Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
Score: 90% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Eidos Interactive Developer: Traveller's Tales Media: GCD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Themed
Graphics & Sound: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game has finally come out for the GameCube (it's about time). But is it any different than the version that hit the other consoles last May? Yes, there are some very slight, but noticeable differences -- and not all of them are good. Lego Star Wars looks just as good on the GC as it did on the other systems. Each character resembles their Lego toy double perfectly and really does a good job of selling the "recreate the prequel movies with Legos" feel. Locations like the Mos Espa, Mustafar, Geonosis, Kamino and Kashyyyk all resemble the planets and scenes shown in the movies in true Lego style. The game's music comes through in clear John Williams Star Wars style. Not only will you hear classic tunes like the Imperial March and the Star Wars Theme Song, but a keen ear will also notice specific scores from "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" as well. And, even though the characters don't speak -- the game expresses their emotions clearly through body language and facial expressions.
Gameplay: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game takes you through the latest three Star Wars movies. The game is broken up into three episodes (a bit obvious) and each episode is broken up into five or six chapters. These chapters graze over the major events of each movie. You will participate in the retaking of Theed, the Colosseum battle on Geonosis and the space fight over Coruscant, as well as events like fighting Count Dooku, Darth Maul and of course the Mustafar fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Lego Star Wars has two modes of play, Story Mode and Free Play Mode. In Story Mode, you play through the events of the movies, collect studs (currency) and Lego Canisters to unlock characters and extra levels. After you beat a chapter in Story Mode, you can go back to it in Free Play Mode. It is here where you can actually get to all of the collectibles since you are allowed to switch between various unlocked characters at will. Using each character's special abilities (double jumping, opening doors, hovering, etc.) will let you get everything you need in order to be done with the level completely. So which characters can you unlock? Good guys like Qui-Gon Jin, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, R2-D2, Mace Windu and Yoda get unlocked once you beat the first mission that lets you control them. In order to unlock the enemies (Battle Droids, Sith, General Grievous) you have to beat them in a level and then use your studs to buy the character in the game's hub area. The GameCube version of Lego Star Wars plays just like the other versions. Everything from the missions to the characters are exactly the same. The only noticeable difference is the fact that there is no autosave feature. In the other versions, once you completed a mission or unlocked something in the hub area, the game will automatically overwrite your current game. But in the GC version, every single time it would have autosaved, it asks you which file you want to write to and if you want to overwrite and then continue. Had I not known of the autosave feature found in the other versions, this might not have been bad. But since I knew that the PS2, Xbox and PC versions of the game did have this feature -- I found this to be one of those pointless changes that make no sense.
Difficulty: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game has some missions that are slightly harder than others, but in general, each chapter shouldn't take too long to play through -- and if you have a friend handy, then you should be able to complete each mission that much faster. Though you should be able to complete the game's Story Mode in five or six hours, if you want to collect all of the canisters and fill your Jedi Meter -- this will take much longer and many replays.
Game Mechanics: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game has a basic control scheme that varies only slightly between different types of characters. Most characters attack with the B button and jump (or hover if available) with the A button. Jedi and Sith use the X button to manipulate objects with the Force, while the Y button is how you transfer your control to one of the other open characters. Basically, if you were going to get this game and have one of the other systems, then you should have already picked it up. If you are one of the unfortunate souls out there who only has a GameCube and have been itching to get your hands on this title -- then it is definitely worth taking home. Any fan of the Star Wars movies (even if you didn't really care for the prequels) will love this game. It combines the epic story with likable Lego characters and makes it great for kids from one to 92.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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