LEGO Star Wars has its problems like any other LEGO game but has something more unique than any other SW Game; spirit.
User Rating: 8.2 | LEGO Star Wars PC
We’ve seen LEGO Island, LEGO Loco, LEGO Racers, LEGO Knights’ Kingdom and I still await a LEGO Barbie. What has never been done, however, is without a doubt my most favorite dynasty of LEGO sets; LEGO Star Wars. Ever since my finding of the game in a small corner at Comic-Con of 2004, I’ve been anticipating its release. Most Star Wars games are known to be complete failures that end up in the Bantha fodder department. LEGO Star Wars attempts to create something truly unique in an entirely different league away from past Star Wars titles. A sequel would surely fix several problems, but for a first swing at an entirely different Star Wars title, developer Traveller’s Tales has made quite a name for themselves. LEGO Star Wars features the first three episodes of the Star Wars saga (no, not the originals that were worth paying for) which each contain about five levels. You can play the episodes in any order all thanks to a very creative menu system that is actually Dexter’s Diner from Episode II. There are various doors that you can go through to get to whichever level you wish to play. As you walk about the diner, you will find your companions that you have collected wandering about. If your cold heart desires, you may even duel with your polished little friends until they explode into a dozen LEGO pieces. The menu has LEGO currency hidden all around which is used for purchasing items such as characters or cheat codes. The menu system alone is very unique and fun to play around in. The gameplay is certainly where the game shines, yet not bright enough. Each level involves a lot of teamwork based gameplay involving yourself and usually around 3 other characters. They use the “everybody stand on a button to open a door” technique a little too often taking away from the whole point of having a large party of characters. There are moments, however, where the teamwork gameplay is very creative and exciting. The saber fighting is the part of the game I was hoping would be the most polished yet I was slightly disappointed. There are several moments where the saber action will blow you away in comparison to the majority of Star Wars games on the market, whereas other times you will feel like you’re watching your little brother play with LEGOs. Since it is targeted mainly at children, you can easily block anything by holding down the block button (much like in Episode III: ROTS which is supposedly for the older crowd…). Using “The Force” is unfortunately very fixed and is mainly used to build LEGO sets out of broken pieces. The only other force power you have is force push, which simply cannot be used in intense situations. Using ranged weapons, such as a blaster, is sometimes difficult to aim. Also, there always seems to be a Jedi around to make you not want to use a ranged weapon character in the first place. The lack of an objectives menu becomes a frustration and would have been a simple addition worth adding. There are random glitches that become extremely frustrating, such as characters that can’t walk up stairs or confusing jumping problems. The majority of the gameplay is like most Star Wars games in that you are constantly slicing up battle droids as opposed to battling Sith Lords or harpooning AT-AT’s. LEGO Star Wars does offer a few space and aircraft battles that, while very fixed and sometimes side scrolling, are still enjoyable. The game allows for two player arcade style action and is usually not a problem considering there’s only about four buttons on the PC version and easily done on console. This multiplayer action is usually quite fun but no other modes, such as a duel mode, were included. The development team put a lot of work into making the players believe that they are in the LEGO universe, not just the Star Wars universe. It’s one of the most graphically polished games I’ve laid my eyes on and never has a moment that graphically lets you down. Each character looks identical to its LEGO counterpart and when killed does not simply disappear, but shatters each LEGO piece (including the hair!) to the ground. The camera has moments when you can’t see the right action but usually stays in the right area. Overall, the game is graphically appealing and beautifully rendered. The story tries to stay along the same path as the Star Wars prequels but is mostly a very compressed “Star Wars in 5 minutes” style. Each boss battle is very different from the actual film version in order to lengthen the game. The way the story itself is explained is quite poor unless you have seen the prequels already. The main cause of this is the fact that there is no dialogue. Skipping over more important scenes was certainly not wise, but obviously not in the budget. The story has several light hearted humorous moments that Star Wars fans will enjoy and other moments that will make the Star Wars kid in all of us smile. The shortage of levels consequently shortens the game since each level is only 10-15 minutes. LEGO Star Wars isn’t even a weekend game…it’s a few hours game. Thankfully, the developers were quite creative in using the LEGO theme to add a wide range of replay value. When you’re not slicing up battle droids into LEGO pieces, you can be on the biggest Easter egg hunt of all time collecting LEGO currency. You can find these LEGO coins just about anywhere; under a seat in Dexter’s diner or inside of a tree. Once you’ve collected enough money, you can purchase cheat codes that allow you to have random accessories such as moustaches or large blasters. There is also a plethora of characters that you can purchase and play as in the game aside from the many you collect from playing the normal game. In other words, you can have two Yoda’s take on Darth Maul in the Episode I level. Also collectable in the game are pieces to various spacecrafts that are eventually constructed and placed outside the diner for you to view. Not much purpose to the models but continues the theme of endless replay. There is far too much too collect, but at least you don’t have to buy anything in real life. The LEGO Star Wars world is fully converted onto your gaming system. When it comes down to it, LEGO Star Wars has its problems like any other LEGO game but has something more unique than any other LEGO game or Star Wars game; spirit. LEGO Star Wars strives to please every age group of Star Wars fans in hopes of capturing the spirit of the universe far, far away that stole us all so long ago. With its ingenious gameplay and graphical world, LEGO Star Wars does just that. All that I ask for is a sequel with the original films where I won’t have to kill Jar Jar Binks every time he walks by me in the diner. 82/100 
