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Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
After the runaway success of the first Lego Starwars title, a sequel was inevitable, but this one has something in its favour that few others do. It is based on much better source material than the original. That’s right, say goodbye to annoying Gungans and hello to the original trilogy. Few fans can argue against episodes IV,V and VI being the best, and now finally being able to experience them from a lighthearted Lego perspective is a treat.
First off, if you haven’t watched the original Star Wars trilogy, do so immediately. Not only are you missing out on some vital culture, but it will also make this game way more entertaining. The movie storylines are expertly re-enacted using only grunts and pantomime, so if you are not already familiar with the plot, you will be missing out. Each one of the three movies is broken up into six levels, featuring the most memorable (or action-packed) parts of the films. The levels themselves are a mix of platforming, exploring, puzzle solving and the occasional vehicle section. The Mos Eisley Cantina serves as the hub from where you can access all the levels and extra features. Starting off you will have access to a levels story mode. This follows the movie’s plot to a certain degree and restricts you to the characters that were in the actual scenes. You will be able to explore and collect hidden mini-kit pieces, but some areas will remain off limits. Finishing a level unlocks freeplay where you can go wild and use any previously unlocked characters to explore. Since the characters all have different abilities, this really opens up the levels and allows you to hunt down previously unobtainable mini kits. Collecting studs (small lego pieces that serves as the game’s currency) is also very important as collecting a predetermined amount awards you with a “True Jedi” accolade for the level and a gold brick as award. These gold bricks open up further features in the game such as a “Super Story Mode” (finish the whole episode as quickly as possible) and other bonus levels. Levels are jam-packed with studs, but getting killed makes you drop some, so while you can technically never be “Game Over” you’ll still want to be careful. The extras don’t stop there either. Unlock al the bounty hunter characters and you’ll open up ten new missions where you have less than three minutes to find your target on a level. You can even use the vehicles you assembled from the mini-kits in their own bonus levels. The best part is the fact that another player can jump in at any time to play along. While the gameplay is very simple, it is still addictive. It features adaptable difficulty, but the real challenge is getting through a level without getting killed, which is why most of the achievements are awarded for this feat. This can be quite tricky on some of the larger stages as well as the flying levels. Your character has four hearts representing their health, and if this is lost they’ll fall apart. They respawn on the spot, losing only some of their studs, but having this happen towards the end of a long mission will still cause frustration if you are an achievement hunter. You have allies with you at all times, but they are more than useless. Characters under CPU control cannot harm enemies at all and more often than not simply get in your way. Switching between them is also a bit akward in the thick of combat, as you have to walk right up to them and press the “Y” button. Since some levels see you escorted by a cluster of allies, it can be a bit chaotic to get to and switch to the right character for the job while not getting blown to bits. The vehicle sections are an improvement over the last game as you are no longer restricted to traveling around on rails. The controls ar a bit tricky and the craft handles very unwieldy at first. Unlike the platform sections that contain a few very nice puzzles, the vehicle sections are usually about blasting everything in sight. Doing the Deathstar trench run in a Lego X-wing is still pretty cool as is tripping Walkers using a snowspeeder on Hoth. The visuals aren’t bad but the textures seem a little low resolution. This is especially noticeable if you run the game on a high definition television. The characters all look very cute in their Lego incarnations, but overall things don’t look very next-gen. You don’t have any control over the camera angles, but this doesn’t really cause any problems. The audio is top-notch and all Star Wars fans will instantly recognize the tunes and sound effects as they are taken straight from the movies. Having said that, I was a little tired of hearing the Mos Eisly Cantina song by the end of the game.This being a Lego game, there’s no character speech, but you will still hear classic sound effect snippets like Darth Vader’s respirator and Jabba’s laugh. With more than 50 classic Star Wars characters, plus a new customization feature, everyone will find their favourite. The storymode can be completed rather quickly, but there is definitely a lot of replay value. The achievement list is a bit bland with too many dedicated to not dying on a level, but at least it provides a real challenge. The humor definitely carries the game and there’s plenty of parts where Star Wars fans will have a good chuckle. If you own the first game, then you’ll definitely not want to pass up on this one. A better option for newcomers is the “Complete Saga” which combines both games and upgrades the first one with all the new features in this one. Regardless of your age, if you area Star Wars fan, you will enjoy this game. 
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TAGS: Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Yoda
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