Developer: Traveller’s Tales Publisher: Eidos Release: 10/25/05 Genre: Action
In 2005 Lucas Arts were on fire with an onslaught of Star Wars games spanning multiple genres. The PC release of Knights of the Old Republic II was my favorite as I loved the first game. Revenge of the Sith was a valiant attempt at recreating the movie but while it had the production values the gameplay was lacking. And if you were in to multiplayer Star Wars Battlefront II hit like a mack track and remains beloved today. Lego Star Wars: the Video Game was one of my personal surprises of the year. What could have been a silly gimmick to sell a license instead is a brilliantly crafted game that has rightfully created an empire.
Despite the title Lego Star Wars retells the sequel trilogy in video game form rather than the first three films. It seems a bit redundant considering the Revenge of the Sith game was also released the same year. But the Lego veneer gives it a fresh coat of paint. The game excellently captures the best moments of all three films in block form and will charm your pants off. And it does so with no voice acting which is a feat in itself. In fact, considering some of the cringe dialogue in the films this is a positive in the game’s favor. This is how you make a kids game; make it accessible without talking down to your audience while still being entertaining.
Lego Star Wars follows the story of each film and as such each level dictates which characters you will play at first. For most stages you will use Obi Wan and Anakin but as levels progress you pick up additional “party” members. At the press of a button you can switch characters when necessary and the levels call on this frequently. Characters fall in to one of three categories: Jedi with their telekinetic Force powers, soldiers or droids that wield blasters, and support characters like R2D2 and young Anakin who cannot fight but can access areas the others cannot.
The controls are simple as the game uses few buttons. Combat as a Jedi is simple. Both attacking and defending are mapped to one button and as long as you are swinging blaster fire will deflect. You can manually do so to reflect attacks, something most boss battles utilize. The Force command also has a dedicated button and is context sensitive to manipulate the environment, operate levers, and fling enemies around. Even in Lego form you feel powerful. For non-Jedi the characters are more resilient and the game drops hearts more frequently as they lack defensive options. These characters use grappling hooks to access areas the rest cannot. In my opinion this is how you make a game that is easy to pick up and play but has depth if you want it.
The level design is generally pretty strong. Some stages are brief boss encounters or one off set pieces. Other times they will throw in a much needed vehicle level to switch up the pacing. The game largely succeeds due to the interplay between characters. While the levels are often straightforward there are puzzles that force you to use every member of your party. In addition at every turn you will see distant objects and inaccessible areas you need specific skills to access. This encourages you to revisit the levels as you cannot find everything on your first play through. The stages are short enough that it is not a tedious process and the ton of extras makes it worthwhile. Plus they do not go overboard with the collectibles; there are only Lego studs, hearts, and minikit canisters that grant a massive stud boost when completed.
It is obvious Lego Star Wars is targeted at children. It would be simple to call it easy. I would say the game is accessible. Enemies drop hearts every few seconds allowing you to correct mistakes. More importantly if you die you only lose 1000 or so Lego studs and instantly respawn. You will easily have thousands at any given moment meaning “death” has little impact. Technically you can eventually receive a game over. But the chances of that happening are slim to none. There are only a few spots that might frustrate, mostly a few tedious boss battles. But otherwise this is a relatively stress free experience.
Moderately skilled gamers will breeze through the game’s content in a few hours. However there are rafts of extras that extend the experience. There are over fifty playable characters to either earn or purchase in Dexter’s Diner. While many are clones (hah) they all have some utility that is crucial to uncovering all of the game’s secrets. The game showers you in Lego studs for a reason as there are a variety of optional items to purchase like weapon and appearance skins, and even invincibility if you need it for some god forsaken reason. Lego Star Wars incentivizes collecting more studs with a cool bonus level accessible by achieving Jedi status on every level. The act of picking up studs is so fun you will probably do it by accident. At least there are rewards for doing so however.
In Closing
LEGO Star Wars is a consistent and highly enjoyable experience for fans of both LEGO and Star Wars alike. I will freely admit I did not expect to enjoy the game so much. I assumed it would be a brain dead kids game. Instead I found a smartly designed game that makes excellent use of its license and establishes a formula so brilliant that it endures today and will make you wonder why no one did it sooner.
