Reviews
In amongst the throng of heavily publicized blockbuster titles released this Christmas, it would be easy to forget about Lucas Arts’ latest Lego Star Wars iteration, The Complete Saga. It doesn’t display the graphical prowess of Irrational’s gem, Bioshock. Nor does it immerse like Infinity Ward’s behemoth, Call of Duty 4. Chances are it won’t attract the fanatical devotion of Microsoft’s flagship title, Halo 3, either. Yet there is no doubt that Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a one quality title. Much like its predecessors, the game capitalizes on the Star Wars license and presents an experience laden with top-notch production values, an addictive quality that few games have delivered on this generation, and a bucketload of humour to boot.
Much like the most epic platformers of years past, Lego Star Wars does a lot of things right. Taking the player through the entire series of six movies, your goal is to control all of your favourite characters from the Star Wars universe and advance through each of over 35 stages. These include the death star trench run, Obi Wan and Qui Gon’s battle with Darth Maul, the arena scene from the climax of Attack of the Clones, just to name a few. If it was a major part of the movies, it’s in here. Whilst in general the game plays like a platformer, laden with thought-provoking puzzles, there is also a generous helping of light saber battles, and the action is broken up quite nicely with vehicle stages (where you might pilot a Tie Fighter or Anakin’s speeder). Although the controls are simple, they work well, and unleashing a massive combo with Mace Windu, hacking droids down left, right and centre, is immediately satisfying.
You can control literally hundreds of characters, and you can also replay chapters with any character you’ve unlocked, opening up multiple paths and a myriad of secrets. It could be argued, in fact, that only once the player has finished the game that the real fun begins. The amount of secrets and unlockables are quite staggering, and collecting and completing everything is awesome fun in and of itself, even once you’ve finished with the ten or so hour-long main story.
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