it out with characters from the films have their own crazy charm.

From today's perspective, Demolition is interesting mainly as testimony to how eagerly licenses were experimented with at the turn of the millennium – a big brand simply tried to squeeze itself into as many game genres as possible. Not every such attempt has aged gracefully, but the effort at originality is to be commended.

Why play it: When you want Star Wars a little differently – without the loftiness, but with engine roar and explosions in the arena – this vehicular brawl will delight you with its unexpected audacity.