Lego Star Wars

Fans of Legos and / or Star Wars are in for a treat with Lego Star Wars: The Videogame from Eidos. It skips the boring parts of the prequel Star Wars trilogy and jumps right to the best bits for some podracing, lightsaber dueling, action adventure game fun. It isn’t the longest or most complex game, but Lego Star Wars is undeniably fun and is worth checking out.
Kids Game? Nah ...
First off, don’t be scared by the fact that every preview and review has called Lego Star Wars a kids game. To me, it seems like a great disservice to Traveller’s Tales and Eidos to call this a kids game because that label will only scare away people that would likely really enjoy it. It isn’t the most complicated game out there and the characters are pretty cute, but I don’t see why this is a “kids game”. Sure, kids will enjoy it, but those of us that grew up playing with Legos and dreaming we were off in a galaxy far, far away will be able to appreciate it even more. Don’t be fooled by other sites that want to give everything a label and categorize it. You will enjoy Lego Star Wars whether you’re 8 or 88 and that is what is most important.

Lego Star Wars is a retelling of the stories from Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III. It skips all of the lame parts and lets you play through the best parts of these movies. You’ll duel with Darth Maul and Count Dooku as well as take part in the coliseum battle at the end of Ep II and podracing on Tatooine along with much more. Everything is built with Lego blocks which give the game a unique look and feel so it really stands out among all of the uber-realistic games we see on Xbox.

The gameplay is simple and fairly easy, but there is something about Lego Star Wars that keeps you coming back. In each level you have at least one and sometimes more AI buddies. You can switch back and forth between the characters in order to take advantage of each ones special abilities. For example: Jedi have lightsabers and can double jump. Blaster characters can’t jump as high but have grappling hooks. Some characters (such as Jar Jar …) can jump extra high and reach things other characters can’t. And there are droids that you have to use to open up certain doors. This two character (or more) system makes the game very interesting to play through because you are always switching back and forth and getting a lot of different styles of play. When you beat a level, you unlock characters as well as “Free Play” mode for that level. Free Play mode allows you to pick any characters and play levels over again to find hidden items.
All of this is well and good, but how does the game actually play? Pretty darn well, but like I said, it is simple and easy. Combat consists of button mashing to either hack through enemies with your lightsaber or shoot them with a blaster. Exploration of the levels is mostly pretty tame platform jumping stuff, nothing too tricky and you won’t ever get lost. There are a handful of trickier puzzles thrown in which keep the game interesting, but overall the game isn’t much of a challenge. Also, you can play through all 17 story missions in about 4-5 hours, which is rather short. What the game lacks in length or depth, however, it more than makes up for with sheer fun.