Fat Ninja

Given the fertile ground offered by the Star Wars universe, one might expect that making a good Star Wars game would be a simple task. While there have been a few diamonds amongst the rough, many attempts to make a game worthy of the orginal Trilogy have largely been met with disappointing results. That is, until developer Traveller’s Tales decided to combine the power of the Force with the popular Danish build-a-blocks, Legos. While their first effort, Lego Star Wars, was a brilliant coupling of the two massively popular franchulates, many gamers pined for a similar visiting of the holy trinity. No sooner had those millions of voices cried out, they were suddenly silenced when Traveller’s Tales announced Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

Normally we offer a synopsis of a game’s storyline in this section, but, to be honest, we felt if we really had to explain anything beyond the fact that Lego Star Wars II follows the events of the original Star Wars Trilogy, then you wouldn’t be reading this review to begin with. In short (like we just said), Lego Star Wars II takes us through the events of Episodes IV, V, and VI of the Star Wars saga. The transalation is handled with a comical vein and occassional liberties are taken with some of the story to facilitate the more cooperative elements of Lego Star Wars II’s gameplay. Likewise, some scenes from the film are omitted entirely, simply for the sake of keeping the loose narrative moving along.

In terms of gameplay, Traveller’s Tales has taken the successful formula of the first Lego Star Wars title and left things relatively untouched; save some much needed tweaking that has taken the franchise’s vehicular levels off the rails to offer a little more freedom and interaction. Like its predecessor, Lego Star Wars II’s learning curve is actually pretty shallow. In fact, it offers a welcome return to the simplicity of a more civilized age, when all you really needed was a jump button and an attack button. Of course, the 360 controller is used to maximum effect, with actions being distributed primarily to the pad’s jeweled buttons. Though the gameplay is, to put it plainly, child’s play, the lack of challenge really went unnoticed by us. This, of course, may not be the case for those of you looking for something complex and challenging. In spite of its characteristic simplicty, what carried Lego Star Wars II for us was the simple fact that it’s fun as hell. Much of its charm is derived from relivng all of the moments from the first three Star Wars films while playing as pretty much every major (and even minor) character in the series, it also delivers some satisfying gameplay. From learning to exploit bosses’ weaknesses, to solving the occassional puzzle, Lego Star Wars II is a platformer in the purest of traditions.

Like many of the platformers of yore, Lego Star Wars II also endorses cooperative play. But, like those platformers, it only supports two-player co-op. While we wanted to consider this a strike against the game in the age of four-player support, the limitation actually worked in favor of the experience. Lego Star Wars II often becomes pretty chaotic, and since Player 1’s on-screen movements are restricted by where Player 2 is relative to them, having any more than the allotted participants would just muddy the waters and make things all the more frustrating. On a related note, the restrictive movement system did often become a point of contention for us, for the fact that in certain sections, particularly those involving vehicles, certain maneuvers and areas could not be completed without perfect coordination between the players. As a result, it was often easier to just have one person drop out until the feat was achieved. Fortunately, the act of joining in or dropping out is a simple one. At any time a friend can either hop in by simply pressing the Start button, or drop out by selecting the option from the Pause screen.

In addition to being easy to use, the multiplayer component in Lego Star Wars is designed to be truly cooperative. For instance, we often found ourselves having to time the simultaneous pulling of separate levels to open a door. In other areas, certain control panels were only be accessible to the character that your team-mate would be in control of, while other times they’d need you to use the Force to build the platforms necessary for reaching an objective. The result is a fantastic two-player experience for all ages. Our only real complaint is that this experience couldn’t be enhanced through Xbox Live. With the already stellar single-player and cooperative play, the addition of online support would have had the makings of the perfect trifecta. Aside from this omission, Lego Star Wars II is a rock-solid platformer.

Despite Lego Star Wars II’s many successes in the gameplay area, it is a bit short-lived. It’s easy to blast right through the main storyline, particularly with a friend at your side. The brevity of Lego Star Wars II is mainly the result of how easy it is. While we found its lack of challenge disturbing at times, we nonetheless opted to forgive its shortcomings on account of its accessibility to gamers of all ages. One should also bear in mind that Lego Star Wars II offers a Freeplay mode that gives you freedom to play through each level at your own pace with any character, including ones you design yourself. It also comes packed with tons of unlockable content and Achievements that will keep you coming back for more; and that’s definitely something one should consider when going into a potential purchase.

On the visual side, Lego Star Wars is a decent looking game that doesn’t push any envelopes. In fact, it’s really just a port of the Xbox version that’s been upscaled. The art design is both simple and straight-forward and in that respect, there’s nothing “next-gen” about the graphics. But they’re also charging “last-gen” prices, so it’s fairly easy to forgive; not to mention the cleverness found in the developers’ interpretations of some of the films more memorable sets and scenes. Lego Star Wars II looks great for what it is. It’s not taxing the 360’s hardware in any way, but this fact really works out for the best given the nature of the game’s overall concepts. That said, we were a bit shocked to see a lot of stuttering in frame-rate, particularly during cutscenes. However, this was also an issue we encountered with the first title in the series on the original Xbox, so it’s possible it may be something missed on the developer’s side. Regardless, the game’s falterings almost go unnoticed when looking at the bigger picture.

Another component to Lego Star Wars II’s success is in the audio department. All of the classic John Williams scores are in place to up the nostalgia factor and lend urgency to the action. You can also expect to hear all of the authentic sounds you’d expect in a Star Wars game. Oh, and about the voice acting; well, there isn’t any. At least not in the conventional sense. Instead, characters’ voices are delivered in a sort of indecipherable humming mumble that connotes emotion, but not meaning. In this respect, Lego Star Wars II relies on one’s intimate familiarity with the films that inspired it. While the unacquainted might not “get it”, long-time fans will delight in the subtle yet ingeneous comedic element that the technique brings to the overall experience.
Final Thoughts

In the end, Lego Star Wars II isn’t what “next-gen” gaming is all about. It doesn’t offer all of the slick visual effects that we’ve come to demand from our games, nor does it demand a great deal of skill and nuance in its gameplay. While it may be lost on the more mature audience, it is nonetheless a great game that should strike a chord with the more sentimental gamers out there by tapping into and channelling their inner child. As a tribute to the original Star Wars films, it manages to capture the essence of everything fans loved about the series. Meanwhile, the use of the Lego brand manages to cement that experience in a kind of innocence that allows long-time fans to relive the Trilogy again for the first time.

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