Lego Star Wars II Review

Before it was cool for pretty much everything in the media to be in LEGO form, there were a couple of simple games that forever changed the mindset of ten year-olds buying videogames. The "Lego Star Wars" videogame franchise.

I'd like to akin the two games to the first two "Assassin's Creed" videogames. Assassin's Creed was a revolutionary game, taking us into a whole new world with relatively new concept and using interesting gameplay and missions to its advantage. Assassin's Creed II took that and multiplied it by like a thousand, still having the same interesting quirks of the first but adding in several more of its own to revolutionize a generation. Similarly, Lego Star Wars II did pretty much the same thing as the original game, but added in multiple new mechanics to make the games feel almost completely different.

There isn't much to the story of of Lego Star Wars II outside of the story of the original trilogy, New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi except for a few bonus missions that can be achieved after completing certain goals. Of course in the levels they add in a few more things that didn't happen in the movie to increase one's chance of earning money or to make the game longer, which was something the first game didn't do so much. A prominent example of this is the mission to get to Ben Kenobi's house, chasing the Scout troopers through Endor, or the fight against Darth Vader as Luke in Cloud City.

These new additions weren't anything that would get someone mad, though, as they flowed fluidly through the level, almost like it was a deleted scene in the movies. I was mostly glad that they were there as they would allow me to get more studs, the form of money in the "Lego" games franchise.

The humor in the levels was also upped greatly. In the mission to get to the Mos Eisley spaceport there is a little place to get your speeder washed. The ability to Chewbacca try on a Stormtrooper helmet and have him walk through guards without so much of a look is classic, and I always liked using specific classes to open doors, as they all have interesting poses (such as Boba Fett jumping to his feet and looking around like he's not supposed to be there).

The cut-scenes are funny too. In these games they don't speak words, to any degree, so instead they make some muffled noises and use hand-motions. The best example is instead of telling Luke that he is his father, he shows a picture of him and Padme (in Lego form) to Luke.

There really isn't much to speak of in terms of graphics. The game is only available in two ways: the original X-Box/ PS2 form or the remastered 360/PS3 form. Either way, there isn't too great a gap. The LEGOs run fluidly and there isn't any crazy artwork to blow you away. Basically they downloaded you old Star Wars sets and put them into a videogame, it's about the same looks.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's pretty simple. The only issue I have is with the space missions or flying missions because sometimes when you're flying in one direction and trying to turn it just turns the entire ship around and gets you in a small spinning lock. On the ground isn't too bad. After diving you can shoot three straight bullets and boss battles are very easy by just jumping and swinging with the light-saber. Of course it's not going to be the most convoluted of gameplay as it's a game based for younger kids, and it's about LEGOs, but it's still not simple enough for you to enjoy it.

Another fun feature about the game is the create-a-character, where you can take skins or heads (that sounds weird) from various characters you've collected and put them onto your own. You could have a 3PO Boba Fett or an Emperor Darth Vader. Depending on the headpiece you choose (much better), you can also become a new class.

By far the best feature, and the one that will lend itself to you beating the game, is Free Play, which was evident in the previous game but I'll bring it up anyway. In this mode, you can choose whatever character you've collected thus far (I always choose one of the Ghost Jedi), and from there the computer will select about ten other characters for you to have at your disposal to collect the various items around the map that will grant you completion of the level. It's fun being able to sift through all the different characters and play as so many different ones. If you get sick of a lightsaber you can use a blaster and if you want to throw a bomb you can probably choose a Bounty Hunter. Or if you wanna be Chewbacca and take the arms out of Stormtrooper sockets, you probably can, too.

Lego Star Wars II was fun and much better than the first game when it came out and it still holds up. It's one of those simple, classic videogames that lets you relax for a while. You're not running around doing crazy missions or side-quests, but just playing with Legos, basically (no, seriously, because you can build in-game and stuff). Most everything pays off in the end as far as collecting items and raising money, and it's just great to see the original "Star Wars" trilogy in Lego form in such a fun way. If you don't already have it, you can probably get the complete series relatively cheap for the 360/PS3/Wii/PC. It's definitely a fun time.