LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Steve McHugh on 09.19.2006
See Lego out act Hayden Christensen.
Star Wars games are a bit of a strange breed. If you go back to the days of the SNES and check out the games then they’re pretty much all great. Same with the awesome X-wing games on the PC. In fact most games based on the original trilogy were wonderful. Then the new films came out and the games that followed were awful. Jedi power battles anyone? That God-awful driving-pod racing-game crap. It seemed like the great days of good Star Wars games were over. Then KOTOR was released on the Xbox and, despite having nothing to do with any films, there was much rejoicing as it was excellent. After that there was renewed hope maybe Star Wars had found its way again.
Then Lego Star Wars was announced and everyone went… eh? You see Lego games are crap. Pretty much any game with the word ‘Lego’ in the title has been and will always be awful. Awful in an, ‘I’d rather eat my own arm then play this’ sort of way. So as you can see, people were not excited. It didn’t help that it would be based on the new trilogy, which sucks. Then it came out. And it was fantastic. It was so good that it actually made the films seem better, mostly because they cut out all of the boring crap that went into them. Surely there would be a sequel?
Well here it is, and right off the bat the fact that it’s based on the original trilogy means that it should be good right? Well we’ll find out.
Now if you don’t know the story of Star Wars then really what’s wrong with you? Well I’m not going to tell you the whole story because that would just ruin the game for you but basically. The Empire (bad guys) rule the universe and one young boy (Luke Skywalker) gets caught up in helping to bring peace to the galaxy by defeating the Empire and restoring the Republic (good guys). That’s basically it in a nutshell, okay yes it does get more complex then that but seriously has anyone not actually seen these films by now?
Chewbacca's disguise was fooling no one.
Graphics
Graphically Lego Star Wars 2 doesn’t push the Xbox 360 in any way. That’s not to say it’s not a good looking game because it is. The graphics are clear and colorful and are easily the best on any console version but the 360 can do so much more it’s clear that it’s just a port of last gen technology which is a shame. However the animation is fantastic with plenty of genuine laugh out loud moments. Also the space combat sections look as wonderful as they should. You can tell that Travellers Tales put effort into getting details into the game that people would smile at.
Gameplay
Anyone who played the original game will be right at home with the sequel. Your task is to complete 18 levels (6 per chapter) by getting from one end to the other. You do this by fighting enemies, platforming and solving puzzles and that’s about it. It’s the simplicity that makes this game such a joy to play. The puzzles are normally always interesting but never stump you enough to make you frustrated and normally result in some laugh out loud moments. Making a washing machine to wash a bike so you can blow it up to clear your path springs to mind.
There are a few differences to the original this time round. The main one being that anyone can now make items not just the Jedi. This makes the game much more rounded and means you tend to switch between characters as opposed to sticking with a Jedi until you need a robot and then switching back.
In fact the Jedi take a bit of a back seat this time round with the lightsaber being a little useless in most situations unless solving puzzles. More often then not you’ll find yourself sticking with Han Solo or someone similar with a blaster because they can take out enemies before they ever get to you. And switching characters is as easy as ever. You walk up to one of the companions who follow you and press Y. That’s it. And there’re more then a few characters to unlock which you use in Free Play mode which I’ll get into later. As well as this you can also build your own characters from parts you’ve already got. So if you like you can have Han Solo’s Head on Darth Vader’s body, you can actually create some truly creepy characters if you so desire.
The other part of combat is the vehicles. This time round you get to enjoy all manner of famous (and not so famous) Star Wars vehicles. Apart from the space battles where you get to use the X-wing or Tie-Fighter there are also occasions when you get to build and use an AT-ST or even a green tractor.
In case you hasn’t realized, apart form a few niggles, the gameplay is fantastic, with even the occasionally annoying platforming sections with their hidden drops never getting to the point of controller throwing.
One of the most disturbing images in the game.
Sound
As per the films John Williams' score permeates the game and as always sounds fantastic. The extra sounds are mostly for the FX as there’s no speech in the game. There’s not really much else to say about it as it’s just as good as you would expect with very little surprises.
Lasting Appeal
This game will last you ages. It takes about 8 hours to complete the story mode and that’s without getting a perfect on each level (there is also the bonus level in each chapter which is a race against time). Then you’ll want to play through Free Mode to get all the extra gold bricks. I won’t tell you what they do but when you get enough it’s very impressive.
Free mode basically allows you to go through the levels again with any characters you like to collect all of the hidden bricks and pieces of vehicles you can find. This will take you a good long time as you’ll need to play through to get more bricks just to buy the characters you’ll need to complete free mode.
On top of all this are the Bounty Hunter missions, there really is no end to the stuff you can do and once you add in the 360 achievements (some of which are damn near impossible) and you’ve got a game that could last you 3 or 4 times over what you’d play through the story mode.
As well as a vast single player you can also play with a friend which lengthens the game even more, although the ability to not play online is a bit of a missed opportunity.
Fun Factor
Lego Star Wars 2 is probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing game this year. It’s fantastic and charming and most of all funny. The ‘Luke I am your father’ bit is one of the funniest pieces in any game and you’ll play through just to see what they do next. The whole game is infused with both charm and humor whilst still being great to play, a rare thing to achieve. If you don’t laugh out loud at least once whilst playing this game you have no soul.
Even in Lego Han Solo is still the coolest character.
The 411
If you have any console this is easily a game you should play and the only problem with the 360 version is that it’s a little more expensive the any other, which does seem a bit of a cheap thing to do. Ignoring that this is easily one of the best games this year and something I loved playing from beginning to end and whether you love or loathe Star Wars or whatever age you are you will find something here to like.
Graphics
7.5
Perfectly lovely to look at but not pushing the 360 in any way.
Gameplay
9.0
Fantasic to play, clever and interesting puzzles but hidden platform drops should never happen these days.
Sound
8.5
Still one of the best soundtracks ever but not a huge amount of variety in sound effects.
Lasting Appeal
9.0
This will last you well beyond the initial story completion. Shame no online support though.
Fun Factor
10.0
One of the funniest games I've played in ages and a genuinely great game from start to finish
