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Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy – XBOX 360 (2007)[/SIZE]
Lego was the building block of my childhood (no pun intended). I spent many a happy hour creating plains and trains of all shapes and sizes. Then, as I grew up I was introduced to Star Wars. I fell in love with the characters, the story and the universe. But I wasn’t the only one. I don’t think anyone I know hasn’t heard of Star Wars, or Lego. So when I found out they were creating a game, I was ecstatic.
Ok, Lego have been making games for ages. They brought us Lego Island back in 1997 and since then there list has spanned to 36 games, including Lego Chess, Lego Racers, even a series of games based on the Bionicle figures. However, in the past few years Lego have begun to create games based on franchises that they know are going to make them money.
Currently they have five such games on the market, which are Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, and three Lego Star Wars games. The second Lego Star Wars game: Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy, is based around just that; the three original films.
The principle is simple. It’s the story of Star Wars, but rein acted by Lego. Now one thing that I have to give credit to this game for is that it never takes itself seriously. That might sound like a bad thing, but it would be worse if they tried to be something they’re not. You can tell right from the first cut scene that this game is intended to make fun of the franchise and it’s a good laugh.
The basic mechanics are easy to master. A to jump, B to interact, X to kill and Y to take control of a close companion. The B button has a different effect for different characters, but there are only four types. Jedi can use the force, Bounty Hunter throws a thermal detonator, droids use control panels and small people hide in holes. Also, anyone with a gun can grapple off of certain points.
The game starts you off in the Mos Eisley Cantina, which is effectively the centre point of the game. From here you can go to the levels, buy upgrades and buy new characters, or my favourite pass time, start big fights. There are six levels per film, which are fun and interesting, showing the main points of the films. You can sneak into the Death Star to rescue Leia, confront Darth Vader, and be the spearhead in the final assault against the Empire. Like the first game there are some levels where you control vehicles; however the controls on these are jerky and difficult to control.
To really get a proper experience from the game you have to play it twice. Like the first game, this one offers a Free Play mode for each level after you’ve completed it. This allows you to play the level again but with any selection of characters, which is a requirement if you want to get all the little unlockables.
But the levels aren’t the only things this game has to offer. There are a couple of minigames in the mix as well. You can become a bounty hunter and hunt down certain famous characters such as Yoda or Chewbacca. Little things like this give the game some replay value, but to be honest, after going through all the levels a few times it gets a little tedious.
Visually it’s pretty nice to look at. The cartoony graphics are good, and the characters translate well into Lego figures. However, they haven’t put a lot of effort into the cut scenes as the characters features pixilate during close ups. But most of the time you are too busy watching the jokes. The music for the game is brilliant. If you liked the original films’ music then you’ll love this. Also, the sound effects are nice too.
One thing that I don’t understand about this game is the health and dying system. It seems that the characters go around collecting money, but after four hits they explode and all the money pours out, like a piñata! But then you just respawn again in the exact same place and pick up all the money you dropped. It seems kind of pointless to me.
Another thing I don’t like is the camera. It operates on a fixed system, so that it shows rooms from a certain angle. This can be really annoying when you miss certain doors or collectables.
But over all this game isn’t too bad. The creators pulled some low punches by adding constantly respawning enemies in the worst locations. But this game isn’t really challenging. You could easily complete the story in a couple of days, but it would take a lot longer to find all the collectables and build up enough money for all the characters. Seriously, 1,200,000 studs for Ghost Yoda? Christ.
I’d give it a good [SIZE="4"]7/10[/SIZE]. But that’s because I really like Star Wars…
And these aren’t the only Lego games planned. No, Lego released at E3 that they would also have Lego Indiana Jones 2, Lego Harry Potter (Years 1-4) and Lego Rock Band, so watch this space.
Written by Exostaff
dvdsaltium designer training
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