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LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game Review - PS2

The nation – and the world, as a matter of fact – is at the moment grasped in a Star Wars phase; the saga was recently concluded with the release of the final movie, Revenge of the Sith, the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones DVDs have soared to the top of the sales charts and handfuls of action figures are flying off the shelves. It seems the perfect market opportunity to release a typical average kids video game, which is what you may think the recently released Lego Star Wars: The Video Game is - think again.

Gameplay

Sure, there's no doubt Lego Star Wars: The Video Game was developed with the youngest of gamers in mind; the controls and overall level design and structure are simplistic. Heck, you literally can't lose the game; die and your character will explode into a shower of Lego bricks before being regenerated seconds later in the same spot, unlimited lives at hand. The overall experience, however, and more specifically the plethora of objects tucked away for more experienced gamers to find, make this game based on our favourite childhood building blocks intensely enjoyable even for you and me.

As much of the essence of Lego as possible has been injected into the game; it truly feels as though you're playing inside a living and breathing Lego world, the Star Wars feel of course emerging equally strongly. Not only are the characters - including basic enemies such as battle droids - identical to their Lego counterparts, made completely of geometrical bit's and pieces, but so too are environmental objects from plants to platforms and even the various ships in the game. The background environments themselves are not made of Lego but have been designed normally, allowing them to appear organic, smooth and curvy. Both elements blend perfectly, and it quickly becomes evident that it's a good thing that the environments were not built from Lego bricks; you'd be wandering through a completely static, blocky world - not too appealing.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game encompasses the entire beginning of the Star Wars trilogy, taking you through episodes I, II, and even III. While it isn't heavy on storyline despite featuring various cut scenes that are laced with child humour, the point is still conveyed and almost all locations and events are instantly recognisable. While the game would seem to last a long time considering the extent of things that it covers, it actually doesn't; each episode is made up of only five to six generally short levels, meaning the game won't last you more than about a week. However, counterweighing this are the various collectables hidden throughout the game as mentioned earlier, these studs and minikit's allowing you to unlock cheats, spacecraft and a secret bonus level. Consider the fact that you'll often need to revisit levels and those of you who love collecting will have a fairly (continued next page)