Lego Star Wars

Written by Ryan Genno  on April 22, 2005

Review: My God! They'll make a game out of anything these days.

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This is a dream come true! Instead of buying multiple games to just get part of the story, this one game has all of the first three Star Wars (Episodes I to III) films in one package! There is just one problem though; everything here is made out of Legos! Yes, it's those same Lego blocks that many used to choke on as a kid and they're now part of a Star Wars game. The idea sounds fairly unusual, but Lego Star Wars is actually pretty fun.

One of the coolest parts about Lego Star Wars is that you don't just get one story here but you get to play through Episodes I, II, and III. No that isn't a misprint, you can even play through Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith even though (as I'm writing this anyway) it isn't even out in theatres yet. You wouldn't think that playing through a mini Lego-based game would have too many spoilers, but to my surprise some of the intermissions actually showed some of the important moments like death scenes and plot twists. If you are one of those hardcore Star Wars fans that want to be surprised, please stay away from this game. However, if you don't have any patience and can't wait for the movie then maybe Lego Star Wars is your answer?

Because the game takes place across three adventures, you can play as several different characters in the Star Wars universe. Not all the characters control the same either. Jedi characters are quick melee fighters that can wield lightsabers, action characters use grabbing hooks and guns, Droids can open locked doors, and much more. You will need to master all of these different abilities to be successful in the game.

Going through the stories is pretty easy though because there isn't too much getting in your way. If you die no problem, you have unlimited lives. The puzzles are creative but way too easy to solve. The stages are very short and you can even buy invincibility in the shop if you make enough money. The easy difficulty is great news for younger kids or Star Wars fans that normally don't play video games, but average players may be disappointed with the lack of depth here.

Since everything appears in these goofy Lego blocks the developers really took advantage of the look to create a funny experience. It is possible for friendly characters to destroy other friendly characters if they feel like it for example. As for the graphics themselves, the game also has some nice floor reflections and it was cool to see the giant star ships built in Legos, but in its overall appearance compared to other Xbox games it just looks like a substandard Playstation 2 game.

Sadly, the graphics are not the only thing that disappointed me. Although it's cool that the game has the Star Wars story, LSW has no voice acting. It's really hard to imagine a Star Wars game without any dialogue, but at least it has those awesome movie soundtracks the films are known for. You also get the occasional yells, like when a robot says СOh no' or screaming when you hit an annoying guy like Jar Jar Binks so it isn't all bad, eh?