Lego Star Wars

"Tabula Rasa"

Every once in a while a new game is released that is different from traditional games already out on the market. In many cases the game itself tends to fail miserably and is quickly forgotten. However, once every while a product becomes successful enough to where it contributes something new to video games as a whole. Lego Star Wars is not an absolute failure, but at the same time it's not a ground-shattering success story either. It's more of a so-so game that's good to check out, but move on soon afterwards to other titles.

Lego Star Wars plays fairly well. Through the entire game you're in control of a various character in the Star Wars universe. The game is divided into three episodes (The first three in the Star Wars saga) and those are split into various missions that anyone who's familiar with Star Wars should know about. It's fairly straightforward, mostly just hack n' slash (or shoot depending upon what character you're using) using the square button. Jumping is implemented as well so that adds a tad to gameplay options. The game's entertainment value comes straight from it's own original concept. Who doesn't enjoy saving the galaxy in block form? This is good fun for a few hours at a time but eventually the act will grow stale, Lego Star Wars depends too much on it's own originality and doesn't offer the player much more than that.

The story behind Lego Star Wars is simple. It's based off the first three films in the Star Wars saga (The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith respectively). Anyone who's familiar with the films will recognize all of the characters in-game and all of their Lego style glory. However, if you haven't seen the films nor know the story already itself you're going to be left scratching your head, for reasons which will be mentioned earlier. Lego Star Wars is purposely not about the story line of the films themselves, as it's assumed the player already knows about them. But the game does follow events in the films closely for the most part.

Visually Lego Star Wars turns out to be average. Everything, from the characters to the environments are done in Lego-fashion. This saves the game from becoming too blocky and whatnot, and some of the Lego designs are actually fairly cool. However, at the same time character and level designs can become rather bland without any other creative detail besides the Lego depictions. Sound is not an area that is kind to Lego Star Wars. The standard sound effects (such as the classic Lightsaber "Zwhing") are included, and so are various tunes from the Star Wars universe. However, characters do not talk. This really hampers the story if you don't know it already. No explanations will be given of events going on besides the often comical events happening on-screen. Character voices would've been a nice addition but were left out for reasons unbeknowngst to myself.

The game itself is fairly short, and can be completed within a few hours even by the most casual player. It's replay value vastly comes from purchasing and unlocking secret characters to use at your disposal. Those mentioned characters however, don't add very much to the game itself besides bragging rights for wasting your time to get them. Once you beat Lego Star Wars there really isn't that much incentive to play it again besides popping it in for a quick bored cure perhaps. But your time would probably be better spent elsewhere.

If you're interested in this game a rental will serve you just fine. For many guru Star Wars fanatics that simply will not do. And there's nothing wrong with that, but for the vast majority this is just one of those games where it's better to check out for a short time than own. The concept of Lego Star Wars is new and refreshing, but the execution could have been better.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06, Updated 05/15/08

Game Release: Lego Star Wars (US, 04/02/05)