Despite being a port, The Complete Saga is one of the few games that deserve such an adjective and is worthy
Mainly because Lego Star Wars is extremely different from the other games, on which the characters are portrayed exactly as they appeared on the big screen. Meanwhile, on LEGO Star Wars, the unique Star Wars' Galaxy gains different attributes that makes it look even more distinct from the other games based on the franchise. As the title of the game implies, every single character, ship, object in the game is made of LEGO pieces, giving all of them different personalities.
Many people may look at the game with a little prejudice since it falls on a category that is extremely disliked by most Nintendo Wii gamers, ports. The Complete Saga is a compilation that presents two games in one, Lego Star Wars I and Lego Star Wars II, with a few nice extras added. The main difference from this game to the other ones, extras aside, is its controls that have been obviously changed for the Wii version of the game. But do not let your port bias get on the way, Lego Star Wars is surprisingly a solid port, despite its outdated graphics, that differently from the XBOX360 and Playstation 3 games, have not been updated for the Wii title.
The gameplay is quite simple. There are tons of characters for you to control, but basically you will be playing as two kinds of characters, the Jedi who use their light-sabers while they are on combat and the others who use laser guns to destroy as many enemies as possible. Those who have been dying to get some light-saber action since the Wiimote was first unveiled will probably have some fun playing as Jedi. However, there is a slim chance that you get disappointed with the controls, because all you have to do for your Jedi to strike is shake your Wiimote desperately and he will perform a series of blows against Imperial Troops, as an alternative you can also press the B button, but it isn't half as fun.
The disappointment may appear because most fans were probably expecting the controls to be more intuitive than that. But I guess that this apparently simple control scheme fits the game perfectly. Also, if you want to use the force to assemble some objects or make enemies dizzy you can simply press the Z button, but if you feel like d doing it slightly faster you can waggle the Nunchuck. Those two Jedi moves aside the game doesn't make any use of other motion sensing controls, jumping and shooting is done on the old-school way.
On some missions you will take control of ships, controlling them may not be as simple as it looks like. On the first missions you will constantly have some problems with them. Whenever you want to make a sharp turn you may end up getting a 180 degrees loop instead, it can turn out to be excessively frustrating when you are trying to reach certain spots on the map, but by the time you get to the end of the game you will have mastered them.
The game features all six episodes of the saga, each one of them consists of six chapters or missions that represent famous battles from the movies. You will access them through the Mos Esley Cantina that works as the hub for the game. All missions have tons of collectibles. Studs can are used as the game's currency, with them you can buy many extras on the bar, that is located on the Cantina, such as characters, videos, hints, ships and new options, you had better collect as many of them as possible since there are many extras and some of them are steep. If you collect a certain amount of studs on a mission you will be awarded with the True Jedi status, getting it on all missions will be necessary if you are going for full completion.
There are also Canisters to be collected, there are ten of them on each mission. When you play the mission for the first time you will be restricted to play as a few characters, but once you beat it for the first time you will unlock the Free Play mode that will allow you to go back and play the mission with the characters you have selected, once again, this is very important for a full completion since every mission has places that will not be accessible on your first play through, therefore you will have to go back with a different character to reach a certain area.
There are around a hundred and sixty Star Wars characters on the game including Anakin Skywalker, Darth Maul, General Grievous, Chewbacca, Han Solo and many others. Plus, you will be able to customize two characters and put your name on them.
It is likely that a few gamers will feel like the game mechanics is a little but odd for every time you die you won't have to restart the mission again, the only harm on dying is that you will lose a bunch of studs once that happens and return to the exact same spot that you were five seconds earlier.
Each episode also has two extra bonus missions, and as an addition this time you can play another twenty bounty hunter missions, on those missions you will take the role of a Bounty Hunter, hired by Jabba to execute the most famous personalities of the Galaxy within a given time, if you sum up all the missions available on the game you will come to an amazing number of sixty two. If you are only playing it for the sake of finishing it, you will have fifteen hours of an enjoyable gameplay, but if you are looking for more than you had better be ready for this game will take some time to be completed.
The graphics can't even be compared to the finest Nintendo Gamecube titles. However, they inferior quality isn't annoying and the game flows nicely. There aren't any improvements on this area, if you have already played one of the titles that compose this game. There is a big variety of scenarios and planets to be explored, and the scenarios just express personality. The cutscenes displayed on all missions are loyal to the movies and tell the story correctly, but it didn't stop the developers from adding some extremely comic scenes, and giving all characters some more personality.
The same goes for sound and sound effects, but that isn't a bad thing when it comes to Star Wars. The movies are known for featuring one of the best and most epic soundtracks of all time and all the developers had to do was to simply copy it. It is pretty exciting to hear the light-saber's characteristic noise whenever you waggle your Wiimote.
The game's cooperative mode is also worth to mention. Whenever your friends are at your place be sure to give it a try. The Co-op mode is very fun and on some missions you will definitely feel like having somebody to play with you.
In a nutshell, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a port, but this is one of the few times when being a port is not a bad thing. The game is lengthy and most importantly fun, there is an unbelievable amount of missions to be completed, and many characters to play as. With its huge quantity of collectibles and undeniable charm it is a great game for the entire family to sit and enjoy, despite some light-saber battles and shooting missions the violence is diminished because of the game's cartoony look.
If you have played the two Lego Star Wars titles already, then it is better to leave it out of your collection because a few missions aside there aren't enough novelties to compel veteran players. However, if you missed one of the two titles it is always a good thing to be able to buy two games for the price of one.
Actual Score: 8.4