Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

"Surprisingly Horrible Game!!!"

I am a major fan of the original Lego Star Wars game because it was good old simple fun to plug in and hack up bricks for three hours and discover the secrets hidden within this fun childish game. The second title, however, just tries way too hard to impress everybody and ruins everything about the original. (Hmm...it's like the movies, except the videogames are flipped-flopped in which trilogy is better).

Of course, if you are familiar with the cute little aspects of the original masterpiece, then you will be familiar with the sheer easiness of this title. This game, however, claims to balance on how well a player does, but you can go through an entire level, not die once and it never gains any difficulty. This isn't my biggest complaint, however.

The controls don't differ much from the original, but there are new features that will annoy fans of the original. Riding the animals looked good on paper, but in the whole scheme of things it's a drag on the games since most of the animals are slow, leaving you wide-open to laser blasts, and falling off the dumb thing. This is very frustrating if you need the animal to progress.

In the original, lightsabers were almost every level. I loved the lightsabers, but Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy focuses too much on blaster-action, which was horrible in the first game and it's just as bad in this game. The blasters leave you wide-open for shots by Storm Troopers, causing many cheap deaths and keeping you away from the coin goal of the particular level.

Also, there are a lot more levels in which you are stuck into a ship for an arcade-style space-shooter. These were entertaining in the original, and in this lackluster sequel, it is for the first couple levels it is featured...but the formula gets old. These were entertaining in the original because they were few and far between and offered a quick little break from the main gameplay, but Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy manages to break the neck of the fun factor of those ship-missions.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of button-mashing through the Lego Droids of Naboo will instantly remember the doors in which you have to use a certain character to ge through. In Lego Star Wars II there are some doors that you must have a Storm Trooper helmet on to open. Now, this is very, very irritating. The Storm Trooper helmet dispensers (I guess that's what they're called) are spread out through levels and are one of the only places you can get the helmets (unless you actually are a Storm Trooper). If you're playing two-player and you get a little bit ahead of your partner, you die, lose your helmet, your partner then will probably fall off whatever he's on because the camera zooms down to you, your partner dies, loses his/her helmet, and then you are forced to back-track and get another helmet. This is the major downfall of Lego Star Wars II.

If you are not at least familiar with the story of the original Star Wars trilogy, I want you to go home, crawl under the blankets on your pee-stained bed and wait to die. There is no need to go over the story, go out and rent the movies.

Making something out of Legos doesn't mean they're going to look like Hitman: Blood Money, but the Legos offer their own charm, giving the game a deliciously original feel.

If you plan on buying this game and playing the story mode for a month and still have some left over, then steer away. This game is short and the secrets are easily obtained, just like the original, but simplicity is one of the best features about the Lego Star Wars games.

I highly suggest that you don't even rent this title unless you're confident that you have no problem with the nuisances I have listed in my above review. This game was an extreme disappoint after the greatness the original game had obtained.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/06