As I’ve admitted before, I’m a sucker for cute video games. If you are too, then you must get Lego Star Wars II. This game (available for all kinds of game systems, though I’m playing it on PS2), allows you to play a variety of characters, from Princess Leia to an anonymous stormtrooper, through a super-condensed version of the three original Star Wars movies. And everything is made of Legos!
The attention to detail in the cut scenes is delightful – if you’ve seen the movies in the past 10 years or so, you’ll recognize little bits of action from the movie, though they whizz by in a fraction of the time that they played out in the original.
In fact, it’s kind of an interesting study of the Star Wars epic as a shared cultural story: if you had never seen the movies, you would have no idea what is going on in the video game, there’s so much shorthand in the scenes.
As for the gaming action, it’s well designed, incorporating little Lego puzzles in addition to the shooting of stormtroopers. Come upon a pile of Lego blocks and you can make your character assemble them into a robot or secret exit at lightning speed.
Oh, and you can play with two people! It’s fun to make John do the boring work of keeping the bad guys at bay while I put all the Lego contraptions together.
So it’s cute, and fun, and multi-player. Highly recommended.
And if you’re wondering, yes, there apparently was a first Lego Star Wars game, but it takes you through the prequel movies, which nobody liked.
Muahaha! I am a great fan of Star Wars (but not those dirty prequels!) and played this game when it came out on Xbox (alas, my boy is a Microsoft fan and scorns the name of Sony…don’t ask me why I think it’s a boy thing).
I love the graphics of the game and the way that everything *really was* made of legos. And when people were smashed they fell about into legos. Or that Chewbacca really couldn’t fit the stormtrooper hat on his head and just kinda wore it like a top hat.
And my boy and I do exactly what you and Jon do! He fends off the bad guys and I do all the Jedi tricking and moving of tiny lego peices together…though I do fall off the cliffs alot as I can’t jump worth crap!
How funny! It’s like we’re living in parallel universes – you with your Xbox, me with my Playstation…
The first Star Wars Lego game was actually really fun. I have it. The best is that when you get more advanced, you get to play Yoda who is in hyper Jedi mode. We just got the second one, but I haven’t had time to play it yet.
I LOVE that game! There are so many funny things you can do with the Lego people!