Game Review - Lego Star Wars
Mar. 20th, 2006 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sqlrobTitle: Lego Star Wars
Platform: PS2
Genre: Action/Adventure
Price Paid: $19.99
Would Pay: $19.99
Completed: Yes
This game doesn't really fall victim to the Star Wars curse, but it doesn't exactly break it either. I liked the demo, and when this hit the Greatest Hits collection, I just had to snag it. Lego and Star Wars, what's not to like?
Unfortunately, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. There are no camera controls, you are stuck wherever the game decides to put it. This leads to many, many deaths as you try to make a jump with screwy perspective. There are a lot of characters to unlock (I didn't bother to unlock all of them), but they are largely identical across character classes. Some characters are just plain annoying, namely Yoda. He's nigh on uncontrollable, and once you finish with him in the story mode you never want to bother dragging him out for the freeplay mode. Others, like Gonk are completely and totally worthless, just there as something to unlock. All in all, it's simply a mediocre platformer with a movie license. It has some rail shooter and racing segments, but these only detract from the experience. The best parts are the puzzle elements that you use the Force to solve, and the unique environment destruction. It's amusing to watch ships and enemies blow up into Lego blocks. The AI of the other player character is horrendous. At times it was tempting to plug in another controller and take it over so it just wouldn't get in my way. It didn't have any problems with the two person puzzles, so at least that part of it was implemented properly.
The worst part of the game was the manual. It was extremely condescending, making the assumption that only children play games. I grew up on Star Wars and Legos, so why the assumption that this wouldn't necessarily appeal to adults in at least a nostalgic manner?
Platform: PS2
Genre: Action/Adventure
Price Paid: $19.99
Would Pay: $19.99
Completed: Yes
This game doesn't really fall victim to the Star Wars curse, but it doesn't exactly break it either. I liked the demo, and when this hit the Greatest Hits collection, I just had to snag it. Lego and Star Wars, what's not to like?
Unfortunately, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. There are no camera controls, you are stuck wherever the game decides to put it. This leads to many, many deaths as you try to make a jump with screwy perspective. There are a lot of characters to unlock (I didn't bother to unlock all of them), but they are largely identical across character classes. Some characters are just plain annoying, namely Yoda. He's nigh on uncontrollable, and once you finish with him in the story mode you never want to bother dragging him out for the freeplay mode. Others, like Gonk are completely and totally worthless, just there as something to unlock. All in all, it's simply a mediocre platformer with a movie license. It has some rail shooter and racing segments, but these only detract from the experience. The best parts are the puzzle elements that you use the Force to solve, and the unique environment destruction. It's amusing to watch ships and enemies blow up into Lego blocks. The AI of the other player character is horrendous. At times it was tempting to plug in another controller and take it over so it just wouldn't get in my way. It didn't have any problems with the two person puzzles, so at least that part of it was implemented properly.
The worst part of the game was the manual. It was extremely condescending, making the assumption that only children play games. I grew up on Star Wars and Legos, so why the assumption that this wouldn't necessarily appeal to adults in at least a nostalgic manner?