Lego Star Wars

"Extremely Enjoyable For the First Few Hours – Rent Before You Buy this Awesome Game!"

Gameplay 8
The gameplay has a high re-playability factor. The more characters you unlock, the more you are able to explore the levels and reveal secrets previously unreachable. Often, a hard to reach canister (the special items that allow you to build Lego vehicles for extra points and for bragging rights) is impossible to get your hands on during the current moment in the Story Mode. After using a character in Story mode, you can revisit the level in Freeplay Mode and a character received from another chapter will have the necessary ability to reach that canister. I had to knock a few points off for a simple fact; many of the characters are interchangeable, however there are four basic types: small types, blaster types, jedi types and droids. Though it is great fun to put together groups of heroes to go through entertaining levels, older players (above the age of ten) will notice that the Star Wars-Lite feel unfortunately makes many levels devoid of dynamic fun. IE: Jango Fett's jetpack doesn't help over chasms; inexplicably, he falls down. As a result, Jango has no jump in the game due to the limited control scheme (mentioned in the Controls Section). Strange, since his jetpack seemed to allow him to hover quite high up in the movies. Also, every character gets 1; read ONE, special skill. Basically, all characters can jump and attack, but not much variation. So Padme is exactly the same character as a Clone Trooper, except for a palette swap.

In fact, it is often more enjoyable to hang out at the Diner (the launching point to all of the missions), and watch the NPC characters fight each other, than play through the actual levels. The reason is simple – AI is very basic and very dumb. NPC partners in single player mode will not actually fight, for example. I've seen allies blast droids more than once and have nothing happen, only to take control of them myself and reduce the enemy to Lego blocks in a single shot. During crucial moments of the game, NPC's will react when you need a partner to help you get past a certain point, but do not be fooled; these are simply scripted points, and you will actually witness the computer cycle through a character list to morph into a character that has the skill you need to get past that point and finish it for you. Having played games made for young audiences like ‘Zelda: Wind Waker' and ‘Secret of Mana', I don't understand why Lego and LucasArts chose this tactic; especially since most children aged ten and under do not own PlayStation 2 (I shared a SNES with my older brother until I was 12), and many of those that do are actually harder to please than I was when I was their age. Back in the days of ‘A Link to the Past', which I argue is a children's game, I actually practiced many valuable puzzle solving skills. I contend that dumbed down games that do not even leave open the option of failing at a mission are not really ‘good' for younger audiences. As a result, game play is fun, but there really is no sense of ‘winning'; even after beating the last mission, I had a lingering feeling of ‘what's next?'. It is more fun to watch the fights at the Diner than to actually try to get all of the special canisters.

Fun, but not really pushed as far to the limit as it could go. It is very well done, but there is a lingering feeling of ‘they could have done this, or should have done this'.

Story 6
We know the stories from Episodes I and II; III was a very enjoyable preview of the movie. Not much ground breaking; you basically see the major scenes of the movie with no dialogue and many supporting characters cut out. There is no dialogue, which is cute, but ends up seeming like an old silent film.

Graphics 8
There really is not much to say about graphics. They are well done, and the Lego bits and pieces are very well rendered. Some environments are very well rendered, and the work with reflections in some specific areas of the game is incredibly realistic. However, the Lego look does not really lend itself that well to impressing players with graphics. They are very well done, but in no way compares to other games using the Star Wars license.

Controls 10
Kudos to the designers for designing a control style that is almost effortless to learn. I read through the manual before playing, and was disappointed at the lack of detail. However, when I loaded up the game, I found that the manual was basic not because of oversight, but by design. This game is literally so easy to pick up, that if you have problems with moving your character, you really should move back to 2-D games. My only gripe would be that there is not variety in the moves, so all the buttons are not exploited to the degree they could have been. I can only comment on what is actually present in the game, in regards to controls, so I give them a 10.

Overall 8
I like this game a lot. Seriously. I'm 24, and I still felt compelled to buy this game. Do I regret the purchase? Honestly? Yes, I do. I should have saved the money for the Revenge of the Sith game coming out on the 5th. The reasons for this is simple - this game is all fluff, but no substance. The premise is interesting, but the levels aren't long enough, the characters are not detailed enough, and the AI makes you feel as if you are going it completely alone with a shadow close behind.

Maybe I'll return it, and use the store credit to buy the Revenge of the Sith? This is a fun game, but to be completely honest, you could finish it in one night, and in good conscience I can't reccommend it to anyone over the age of 10.

I give it an 8 out of 10, with scoring being largely determined by the amount of fun it is to watch the impromptu battles that break out near Dexter's Diner.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/05