oops, your head just popped off! (Lego Star Wars (PS2))

Member Name: chilipepper27

Product:	Lego Star Wars (PS2)
Date:	22/10/07 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of fun

Disadvantages: Playing 2 player with kids!

~ Introduction ~

“The ancient darkness of the Sith grows ever more powerful. Even the noble Jedi Order, guardians of peace and justice for so long, are threatened by this deepening evil.”

~ Playing the game ~

Throughout the game you get to play through the whole fantastic story of the three prequel films, from episode 1. The phantom menace, and episodes 2. and 3. Attack of the clones and revenge of the Sith. There are a total of 56 playable characters ranging from R2-D2 (my favourite!), Yoda, Chewbacca, C3P0, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and many, many more!

The game begins at Dexter’s Diner on the planet Coruscant, where the hero’s and villains of the galaxy come together under one roof. It is here that new characters can be added to your collection, you can talk to Dexter for game hints and exchange lego ‘studs’ for new characters, special items and secret features. You will also find episode doors here, (which are the 3 prequel episodes) but doors 2 and 3 are locked until you have completed level 1. sequence ‘Negotiations’. Each scene you complete then unlocks the next door in the sequence. There is a fourth door with a question mark on it, this room contains the bonus level (a short prelude into Episode IV: A new hope.) The story of the game is quite similar to those of episodes 1-3, but some bits without much action have been either lightly touched upon or cut out.

You can play either 1 or 2 player and can use the ‘Drop in’ feature where at any point of the game a new player can join in the form of one of the nearby friendly characters, and can just as easily drop out. There are vehicles to build and ride, things to collect such as hearts, studs and canisters which are hidden in each scene and when put together build a special ‘mini kit’ (you need 10 to build one.) You can also play in ‘freeplay’ where you can explore any unlocked scene with your choice of characters, which you can switch between at any time.

~ My thoughts ~

This is a really cool game, reading the manual it made me smile – it read “Lego Star Wars the video game has been designed and tested to be suitable for players of all ages. But if you’re a young player, you might find that your parents want to join in. And although we’ve tried to make the game as easy as possible, even for older people – inevitably they are going to need help.
We all know how impatient adults can be….”

It made me smile because my six year old had been explaining how the game works (without so much as glancing at the manual) and I could see him getting more and more frustrated at every question I asked, and then when playing the game the huffing and puffing started, as I was doing everything wrong.

Well - the final straw came when I shot him by accident (it gets confusing when there are so many people on the screen!) and his characters little Lego head and limbs popped off. Needless to say – sorry didn’t cut it (especially because I laughed when I’d done it) and was told I wasn’t allowed to play ever again! So now I just sit back and watch the master…. (that’s a six year old master.)

But when I was allowed to play I really enjoyed it, even though I had no clue as to what I was doing, I found it to be really humorous, you have hearts which symbolise your health and when your last heart goes, you literally go to pieces which is pretty comical (word of warning – don’t laugh when this happens, younger people don’t seem to find this funny…at all.)

I liked the 2 player aspect of the game, which you could drop in and out of whenever you felt like it (which is great if you’re rubbish and are ruining the game for the other player…ahem…) By dropping in, you take on the character of a nearby friend (or foe if you play like I do!)
I also liked the ‘free play’ where you could explore without your head popping off every 5 mins! You will need to save your game throughout play though, this can be done at Dexter’s Diner.

Using the force is also pretty cool too, but you can only do this when playing as certain characters.
I noticed that there’s no spoken dialogue throughout the game, the characters act out their parts using gestures (which might sound strange, but it actually works really well.) Anyway I’m not a big game fan (although I love Star Wars) but I really like this one.

~ A philosophical word from a 6 year old boy ~

“The star wars people look funny and some levels are ded ‘ard – and, and do you know Darth Maul? Yeah well you have to fight him in some bit and it made me really mad with my, erm - er flicker (controller.) But I beat him though…I was well good….coz my guys are ace fighters and av’ awesome weapons and stuff…..(the conversation continued over tea, whilst watching TV, cleaning teeth and going to bed….needless to say it was all good what he was telling me, what I understood anyway!)

The game received ‘Game of the year award’ from kidzworld.com, and peaked at the top of the charts in May 2005.
It was released in 2005. (A month before the final Star Wars film was released.)
For players age 3+
1 to 2 players.

Summary: A really fun game with lot's of humour.