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| Source // PlayStation |
I was in the middle of my late teens when a Star Wars game like no other was released, combining a series of films that I liked with a childhood toy it's almost impossible not to like, LEGO. That game was, of course, LEGO Star Wars, a trilogy of tales set in a galaxy far, far away, and mimed by dinky little toy figures.
Not only was it charming, but it was also jam-packed full of stuff to do, ensuring that long after the kids had enjoyed their time with it, the adults could replay levels again and again in an attempt to track down each and every hidden secret.
It's been a long while since I've played a LEGO game. How do they hold up today?
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
Fun Times
As the music blares out from the menu screen, you know there's no way that this game has been developed as a quick cash grab from gullible consumers. Both Star Wars and LEGO are sticklers for quality and accuracy in their representations, and while LEGO Star Wars was the first game to fuse LEGO and a film IP in this format, care and attention has been put into it all over the place.
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| Source // Moby Games |
The prequel trilogy of Star Wars films has been split into 18 chapters, comprising of levels, races, and boss fights all (kinda) rendered in LEGO bricks. You, either alone or with a co-op buddy, will control several characters through levels that mix up platforming and puzzle-solving, and require repeat playthroughs to get everything on the to-do list checked off.
You begin Episode I as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, armed with lightsabers that'll cut through droids like a hot knife through butter, deflect blaster bolts back towards the blaster that fired them, and levitate or interact with elements of the level via the Force.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // PlayStation |
If it's made of LEGO, you can probably smash it and be showered with a reward of coins. Each level has a target number of coins for you to find to achieve 'True Jedi' status, but there's usually a whole load more buried away, along with mini-kits to build tiny vehicles once you've collected all 10. There's something like 160 things to collect or achieve across just 18 chapters - you'll be busy.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
Frustrations
I played the original PlayStation 2 release back in the day and played it a lot. I don't know if I got around to 100% completion, but I aimed for it. It was the era where I was playing Ratchet & Clank, and that, too, had environments you could smash to bits for bolts to spend in the shops. It's just what you did in the mid-2000s, and so smashing LEGO stuff apart was almost second nature.
Today, the only copy I've got is LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which, thanks to Disney, is no longer complete, but does contain the six Star Wars films we care about in a remastered format for the PlayStation 3.
Let me just say that the budget and the technical knowhow has drastically improved in later LEGO games. This first attempt looks the part when it comes to the LEGO, but is lacking elsewhere - and that usually means the environments around all the LEGO, the backdrop to everything.
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| Source // Moby Games |
After a couple of platform-y chapters, you're thrust into the Mos Espa Pod Race, which is a nice change of pace. However, like the film, Anakin Skywalker must win, and so you are doomed to repeat the third lap until you succeed. It was only on the third attempt that I found out holding forward on the left analogue stick would make my pod racer go faster.
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| Source // PlayStation |
The climax of Episode I is that lightsaber fight, and while it has been gamified and stretched out, it still does a good job of giving the player a story to follow, but lots of stuff off to the sides to investigate too - if you've got the patience left.
I must admit, as I raced through Episode I, I was very much running out of patience. LEGO games get old, and they get old fast. Maybe it's because I've played a lot of them and have then grown up. It might be because this was the first attempt, but I'm not so sure. I bought LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, hoping for a quick nostalgia hit for a LEGO Star Wars title but couldn't finish it. It just wasn't holding my interest.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Further Fun Times
But if it does hold your interest... well. Strap yourselves in. Each one of those question marks is a Star Wars-themed LEGO minifig, and you can play as each and every one of them. There are hundreds, and on repeated trips through old chapters, you can bring along characters from films that never set foot in the swamps of Naboo or onto a Trade Federation ship so that you can open up all the hidden rooms and collect all the hard to reach collectables.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Each character belongs to a different class, be they Jedi, Droid, Bounty Hunter and so on, each with their own special ability. Jedi minifigs can use the Force, droids can open doors, small characters can climb into small tunnels, lanky characters can double jump, and bounty hunters can use thermal detonators to blow up previously indestructible objects.
As you go through the chapters, you'll spot sections where you can come back to as another class of character to find even more things to do. And even in Free Play, where you've got something like seven characters in your entourage, and can swap to any one of them, you'll still scratch your head looking for solutions to some of the puzzles, there is that much stuff going on here.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // PlayStation |
Chapters vary in scale, and while the three films have been chopped up into six chapters each, you still get the flavour of those films, if not because of the choice in stages to play around in, then in cutscenes that whisk you through the story.
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| Source // PlayStation |
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| Source // PlayStation |
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| Source // PlayStation |
No character is voiced here, though they do grunt and grumble and chuckle a little if the situation arises. This is deliberate, as turning scenes into mimes not only forces the animation to tell the story, but allows for that story to be more appealing, and more humorous. From Obi-Wan failing to ignite his lightsaber to Darth Maul's legs waddling around the top of that shaft, each one is dotted with humour that seemingly only a LEGO game could offer. It's like a license to poke fun at the other license. It must be great working on these games.
Final Word
If Star Wars isn't your go-to film series, then Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and both DC and Marvel universes have been put into plastic too, and on top of that, I'm forgetting Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. There's literally something for everyone when it comes to LEGO games these days. But have they seen their day?
For those that haven't played a LEGO game, do yourself a favour and pick up whichever takes your fancy. I'd argue that you head for a collection of some sort, like The Complete Saga for Star Wars, because there's no reason to buy two games when one will do. If you find yourself liking it, excellent, enjoy it. Dive into it. Explore everything. Collect as much as you can. Have fun, and do try it with two players, if possible.
If you don't like it, though, don't worry. There's only so much you can do in a LEGO game. Each new one improves the graphics and adds a new puzzle or mechanic, but at the end of the day, they are very much the same. Collect stuff to make it easier to collect more stuff. It gets old, and as time goes on, I fear it gets older, faster.
When replaying LEGO Star Wars, I wanted to play through Episode I at least. I made sure to get True Jedi on the first chapter by collecting however many coins it was, but then I just beelined it for the end of the level. If it was an optional distraction, I ignored it, and that was the case for every chapter thereafter.
In truth, I guess I just wanted to see what they did with the cutscenes. In practice, I'd done it all before, I just needed to remind myself of how it played. Yeah, it played alright, though the games get better, that's for sure.
This is the only LEGO game on the 1001 list. It's not the best game there is. It's not even the best they could have included, but it is the one that got the ball rolling on LEGO titles, and for that, we should celebrate LEGO Star Wars. Play it. Play any of them. Be a kid again. Then struggle with the puzzles like a big dumb kid too.
Fun Facts
LEGO wasn't a stranger to video games but had shut down its own efforts in the industry in 2004. A group of former employees remained active as publishers and published LEGO Star Wars before being bought by Traveller's Tales themselves after the success of the game.
LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, developed by Traveller's Tales, first released in 2005.
Version played: LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, PlayStation 2, 2005, via teenage memory.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, PlayStation 3, 2007.