Star Wars Video Games with Darth Vader

All of the Star Wars PC video games that feature the Dark Sith Lord

Genre: Simulation, Space Flight
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Non-Playable Character

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Darth Vader's role in Star Wars: TIE Fighter is quite minor as he only appears in a few cut scenes where he performs his famous Force choke on rebels and traitors to the Galactic Empire.

About Star Wars: TIE Fighter

Star Wars: TIE Fighter was a space flight simulation game released in 1994 that for the first time, allowed players to play and fight for the Galactic Empire and more specifically Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. The game is set shortly after the events in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Players fight against ships from the Rebel Alliance, including X-Wings as well as a pirate faction. The game was originally released on floppy disk and compatible with MS-DOS operating system but it has since been re-released along with its expansions and is available on digital distribution platforms Steam and GOG.com

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001)

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
LucasArts

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Hero

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Darth Vader is a playable hero in Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds in the single player story campaign that centers around the Galactic Empire and the players attempt to complete missions with Vader leading a group of storm troopers and other Empire military units. In order to successfully complete a mission, players must try to keep Vader alive, that being said the Vader and other hero units are much stronger than the standard unit and can usually breeze through most opponents.

About Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds is a real time strategy game released by Ensemble Studios and LucasArts in 2001. The game uses the same engine used for Age of Empires II Age of Kings, so players familiar with that game and game mechanics will have no trouble picking up the game play for Galactic Battlegrounds. In addition to the single player campaigns, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds also includes the same multiplayer component found in Age of Empires II with various ,multiplayer skirmish matches. There was one expansion pack released for Galactic Battlegrounds titled the Clone Campaigns which introduces two new playable factions and campaigns.

Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds was recently re-released on GOG.com hopefully bringing some new life to the game. The game can support higher screen resolutions but multiplayer capability must be done through a service called Tunngle which has picked up some of the old multiplayer hosting of GameSpy since it was shutdown.

Star Wars Galaxies (2003)

Star Wars Galaxies - Darth Vader
Lucas Arts

Genre: MMORPG
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Non-Playable Character

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Darth Vader was a non-playable character that could be found in the Star Wars Galaxies, located in the Emperor's retreat on the planet Naboo. He was also featured in various locations and events that took place in the Star Wars Galaxies world.

About Star Wars Galaxies

Star Wars Galaxies was a massively multiplayer online role playing game set in the Star Wars Universe. It was released in 2003 and and continued with three expansions before it was finally shutdown in 2011 by Sony Online Entertainment.

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (2005) & The Original Trilogy (2006)

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game - Darth Vader

Lucas Arts

Genre: Action/Adventure, Platformer
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Character

Darth Vader Game play/Scenes

LEGO Star Wars is know for having dozens of playable characters in all it's video game series. The Star Wars line of LEGO video games is no different, with players able to unlock and play as every major character found in the films including Darth Vader. Darth Vader is available as a playable character in all the LEGO Star Wars games, his special ability is his force choke.

About LEGO Star Wars

The LEGO Star Wars series of games include three full games, they include LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game released in 2005 that covers the storyline of Episode I, II & III; LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy which was released in 2006 and centers around the storylines from Episodes IV, V & VI; And LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars released in 2011 which follows the story of the Clone Wars animated television series. Darth Vader is playable in all three titles. The first two titles were also released as a combined title called LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga which includes additional missions.

Star Wars: Battlefront II (2006)

Star Wars: Battlefront II - Darth Vader

Lucas Arts

Genre: Action, First Person Shooter
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Character

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Darth Vader is featured quite a bit in Star Wars Battlefront II, which was released in 2006, in the single player campaign but he is only playable in the multiplayer portion on certain maps. These include Tantive IV, Hoth, Dagobah, Endor and Bespin. After earning a certain number of points players are given the option to play as Darth Vader. Overall Darth Vader is one of the most formidable characters in the game, his movement speed is below average but his what he lacks in speed he makes up for in heath and defense. His lightsaber attack is very powerful and he is also equipped with various force abilities such as force fly and force choke.

About Star Wars: Battlefront II

Star Wars Battlefront II is loosely based on the time frame from Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones through Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. It includes objective based single player storyline that follows an elite unit of troopers from the Galactic Republic and under the command of Darth Vader.

Star Wars Empire at War (2006) & Forces of Corruption (2006)

Star Wars Empire at War - Darth Vader

Lucas Arts

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Hero

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Darth Vader is features as a playable hero for the Empire faction in Star Wars Empire at War, he is controlled like other units in this real time strategy game where a hero unit is a powerful unit that is more powerful that the basic units, can take more damage and has special abilities. Darth Vader's special abilities include the use of the Force as well as a special TIE fighter unit in the space combat portion of the game. He is featured in both the main Empire at War game and the Forces of Corruption expansion both of which were released in 2006.

About Star Wars Empire at War & Forces of Corruption

Star Wars Empire at War is a real time strategy game set in the Star Wars universe set during the the time between Episode III and Episode IV. It contains three basic game modes - story campaign, galactic conquest and skirmish and includes both space and land battles with real time strategic game play. Players will control one of two factions the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance as they build and deploy units and hero units to meet objectives of the campaign or attempt to defeat opponent in skirmish battles. Hero units include popular characters from the film such as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi and more. Forces of Corruption is the expansion for Empire at War which adds a third faction, new features and additional storyline.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) & Force Unleashed II (2010)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Darth Vader

Lucas Arts

Genre: Action, Third Person
Game Modes: Single player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Character

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed features Darth Vader as central figure, where he is playable through the first level during the invasion of Kashyyyk to hunt down the last of the Jedi knights. Upon killing the last known surviving Jedi, Vader takes in his son who he raises as an apprentice. After the first level this apprentice becomes the main playable character. Vader is a non-playable character through the remainder of the game. Vader is featured as a non-playable character in the sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II which was released in 2010.

About Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a third person action game released in 2008 that is set between Episode III and Episode IV where Darth Vader is sent on a mission by Emperor Palpatine to kill any of the remaining Jedi knights hiding on the planet of Kashyyyk. Play begins with players controlling Vader and the moves to the main character the offspring of the last Jedi on Kashyyyk. Strong with the Force, players will take the main character, know as Starkiller, through various missions with the primary objective of killing the Emperor.

Star Wars: Battlefront (2015)

Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) - Darth Vader

Lucas Arts

Genre: Action, First Person Shooter
Game Modes: Single player, multi-player
Darth Vader Appears As: Playable Character

Darth Vader Game Play/Scenes

One of the most talked about features for the recently released Star Wars Battlefront is the inclusion of playable heroes such as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and of course Darth Vader. The heroes are not available as selectable characters at the start of a game but rather must be activated only after players find a special token during a game. Darth Vader, like the other heroes available as a playable character, can take more damage that the normal soldier and are armed with their trademark weapons, in Vader's case the lightsaber. Hero characters also have a number of special abilities. In Darth Vader's case he has three unique abilities, The Force Choke which puts an enemy in an inescapable choke; Saber throw which allows Vader to thrown his light saber and have it return to him, dealing damage to anyone it hits; Heavy Strike which is a spin attack that will take out anyone in close range of a 360 degree move by Vader.

About Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars Battlefront (2015) is a reboot of the Star Wars Battlefront sub series of video games. It features a single player campaign as well as a robust multiplayer mode that features various maps and locations based on well known planets from the Star Wars Universe as well as a wide array of soldier classes, vehicles and more. The game was developed by EA DICE which is the same development company that has developed the Battlefield series of first person shooters.

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