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GameCity '07: Smith disassembles Lego Star Wars

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UKPosted Oct 28, 2007 5:18 am PT

TT Games producer drops into Nottingham to talk about Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the forthcoming installment in the toy/sci-fi crossover franchise.

NOTTINGHAM--It's not every event that you walk into to find stormtroopers patrolling the cinema and Darth Vader sitting in the audience. Jonathan Smith, Lego Star Wars producer at TT Games, had obviously felt the need for some backup as he discussed the latest incarnation of the successful Lego Star Wars franchise, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

Don't point that gun at me, sonny.

Coming out on November 9 in the UK on the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and DS, the latest game will let gamers play through all six Star Wars movies in a mash-up of the first two games, along with some new surprises.

Smith started the event by explaining that some members of the press had become confused about what was coming in the demo. He told GameSpot, "This press release came out, and I think people heard what they wanted to hear. It said something like, use your Wii Remote as a lightsaber... It's no secret that your character has a lightsaber and you fight with it, but I think many people took that to mean that we'd created a new peripheral." Not wanting to let those people down, Smith said that he would be trying something in the talk to see if it would work.

Darth didn't seem all that interested in the talk, and left part way through.

He duct-taped his son's lightsaber to the Wii Remote. "Here is the Wii lightsaber, TM," He joked. "Anyone can make one of these at home." The experiment seemed to work with a surprising amount of success, but Jonathan soon separated the two. He explained why, sadly, he thinks that a Wii lightsaber peripheral might not work. He said, "In the real world it's much easier to use the original Wii Remote because it's much lighter and it doesn't make your arm hurt... There are design reasons why it might not be great, because you'd miss a lot of the time--you're not going to be able to fight with style. You're not a Jedi, you know. So, we very, very quickly thought that it's not going to happen in this game."

The new game will be big, explained Smith. "It's a vast game. A massive game. An almost amazingly huge game." But size isn't all that matters: The game will also boast a host of new features and levels, including a variety of environments that have been redone to "make them more fun." Gamers will also be able to play as some 120 playable characters (some of which will need to be unlocked) and take them into scenes where they don't originally appear.

May the force be with you.

There will also be a variety of special bricks to find, which will add extra abilities, including Super Cronk (a request from Smith's son), which makes the character go really fast, Poo Money, Stud Magnet, Fast Force, Super Jedi Slam, and Tracker Beam.

He also showed off the grapple feature, which he said was his "favourite thing" in the game. By moving the Wii Remote upward, when a character is standing on a red grapple point, he or she will sail upward in the air to the next grapple point.

There will also be a variety of new levels, including some which were missing from the first two games, Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars 2, such as Anakin's Fight and a podracer. He showed the Lego Towns level, where you enter a Lego city and have to complete tasks such as rescuing a kitten from the top of a cathedral. The character customiser has also been much improved, and now allows gamers the full range of Lego bits and pieces from both the original games to customise a character with. Smith commented, "You can create really outrageous character customisations."

Jonathan Smith shows off his Wii lightsaber, TM.

The game will feature co-op online play for both the PlayStation 3 and the 360 but not for the Wii. Smith explained the decision by saying, "Our reservation is not many people play the Wii online. Let's see what happens in the future."

Smith also hinted that despite the title, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga might not be the last Lego-themed Star Wars game. He said, "We've made games that encompass the six movies, but the Star Wars universe is so big, and there is lots of stuff that could be done, particularly in a Lego way."

When asked by a member of the audience if he knew what George Lucas thought of the use of his beloved franchise as a Lego video game, Smith said, "I understand that he thought it was 'awesome.'"

80 Comments

  • NukeU

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 1:57 pm PT

    oh brother.

  • flash786

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 9:40 pm PT

    i loved the whole series and cant wait for this one to

  • LoneStranger

    Posted Nov 19, 2007 1:55 pm PT

    There is local Co-op in the PS3 version. I don't know about the Wii version, and I assume the 360 version has it. My wife and I have been enjoying the game immensely. She's not a big video game person, but she's getting into this one.

  • ERNieRN

    Posted Nov 2, 2007 8:50 am PT

    does this mean there will be no local co-op??? the wifey and i love to play together (and slice each other to bits)

    any one know?

  • Warfust

    Posted Oct 30, 2007 7:41 am PT

    I never bought the first two, so I am really looking forward to this game. Too bad about no online for the Wii though

  • -Squirrel-

    Posted Oct 30, 2007 1:14 am PT

    I love these games but never actually bought them, and now I'm glad I waited. I will most likely pick it up for the Wii. As far as online co-op, it would have been nice for the Wii to have it, but it doesn't really bother me. The fun of the co-op was to play with friends and occasionally slice each other to bits, something I do believe would be tremendously downgraded by playing with faceless compatriots online.

    But as far as Smith's statement, "Our reservation is not many people play the Wii online. Let's see what happens in the future", program it and they will play. I love playing my Wii online and would love it more if there were even more games to go online with.

  • LordSpleach

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 7:37 pm PT

    This definitely the version I could buy. The other two are just half of this game and better played as a rentel.

  • UltraWoody

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 7:20 pm PT

    All we really need is an Xbox 360 version. I mean, does anyone really want a PS3 one? Are people still buying that?

  • masterchief1994

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 6:56 pm PT

    I'm going to buy this even though I own the first and second.

  • qubeley

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 5:57 pm PT

    I thought we can play it online on Wii...now I have to reconsider...I already have the first two games...I only thought of buying this to play online on Wii...now cannot...what a bummer!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    Well, I already have the first one on PS2 and the second one on X360, I really don't need to buy this again.

  • mrsal

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 1:38 pm PT

    Quote: Our reservation is not many people play the Wii online

    This is the God-&@%$ reason not many people play the Wii online- %$#@!*& lazy @$$ developers simply not making the game availible to play online in the first place. Look at how hard M$ was pushing online with the original Xbox even though less then 1% of the gaming population played games online with a console before the Xbox

  • Peaches1347

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 1:28 pm PT

    well i've played the demo for lego star wars and if this game is cheap enough price i might pick up a copy

  • mattrix33

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    Im a bit bored of Lego starwars now,there is only so many times you can sell the same game.
    The Wii lightsabre looks complete rubbish.

    WWW.theGAMINGREVOLUTION.COM

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 10:58 am PT

    This probably a long game now but it should still come at a lower than regular price.

  • scottglass

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 7:15 am PT

    I agree with LetterZero, if the option was there, they'd do it. "If you build it, they will come". We would create a car that can run without fossil fuel, but not too many people are driving one of them at the moment.

  • Doolum

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 6:15 am PT

    a huge game.never played a lego game before as the thing never appealed me.might reconsider

  • km1498

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 6:12 am PT

    I skipped the first game and rented the second one and thought it was good so I might get this at some point.

  • dorohala

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 5:24 am PT

    I guess I am not a fan of lego games! plus it might not worthy for the xb0x 360!!!

  • Cruorem

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 3:35 am PT

    chazzx21
    Lego doesn't have a license for Lord of the Rings, nor did they make any kind of set for it, thus they won't/can't make a game. Also, it'd be pretty damn hard. Lego bows suck.

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