Lego Star Wars

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on February 14, 2005

First Impressions: A match made in geek heaven!

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First, let me state up front that I love LEGO and I love Star Wars. The former was my favorite toy as a kid, and the latter is my favorite movie. I still remember the countless hours of joy I had as a wee one, making Star Wars ships with my LEGO sets so I could save the galaxy and annoy the hell out of my mom with my screaming laser and explosion sound effects.

So needless to say, I'm looking forward to LEGO Star Wars, a game that seems tailor-made for a pencil-necked geek like me. And even though it is primarily targeted at a younger audience, there's enough here to spark any gamer's interest no matter what your age. After all, the name says it all: it's Star Wars in the LEGO universe, a marriage that sounds both odd yet perfectly natural at the same time Ц kind of like peanut butter in your chocolate.

The game follows the prequel trilogy, starting with the Phantom Menace, moving to Attack of the Clones, and ending with Revenge of the Sith. If the early builds are any indication, kudos should be given to the designers for creating a look that stays true to Star Wars' unique visuals yet is distinctly LEGO. As the heavy-breathing guy in the black cape would say, it looks most impressive.

The characters, environments and ships are all virtual versions of actual LEGO sets built by developer Traveller's Tales, who used a 3D modeling program to recreate them in the game piece by piece. As a result of this virtual construction, when things blow up Ц or, in the case of the Separatist battle droids, are chopped up by your light saber Ц they break apart into the individual pieces that make up the model, just like they would in real life.

The familiar LEGO characters move as you would expect if they were alive, something that is best described as a quirky combination of stiff-limbed fluidity. It sounds strange, but it looks great.

Instead of sticking with one character throughout the game, you can switch between friendly characters on the fly if they're in the same area as you are; in fact, it will be necessary for you to switch in order to complete certain tasks. For example, you may need to use Obi-Wan to fight off Separatists, and then flip over to R2-D2 to break security codes and unlock doors. There will be about 30 characters in all that you can play, each with their own unique abilities. For example, Padme Amidala has a grapple gun, the annoying Jar Jar can jump higher than anyone, and Jedi characters can deflect blaster fire and use the Force to manipulate objects or rearrange them to build something entirely different (though this latter ability is limited to predetermined arrangements, so unfortunately you won't have the freedom to build whatever you want). Some characters will be unlocked as you progress, while others will be hidden in secret locations. You can also buy characters by redeeming the LEGO studs you collect after completing puzzles or defeating enemies in combat.

You will be able to use the Уfree playФ mode to go back and replay completed levels using unlocked characters Ц which will include bad guys like Darth Maul. I for one am looking forward to chopping up Jar Jar with a double-bladed light saber Ц many, many times. An added benefit to replaying levels is that only certain characters will be able to enter previously inaccessible areas.

Throughout the game you will be accompanied by an AI buddy who will lend a helping hand. If you prefer the assistance of a real person, a friend can take control of the second character at any time, and if he leaves, the character will smoothly revert back to AI control. Combine this cooperative play with the wide variety of characters to choose from and the fun factor potential really starts to climb.

The controls will be pretty basic: you have an attack, jump and special move. The idea is to get you into the fun quickly without having to read a thick manual of confusing control layouts.

Unlike recent Star Wars games, the LEGO version doesn't take itself seriously; after all, how can you not smile at a cute LEGO man running around with a plastic light saber? The cartoon humor is sure to delight gamers of all ages; the characters speak in funny gibberish (there is no dialogue) and use hilarious facial expressions and over-the-top animations to get their point across. It's a refreshing change of pace to see a family-oriented Star Wars game after experiencing so many titles geared towards an older audience.

So far, not much has been said about vehicle combat, but you can bet that the most popular prequel vehicle sequences will be available for us to play, including Anakin's pod race.