New material makes Lego Star Wars II a sequel that is actually better than the first game.
Like Lego Star Wars, Star Wars II has the player playing through the Star Wars movies, with this game featuring Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
New type of characters in this game include bounty hunters including Greedo and Boba Fett. They are able to throw mines which can be detonated by the player or just left alone to detonate by themselves. Another new character are the ghost characters (this game featuring a ghost version of Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda). Unlike every other character minus the droids, they do not get shot at by the enemies. However, unlike the droids, they use weapons so you can get through a level without worrying about getting shot at. This would've been a bit better if there was a ghost character who used a blaster. All of the ghosts in this game are former Jedi.
The new feature of this game is that it features the use of building things within the Star Wars universe of riding various vehicles. Every character except droids can build things, which consist of various items and vehicles. However, you are immune to enemy fire while building. You also use vehicles in regular missions now, unlike Star Wars I where the vehicle missions were only a single level. There are still the regular vehicle missions. However, their overall gameplay has been improved. They now follow a linear path and you can take your time with them. These missions are so valuable to the game that they are actually 'characters' that you can acquire from the shop.
As you might see from my game collection on this site, I have two versions of Lego Star Wars II. I am doing a review on both of them, mainly to talk about what each version has. This version, along with other console versions, feature bounty hunter missions. This consists of the player being able to play as all bounty hunters in the game as they go through various locations to find people to capture for Jabba the Hutt. Another feature is the ability to use your Lego Star Wars I save to play through the levels of this game as the characters from Lego Star Wars I.
The biggest part of this game and all versions of it is that you can create your own Star Wars characters (this is a concept that would become a staple in all future Lego games made by TT games, including Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones).
I have to say though that there is one huge problem with this game in that the enemies respawn a lot. There are some spots in the level where they come multiple times while you are at a certain part of the level. This did happen in the first game too, as most of the time you had to take care of the enemies first before continuing on. When it happens in this game, you HAVE to take out all enemies. They are a real pain in the ass and without the invincibility extra, I couldn't get the True Jedi status in the story mode (note: Another new thing is that the True Jedi status is used in both story mode and free play).
Lego Star Wars II is a great sequel to the original game. With all of its additions and the use of a better source material with the original trilogy, Gametrailers was right in putting this as one of the top 10 Star Wars games of all time.