Lego Star Wars 2 Review (360)
Nov 12th, 2006 | By Debbie "Weefz" Timmins | Category: Good, Platformer, Reviews, Xbox 360
Age Rating: 3+
What is it?
Lego Star Wars 2 – the original Star Wars trilogy, enacted with Lego people.
Is it fun?
Yes, if you intend to play most of it with other people. Otherwise, no.
Is it worth the money? £29.99
Yes.
Why?
It’s cute. It’s as adorable, quirky and funny as the original game. Travellers Tales have created all the little filler bits that you don’t see in the films and stamped each one with their own brand of humour. It’s a delight to explore the levels and find all the little hidden sections.
BUT…
Not by yourself. In optimising this game for multiplayer they have completely broken the single-player experience. Your computer-controlled buddies are still intelligent enough to pull levers and push buttons when you need them, but wow, they are rubbish at shooting. It’s like they all graduated from Stormtrooper Academy.
Essentially, there are lots of segments where you need to build structures, or use The Force on blocks in order to proceed. Invariably, these segments are next to an infinite supply of stormtroopers or sand people or other such rapid-spawning annoyances. When playing with someone else, this is not a problem because one of you can build while the other defends.
In single-player mode you don’t have a chance.
Your AI buddy will be standing at the back randomly shooting at air while you have to simultaneously build an entire AT-ST, collect millions of studs and defend yourself from the unending barrage of laser fire. Every time you get shot, not only do you lose a thousand studs, the item you were lifting with your Force power drops right back down to the ground and you’re right back where you started.
It’s immensely frustrating.
But hey, if you’re planning on playing it with your mates then buy it. It’s fun :)
[Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy has also been developed for GameCube, PC, PS2, PSP and Xbox by Travellers Tales. The DS and GBA versions are made by Amaze, so may be substantially different]
Screenshots:
Related links:
Official Lego Star Wars II game site (requires Flash)
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Single player no fun? =(
Damn, this is the only game I’d really like to get for my PSP.
Well, collaborative multiplayer PSP games aren’t that common, right? This was the 360 version so they might have tweaked the PSP gameplay to accommodate that.
I’d buy it from a place that lets you return it in a few days. If it’s as frustrating as the 360 version, you’ll find out pretty early on. It’s pretty much the same level of difficulty all the way through.
Well, I don’t disagree although I wouldn’t say it’s completely broken. I finished 90% of the game solo (which is kinda sad :( ).
There are scenes like that though – where the fact that nobody has your back is just wildly frustrating. The one where Solo has to build a door while two seperate swarms of unlimited troopers rush the stage is an epitome of this problem – it took five times longer than it should because you spend all your time trying to keep them off of you.
As GregT notes – that “unlimited” factor doesn’t help either. Course, once I was using Ben’s ghost – things got a lot easier.
I think they pushed this one out the door too soon. There are parts I like more than I did in the original, but there is also an undercooked taste to it. These unnecessary problems in the solo player are definately indicative.
I s’pose completely broken might be a frustrated exaggeration. Maybe.
I played through 90% of the levels solo as well though it leaves me at about 55% complete. It did drive me a bit crazy. Due to the unlimited baddies factor, I’m sure there are a few levels where I’m never gonna unlock that final minikit piece by myself and yet I find that I just don’t care. :|
Well, I think there are a couple of minikits where a second person is completely required (like in the Hoth Cave).
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