Can you feel the force? (Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PSP))

Member Name: clownfoot

Product:	Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PSP)
Date:	27/11/08 (493 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its Lego! Its Star Wars! Rejoice!

Disadvantages: Might be a little too simple for more experienced gamers who are not fans of the franchise.

LEGO STAR WARS 2

Some would suggest that the twisted metal genius of the simple paper-clip is the greatest invention ever crafted. Indeed, imagine the civil service without such a piece of stationary artillery - the office would be awash with a paper tornado akin to a hedgehog in a condom factory! Others would cite that the candle, and later still the warm glow of a light bulb, is the culmination of human endeavour. Enlightenment from the darkness so we could crawl forth from the gutter and see the ninja assassins creeping up behind us has certainly been a rewarding bonus. However, the greatest inventions are clearly those artefacts that merely build on previous concepts and simply make the original idea better. Case in point, take one well known holy trilogy and merge it with the building blocks of a child's imagination. Here's hoping the clever git that foresaw the winning combination of Star Wars and Lego was handsomely rewarded for his efforts. More so, let's hope the guy that said "let's make a computer game out of this" has been made King in the Halls of Valhalla and is being fed grapes by beautiful, scantily glad valkyries for all of eternity for his singular contribution to gaming invention.

In a galaxy far, far away Nazi poster boy Luke Skywalker is fed up of dusting crops and attempting to grow a poor man's mullet and wants to get in on the rebellion's action against Imperial might - namely, destroying a giant space station called the Death Star. Along the way he learns about the force from Obi Wan and Yoda, befriends the likes of Han, Leia, Lando and Chewie, finds himself in far flung places such as Mos Eisley cantina, the ice planet of Hoth, Cloud City and the forest moon of Endor, before duelling to the death against the pant-wettingly scary Darth Vadar in order to restore the legacy of the Jedi Knights and the Old Empire. Sounds like Star Wars, right? Now imagine that George Lucas' universe - all of the above and the scenarios that frequent the original trilogy of A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - is imagined in nothing but Lego. Yes, just Lego! Having goose bumps is a perfect reaction to such knowledge, as I can think of little cooler than a Lego X-Wing flying the trench run... IN LEGO! Or blasting a stormtrooper to death only for his body to fall apart at the hips... just like it would WITH LEGO!

Lego Star Wars 2 does pretty much exactly the same as its predecessor (which followed the adventures of Obi Wan and Anakin in the much maligned episodes 1, 2 and 3). Essentially a platform game viewed from a high 3-D angle, the concept is to simply get your characters to the end of a scenario by leaping over pitfalls and traps, pulling switches and utilising the correct characters to open doors, solving small puzzles, blasting or lightsabering your way through hordes of stormtroopers and confiscating vehicles like a heavy duty AT-AT to make progress all the more easy. So, for instance, you begin the game as in the film, on the rebel blockade runner, and can switch play between either Princess Leia or a rebel militant as you attempt to stowaway C-3P0 and R2-D2 in an escape pod. Once complete a couple of cut screens follow before you are thrown into the next scenario - Luke and Obi Wan rescuing the droids from the Jawa sandcrawler, giving you access to Obi Wan's force skills and lightsaber (which equals coolness to the power of ten).

Sure, the scenarios are not deadly accurate to the movies plotting, but they feature enough that is reminiscent to keep you interested. The glorious and often humourous cut screens that provide comical reinterpretations of classic Star Wars scenes (Luke is portrayed as bumbling simpleton - ace!), linking together the scenarios with relative ease are excellent, and particularly useful if you've been hiding in a cave for the last thirty years and don't actually know the plot of Star Wars. Additionally, whenever one of the movies large space battles occur, the game switches from its platform roots to a more straightforward 3-D shoot 'em up, involving dodging tie-fighters in the likes of the Millenium Falcon or an X-Wing. Indeed, the game features two distinct types of scenario which adds all the more value.

At first site though, Lego Star Wars 2 does seem to be stupidly easy to complete. Unsurprisingly, it is mostly a game for children, which means the difficulty level has been compromised. In fact, whilst you have an energy bar (represented by four hearts) your player can never actually die, and within a few hours most accomplished gamers are likely to have reached the end of Jedi shouting "yahoooooooooooooooo" as a Lego Falcon flies out of the Death Star avoiding the fiery flames of doom. So it's easy then? Well, only if you take the game to be a straightforward A to B exercise. Fortunately, there's much more going on than that.

Once a scenario is complete the whole level opens up in a free play environment. Ledges that you were unable to reach in the main game or doors that were inaccessible with the characters provided can now be accessed in free play, leading to the reveal of whole new areas and bonuses. Indeed, whilst venturing around the 3-D filled landscapes of both the main game and free play there are numerous things for you to pick up and locate. Red bricks, capsules and Lego bits all need to be collected providing bonuses in game, as well as opening up even further game modes. Additional time trials (such as completing the whole episode under a certain time), bonus levels in the form of gold bricks from completing certain elements of a scenario and bounty hunter missions add to the longevity of the title, and the attempts to collect all the capsules that build the Lego vehicles parked outside Mos Eisley cantina as a players gallery will take some doing. And that's without mentioning the 50 characters that are available to unlock - which includes the mighty Boba Fett!

Reaching that 100% complete figure will remain elusive for many months of play, yet because it's the original trilogy (read as: better source material) players are much more likely to endure and stick with Lego Star Wars 2, despite the initial simplicity. Especially when the game incorporates levels such as the speeder bike sequence from Jedi, where you bomb through the forest of Endor dodging trees and blowing the crap out of anything that moves, which is such splendid fun its easy to return and play through such a spectacular level constantly. Star Wars has always had that added hookability, and in knowing the characters and the set-pieces already, yet being able to participate in them again and again, goes a long way to putting the UMD back in the PSP over most other titles.

Indeed, the PSP version works amazingly well on the handheld format. Loading times are quick, the cute, cartoony nature of the graphics and the construction of the 3-D environments are immediately attractive, the controls are borderline simple, and the cut screens are fully realised. All the usual John Williams tracks are there as well, ranging from the delightful din of the band playing in Mos Eisley's cantina, to the standout Star Wars anthem, to the darker Imperial March of later episodes. Everything that you'd want from a game emblazoned with the iconic title of Star Wars is there and fit for purpose on the smaller handheld system, and in some ways it's the perfect medium for playing the game, which puts Lego Star Wars 2 right up there as one of the finest titles yet developed for the PSP!

So, whilst the merging of Lego and Star Wars screams a great idea, its good to see that Lucasarts have gone to the lengths of making Lego Star Wars 2 more than a mere novelty concept. For the age range the games targeted at its nigh on perfect, and despite the ease with which experienced gamers will breeze through the main scenarios, there has been enough thought placed into the additional game modes to make it a more than worthwhile challenge. And because Star Wars is involved, for many it will be immediately accessible anyway, if only to play as Darth Vadar and force grip stormtroopers into tiny bits of Lego. Or to watch Leia slap Han whenever he accidentally hits her with a blaster. Or to hear the noise R2-D2 makes when he falls off a cliff. Genius!


Overall - If it hasn't been said before, this is Star Wars... IN LEGO! A perfect fusion of two brilliantly simple concepts and a very attractive proposition on the PSP. (Says the 30 year old geek...)


Where to buy? - Lego Star Wars 2 was released in 2007 and is still a readily available game. It's currently being sold on Amazon for £18 as a PSP platinum title (RRP is 19.99) but if you shop around you might be able to find it cheaper.

Summary: Doesn't Star Wars Lego tell you all you need to know?