Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight between a giant Rancor, Boba Fett and an AT-ST? Then you might enjoy Star Wars: Demolition, a game released on PlayStation and Dreamcast in November 2000.
Star Wars: Demolition was developed by Luxoflux, the same studio that developed the Vigilante 8 games. These late 90s era games were heavily inspired by Twisted Metal and were all about vehicular combat.
Star Wars: Demolition is built using the same engine that powers Vigilante 8 and is basically another vehicular combat game, but set in the Star Wars universe. So instead of using muscle cars and trucks, players choose from popular Star Wars vehicles like Swoop bikes and Snowspeeders.
The selection of vehicles is a bit odd. Some of the included vehicles make sense and seem like good choices. For example, players can pilot a Landspeeder or an AAT tank.
However, some of the other vehicles Luxoflux included make a lot less sense. Players can choose to drive a Podracer, which seems like a terrible choice. Podracers are meant for going really fast on large race tracks. They don’t seem like a great vehicle for combat.
Then there are a few vehicles that aren’t actually vehicles. Players can choose Boba Fett. Just Boba Fett, a living human being. He isn’t driving his Slave 1 ship or a hover bike. Nope, it’s just a dude wearing a jetpack. That hardly seems like a vehicle.
Even sillier, players can choose Malakili and his Rancor. A Rancor might be a giant beast, though is a living creature a vehicle? I don’t think so. Jabba is running the demolition tournament featured in the game’s story mode, so he decides the rules and regulations. It seems Jabba is pretty laid back when it comes to rules.
“You want to enter my tournament using a giant alien creature as your vehicle? Sure, I don’t care,” probably said by Jabba The Hutt.
Many of the characters who drive these vehicles have interesting origins. Some of them should get their own book in the Disney Star Wars canon. Tia and Ghia were young twin sisters who were also highly skilled pilots in the Rebel Alliance. After they heard their crush Han Solo was captured they decided to head to Tatooine to save him themselves.
Quagga, was an old and nasty looking Wookiee who was running out of money after dealing with aggressive Jawas in the deserts of Tatooine. They kept attacking his repair business. So he fixed up an AAT battle tank and joined the demolition tournament to win some credits.
Maybe my favorite is General Otto. He was an officer in the Empire, but was considered by many to be an incompetent fool. After failing a few times and nearly getting killed by Darth Vader, Otto quit the Empire and stole an AT-ST walker before leaving. He then used that stolen vehicle to enter Jabba’s tournament. Otto did appear in Star Wars Galaxies, the now dead MMO. But I want more Otto.
Demolition is the kind of Star Wars game we don’t get anymore. We really do need more weird Star Wars games. Stuff that feels more playful and has more personality than Battlefront II. Sure, that game might let you play as Vader and Rey, but Demolition let you kill Darth Maul while riding on the back of a Rancor while fighting in a galactic demolition derby set on planets like Hoth.
Star Wars is strange and funny and I want more games that embrace the silly side of Star Wars.