Review: Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga Video Game

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

11 Aug 2009 11:08 AM

When you have an elementary school boy, then chances are pretty good that he is into both Legos and light sabers. Even before seeing the movie, my son was turning paper towel tubes into light sabers. So when we spotted Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga at a local GameStop, I wondered if I would ever get out of the store.

Pop-pop came to the rescue, as pop-pops usually do, purchasing the game for number one grandson, along with a few others. Hey, at least they were used and on sale for a buy two get one free day. The labeled cost was $17.99 used.

LSWTCS is just the right combination of cute but serious graphics, puzzle solving and action that both boys and dads can get into. There are plenty of levels to explore, lego pieces to collect to earn bonus, levels to unlock and even online cooperative play, although as parents, we haven't authorized that part just yet. There is a lot of long term game play here for a couple of reasons.

You can go back and forth between levels and games (there are three different games in one, although the worlds are blended together seamlessly), and you can play different characters, even switching among them to utilize their various strengths. Jar-Jar Binks, R2D2 and all of your favorite characters and places are here, along with new characters and places to explore. Yoda has some serious Jedi powers, but he walks along at a snails pace, a guard or commander prevents the other guards of his type from shooting at you, and Princess Leia is smart and can knock down storm troopers with a single punch.

Which brings us to the rating. This game is rated E10, presumably because of the violence. And while the beginner levels start out slow, when you get about halfway through the game, the number of enemies to defeat increases, leading to a lot of shooting and destroying. The saving grace of this is that all of the characters are legos. When hit they fall down and break apart into their component pieces but can be quickly replaced. And the Lego characters are just so darn cute, even the bad guys.

There are some great bits of humor in the game. For example, one particle character can apply "The Force" to storm troopers. This causes their little heads to turn around backwards, rendering them harmless until they reach over and fix themselves.

During play, there are vehicles and other objects to build that will help you along in the game. There is also an area of free building, where you can build vehicles and try them out to your hearts content without ever worrying about Darth Vader.

Overall, I give this one a favorable review.

This review is based on the Nintendo Wii version. There are also versions for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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