Despite it's lenght and easiness, Lego Star Wars is still an enjoyable game.
Both franchises continued to evolve and, even today, still make children (and adults) around the world happy, even combining their franchises to bring us some pretty cool construction sets.
Last year, developer Traveller's Tales had the brilliant idea of mixing both, in a videogame nonetheless, which they aptly named Lego Star Wars. While this game isn't the hardest and longest around, it is still a fun one.
Although this game was designed with younger kids in mind, it still can be enjoyed by older kids as well.
In Lego Star Wars, you get to play out all 3 movies from the Prequel Trilogy of George Lucas' epic: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones & Revenge of the Sith. The story in the game follows the same path as the movies, while adding it's own special little touches of comedy and humor. Even if you've seen the flicks dozens of times, you'll still enjoy playing through them with your Lego characters.
The controls are very basic: use the left thumbstick or d-pad to move and the face buttons to attack, jump or use your character's special ability.
Story mode is divided amongst all 3 episodes, which are then divided into chapters.
While you're in the story mode, you will control one character, who can be joined by up to 5 others at some point. You will be able to switch between all your available characters as much as you want.
Each character in Lego Star Wars comes with his or her own special ability, which will be available to you as you make your way through the story.
The Jedi and Sith will use the Force to construct stuff out of Lego blocks, find studs, turn levers or deflect objects. Other characters like Padmé, Panaka and the Wookies will use grapple guns to lift themselves to unreachable places.
Jar Jar can jump higher than everybody else while the Droids can open certain doors.
You will need every characters' special ability at one time or another during the game (yes, even Jar Jar's), as some areas may be unreachable for certain characters, while others can get there easily.
Once every episode is completed through story mode, you'll be able to revisit chapters with handpicked characters, picking up some things you might have missed with the original characters available to you during the story.
Another cool aspect is that a second player can join you in a game anytime they want, just by pushing Start. It's that easy and can become loads of fun.
Throughout the game, you will pick up studs which can be used to buy character models from Dexter's Dinner. You'll also be able to buy novelty stuff like mustaches, big blasters, and the like.
You'll also pick up some parts during each chapter in the game. The parts can be used to assemble vehicles from Star Wars lore. When the vehicle will be assembled, it will be available outside Dexter's Dinner.
The graphics in the game are pretty standard, nothing spectacular here. The characters look good and so do the environments and level design. Naturally, everything is made out of Lego blocks, which gives the game a charming and colorful aspect. Almost everything in the environment is either destructible or Force sensitive.
The sound is everything you'd expect out of a Star Wars game: a Lightsaber sounds like a Lightsaber, and so on. Contrary to most games today, there is no voice acting here at all, but just by looking at the character's face, you can pretty much make up his or her emotional state. The music is comprised of John Williams' masterpieces, although they can become quite redundant during gameplay.
The game does come with it's share of glitches though. At some points, the sound will just "hang", making it very annoying and unpleasant. In some cutscenes, there are even some picture-to-sound synchronization problems, where the sound is delayed by one or two seconds.
Since the game autosaves as you go along, it will sometimes freeze for a couple of seconds during gameplay or a cutscene. This can become a little bit irritating at times.
And, finally, the game is way too short (it took me 6 hours to complete the story) and very easy to beat. Of course, this game was designed with kids in mind, but it would've been nice if there were a way to adjust the skill level for more experienced players.
If you're a fan of Lego, Star Wars, or both, I recommend you check out this game. Although it may be short and easy to beat, it is still very enjoyable and is a quirky and fun trip down memory lane.