Whether you like ragging on the Star Wars prequels or not, George Lucas’ space opera, with its lightsabers and Ewoks, has without a doubt impacted all corners of our galaxy. Between extensive merchandising, ongoing television shows, a neverending list of videogames, crunchy cereal, and even tauntaun sleeping bags, you can live, breathe and eat Star Wars if you want to. Like most licensed products, though, not all Star Wars videogames are created equal, but a select few have made a memorable and lasting impression – sort of like Jar Jar Binks, but in a good way. So without further ado, let's kick off Star Wars week with our favorites.

How could anyone not love these yellow block-headed guys? While it was one of TT Games’ earlier LEGO exploits, it still captured the essence of the original Star Wars films in a quirky yet adorable way. Their wacky, fast-paced storytelling is now a staple of all LEGO games, and the way some of the iconic Star Wars scenes were told in LEGO format is just downright hilarious. This action-adventure with light puzzle elements may be targeted at a younger audience, but there's no shortage of references that appeal to grown-ups, too.

Swinging our lightsaber haphazardly and breaking things is a blast, especially with the sound effects and music cranked up all the way. Inadvertently smacking our co-op partner and watching them explode into LEGO bits can be entertaining too. The game was a great way for any fan of Star Wars (or LEGO) to get together with a friend and play cooperatively on the same couch. Don’t want to play as Luke Skywalker? Fine, swap over to one of the other 50-odd characters and mess around with their own unique abilities.

LEGO Star Wars II satisfied our hunger for flashy lightsaber battles and building fun LEGO contraptions, all in one go. And while we know that, eventually, the series covered the entire Star Wars saga, The Original Trilogy was by far our favorite because…well, do we even have to explain?

We need to bring back the flight stick, if only to take Star Wars: TIE Fighter for another spin. Since the release of TIE Fighter (and the also-excellent X-Wing series), no game has come so close to capturing the feeling of piloting a starfighter in the Star Wars universe.

From the moment you step into the briefing room to the triumphant return to your fleet, each mission made you feel like a real Imperial pilot, as you rose through the ranks to become one of Emperor Palpatine’s most trusted servants.

Unlike the mostly on-rails (and FMV-heavy) Rebel Assault, TIE Fighter was a true flight simulator that never felt too complicated for its own good. You could adjust your engine power to increase your ship’s shields and blaster power at the expense of speed, and even configure how your ship’s blasters fired on the fly. But all that background multitasking while dog fighting and blasting down rebel scum never felt distracting. In fact, it felt amazing.

That’s you, taking out escorts for a Rebel medical frigate. That’s you running a suicide bombing run on a capital ship and surviving. That’s you, the wingman for the Darth Vader. TIE Fighter is midi-chlorian free and full of treats for true Star Wars fans. It even features the cold, calculating Admiral Thrawn as one of your commanding officers, which is a double dose of fanservice for anyone’s who enjoyed Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels.

Battlefront II wasn’t the prettiest game; it lacked balance, and the AI was easy to exploit. But none of that stopped it from being one of the most fun online multiplayer games around when it launched in late 2005.

The Conquest multiplayer mode was Battlefront II’s greatest strength. After selecting between battles set during the Galactic Civil War (Empire vs Rebels) or the Clone Wars (CIS vs Republic), players choose from four classes and spawned into battlefields with control points spread throughout the map. Kill an enemy player or AI bot, and you’d reduce the opposing team’s army count. Capture and hold more control points as a team, and the opposing team’s army count would start to decrease.

Battlefront II could host up 24- or 32-player matches, depending on which platform you were playing on, but thanks to the endless streams of AI-controlled soldiers charging towards the next contested control point, the game always made you feel like you were part of a much more epic war – and no matter what you did during a match of Conquest, it always seemed like you were doing a great job.

Spawn in and race towards that AT-ST, and mop the floor with AI cannon fodder. Lay mines to protect your control points. Strafe shoot enemy players to death as an infantry soldier. Or hop into a starfighter to try and invade your enemy’s capital ship. You even had the chance to spawn as special hero characters, like Mace Windu or General Grievous. Sprinting across the battlefield and slicing through swarms of the enemy singlehandedly to turn the tide of battle is what being a Jedi is all about.

There was a GameCube-exclusive Star Wars game for the system’s launch, and it was easily the best launch title. How insane does that sound? Well, it’s true. Rogue Leader dropped players in the cockpit of a number of different ships from the Star Wars universe, and let them play through the most memorable parts of the films (and fight a number of other battles, too). Death Star trench run? It’s in there. The “it’s a trap!” battle above Endor? It has it. Hoth? Not only is it in the game, but it’s done better than it was in any other game that did Hoth – and a lot of games have done Hoth.

It also looked beautiful. Even up through the end of the GameCube’s life, it was one of the best-looking games, with phenomenal bump-mapping, lighting and models that brought the world of Star Wars to life. Factor 5 even included voices from the films alongside new audio recorded by some of the actors, adding even more depth to the lore.

Oh, and it was a blast to play – that’s important, too. It was the closest thing to a full Star Fox game since Star Fox 64, but it did so without sacrificing any of its Star Wars-ness. And that’s very important.

You know that Star Wars game you’ve wanted forever? You know, the one where you get to run around the galaxy fighting the Empire and cutting off limbs with a lightsaber while using all of the Force powers seen in the movies? Well, stop waiting for it – Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast came out in 2002, and it was all of that and a whole lot more. Jedi Outcast starred Star Wars: Dark Forces’ Kyle Katarn as he traveled around with Jan Ors, fighting evil threats while cutting up bad guys with his saber.

The plot and the action-packed gameplay were utterly remarkable. We really felt like we had full control of the Force (lifting Stormtroopers with a Force choke and dropping them off cliffs was something other series wouldn't offer for years), and were even more powerful than we were in games like The Force Unleashed, because the controls actually worked. Sure, you could cooler stuff in Force Unleashed, but it felt like our hero was cross-eyed with all of the control and camera issues that game had. Jedi Knight II didn’t have any of those issues, it was, simply put, the best action-based Star Wars game ever made.

The multiplayer was an absolute treat, too. We still have vivid memories of playing countless hours of Capture the Flag, sitting above the flag’s capture point with our lightsabers off, only turning them on when an enemy appeared in the distance. They’d look up, see our cloaked figure descending on them… and then we’d get into sweet lightsaber battles while awesome Star Wars music played. Seriously, you need this game.

Who needs fancy graphics? Back in 1983, Star Wars proved that vector graphics in a handful of colors can be just as immersive as any other first-person game. What made Star Wars an amazing experience is that it could be played in a sit-down arcade cabinet, and with instructions booming in from a digitized Obi-Wan, we felt like we were truly in the cockpit of an X-wing as we took on Darth Vader and his TIE fighter minions.

Now that arcades are waning, if not completely dead, playing this version of Star Wars is a rare treat indeed, but it still holds up (nostalgia may have something to do with it). It may not look like much now, but this early first-person space simulator got straight to the point. Instead of making us go through some of the less-exciting portions of Star Wars with awkward dialogue and cheesy scenes, the game was solely based on the climactic final battle against the Death Star at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope.

As Luke Skywalker, or “Red Five,” we weaved and dodged enemy TIE Fighters, trying to make our way to the trenches for the final run. But when we finally did get there, more often than not, the Force was not with us and we’d have to try again. After all, this was an arcade game, and they wanted your money. And even if you did manage to sink your torpedoes and saw the Death Star go up in a brilliant vector explosion, all it meant was that you'd be treated to another, more difficult trench run. But it didn’t matter – we were taking on the Death Star, and we were more than happy to do it again!

Back in 2003, BioWare delivered one of the most compelling Star Wars storylines since the original movies with its RPG, Knights of the Old Republic. Undoubtedly, its huge plot twist was a big part of what put KOTOR on everyone’s best-game-ever list, but that wasn’t the only thing that made the game so great.

KOTOR fleshed out the Star Wars Universe in ways we never expected. Places and things that are only mentioned in the movies could be explored in the game – during a completely different time period, thousands of years before the events of the movies. It was the first time we got to delve into the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords on Korriban, explore the surface of Kashyyyk, and see first-hand what planet Princess Leia was talking about when she said the Rebel Base was on Dantooine. There was even more Star Wars fanservice to uncover if players dug deep enough. We used to think Tusken Raiders were all murdering savages, for example, until we discovered that they were just pissed that Tatooine’s visitors weren’t very eco-friendly.

The entirely new set of characters really made KOTOR unforgettable. Players could discover their deep backstories, often revealing details about the overall story as they did so, and could even influence them toward good or evil. The Assassin Droid HK-47, in particular, holds a special place in our hearts for his degrading and threatening comments towards organic meatbags, but steadfast loyalty to his master. The varied cast of characters affecting the outcomes in the story made playing through the game multiple times required to get KOTOR’s full experience, and each time, we were happy to oblige.

Knights of the Old Republic is the definitive Star Wars game for Star Wars fanatics. It has everything: witty characters, good versus evil, bucket-of-bolts starships and a plot twist that will blow your reverse power flux coupling. Out of all of the fantastic games in the Star Wars license, Knights of the Old Republic definitely stands out as one of the best.

Yeah, we know, you disagree with us. We're wrong about one of the entries, or we forgot something, or we're stupid for not including your favorite thing. It's fine, we get it.

Don't just sit there shouting at the screen, though - comment below and let us know what you think of this Top 7.