Reviewed: December 11, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
LucasArts

Developer
Traveller’s Tales

Released: November 6, 2007
Genre: Action
Players: 1-2

8
8
8
10
8.9

Supported Features:

LEGO Star Wars remains the work of art it always was, and new next-gen graphics make these LEGO’s shine like never before. There is just something about LEGO’s and Star Wars that go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Perhaps much of my youthful exuberance is based on the fact that while growing up I was building X-Wings and Tie Fighters out of LEGO’s long before there were official kits. I even went as far as creating several 8mm home-movies using these LEGO constructs and primitive stop-motion photography techniques.

The Complete Saga is a fantastic compilation that puts all six movies on a single disc, and delivers a totally engaging gameplay experience that, while best shared with a friend, is still perfectly entertaining as a solo adventure.

The game couldn’t be any simpler. You can jump, attack, and use special character-specific moves. Depending on which character you play, this could be any one of dozens of original attacks, or in the case of droids like R2D2 or C3PO, you might hack into computers or open doors. Building on this simple premise is a surprisingly deep and strategic game where you must pick and choose your characters wisely to engage in combat, work together as a team, and solve numerous puzzles.

LEGO Star Wars relies heavily on the concept of teamwork, even while playing by yourself. Depending on the episode and chapter you will have a predetermined group of characters that were in that part of the movie. You can cycle to any of these characters at will, each having their own attacks and special ability. The computer does an admirable job of controller all the NPC’s in the group and I never had to baby-sit anyone not under my direct control, but the game truly shines as a two-player cooperative experience.

Certain characters are better suited for certain combat and environmental puzzles will require unique paths and abilities to get from point A to B. You can assume control over any of the playable characters by walking up to them and pressing the Y button or if two players wish to swap you can walk up to each other and press the Y button.

Obviously the Jedi characters use lightsabers and Force powers that can be used to disassemble and reassemble various LEGO constructs. This is further broken down into items that can only be manipulated by the Light and Dark Side of the Force R2D2 can fly and interact with door consoles while other characters have blasters and even bowcasters for ranged attacks. You’ll even get to drive or fly around in various vehicles like a starship or even a pod racer when you reenact the exciting pod race on Tatooine from Episode I in true LEGO style.

Everything you smash in this game breaks down into numerous LEGO bits (or studs) which you collect as your total score for each level. These studs are also used as “currency” back in the Cantina hub men to purchase fun unlockables and hints. LEGO studs come in Blue, Silver and Gold and reward you with increasing scores based on the rarity of the color. My only complaint with this concept is that these colored studs don’t gravitate toward your characters, so you are forced to run around and gather them up, although collecting studs isn’t required to complete the story.

Admittedly, the game is simple with a younger audience in mind, but that won’t stop teenagers and even adults from engaging in countless hours of leisurely fun as you revisit all your favorite moments from the entire Star Wars saga. The game is even playable online.

And you’ll definitely want to go back an replay the adventure in Free Play mode where you can use any unlocked characters despite their relevance to the story. In fact, there are many areas scattered about the 36 chapters that you can’t even access with the default story characters, so take notes on your first pass through the game.

LEGO Star Wars blends smoothly rendered backgrounds and detailed environments with objects and people constructed from LEGO’s. This gives the game a unique and often humorous contrast as you move classic LEGO-style figures and interact with blocky objects. Everything has a very distinct and authentic LEGO feel to it.

Even the pre-rendered movies use the LEGO style construction to tell the story between the numerous chapters. The presentation is perfect with your home base at the newly remodeled Cantina (although I do miss Dexter’s Diner). You can choose your Episode from any of the available exits or view your status and awards from the plaques over the bar…and remember…NO BLASTERS!

Sound effects are lifted straight from the movies and they all sound totally authentic and perfectly placed within the Dolby Digital mix. Blasters and lightsabers sound totally authentic as do all the familiar ship noises. The music mixes the best of the John Williams score for perfect background music to enhance the action.

There are 42 Achievement objectives that range from simply completing each episode to deflecting 200 shots with your lightsaber, destroying 300 droids to shooting down 50 Tie Fighters. There are some really cool versus objectives that you’ll have to work for like killing Jango Fett with Boba Fett and of course, a true fan favorite…shooting Greedo FIRST! You might finish this game in 15-20 hours but it’s going to take 50+ hours to complete it, which just happens to be another Achievement (worth 100 points).

With a solid action core, innovative puzzles, teamwork concepts, and the clever integration of the endearing LEGO franchise, this would be a great game even without the Star Wars license, and I am now looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman with even greater anticipation.