I once said, in another review, that I used to play Lego Indiana Jones with my little brother a lot when I was a kid, but it was difficult because of our lack of skill and faulty hardware at every level. Well, there's a secret backstory for that review, because I'm fairly sure that Lego Star Wars was the first game I ever played, and the conditions and brother were even MORE trying then. The disc and laptop were worse, we were younger and thus worse at games, the shared keyboard was even more compact, and we only ever got to play it on long car rides, where every bump on the road knocked the disc around in the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ holder and spawned another game-breaking glitch. Truly a crucible of early gaming.

Well, it wasn't the entire thing. The version we had was just Lego Star Wars 2, which was Episodes 4-6 (which happen to be the ones I just completed the story mode for). We didn't get the full package until a couple of years later, when it was one of the two games we got along with our new Wii for Christmas. To justify its existence as 2 games stapled together, it added a few new features, like new bonus levels, a 1v1 mode, and powerups scattered throughout the levels, all of which are fairly pointless. As to the levels themselves, episodes 4-6 are far stronger than episodes 1-3, for what I think are a few reasons: 1, more interesting things happen in the originals; 2, it came out a year later, when all the developers had finally earned their game design degrees; 3 (and this is complete speculation), the devs probably had more love for the originals than for the new ones; and 4, I have more nostalgia for the parts I played first and therefore those parts are better. Shut up, it's true.

And as for the game itself? Well, it's not nearly as polished as Lego Indiana Jones (the devs clearly learned more the more games they made, which is a trend I support), but for what it is, it's fantastic. Coming back, not only was I realizing how much fun I was having in just the first level, but I was also experiencing almost crying levels of nostalgia for things that had all come rushing back from almost a decade ago. I remembered that puzzle with the crane! I remembered wanting to be R2-D2 or Captain Antilles! Oh my God! Rebel Friend! I remembered Rebel Friend!

Anyway, nostalgic tangents aside, the same rules apply for this as they do for Lego Indiana Jones; everything's either good game design, funny and/or goofy, or probably broken (or John Williams's score). Tell you what, if I ever make a game, I'm going to hire all the animators from Traveler's Tales, because those guys know how to do an incredible amount with very little. Look up the intro cutscene for Episode 6, Stage 5. See how they convey all (or at least most of) the conflict and emotion of the scene in the movie, in the space of about 30 seconds, using absolutely no dialogue, with F*CKING LEGO FIGURES? These people are masters!

Also, they managed to nail the vital Stormtrooper balance of adorably bad but taken completely seriously. You should buy the game for just that.

P.S. If you think it's just a game for kids, go to the Zero Punctuation for Lego Indiana Jones and listen to what he has to say about kid-oriented vs. family-oriented. This one's family-oriented.

P.P.S. Like the Indiana Jones review, I haven't played the whole thing through here but I did when I was younger, and I remember all of it.

I once said, in another review, that I used to play Lego Indiana Jones with my little brother a lot when I was a kid, but it was difficult because of our lack of skill and faulty hardware at every level. Well, there's a secret backstory for that review, because I'm fairly sure that Lego Star Wars was the first game I ever played, and the conditions and brother were even MORE trying then. The disc and laptop were worse, we were younger and thus worse at games, the shared keyboard was even more compact, and we only ever got to play it on long car rides, where every bump on the road knocked the disc around in the shitty holder and spawned another game-breaking glitch. Truly a crucible of early gaming. Well, it wasn't the entire thing. The version we had was just Lego Star Wars 2, which was Episodes 4-6 (which happen to be the ones I just completed the story mode for). We didn't get the full package until a couple of years later, when it was one of the two games we got along with our new Wii for Christmas. To justify its existence as 2 games stapled together, it added a few new features, like new bonus levels, a 1v1 mode, and powerups scattered throughout the levels, all of which are fairly pointless. As to the levels themselves, episodes 4-6 are far stronger than episodes 1-3, for what I think are a few reasons: 1, more interesting things happen in the originals; 2, it came out a year later, when all the developers had finally earned their game design degrees; 3 (and this is complete speculation), the devs probably had more love for the originals than for the new ones; and 4, I have more nostalgia for the parts I played first and therefore those parts are better. Shut up, it's true. And as for the game itself? Well, it's not nearly as polished as Lego Indiana Jones (the devs clearly learned more the more games they made, which is a trend I support), but for what it is, it's fantastic. Coming back, not only was I realizing how much fun I was having in just the first level, but I was also experiencing almost crying levels of nostalgia for things that had all come rushing back from almost a decade ago. I remembered that puzzle with the crane! I remembered wanting to be R2-D2 or Captain Antilles! Oh my God! Rebel Friend! I remembered Rebel Friend! Anyway, nostalgic tangents aside, the same rules apply for this as they do for Lego Indiana Jones; everything's either good game design, funny and/or goofy, or probably broken (or John Williams's score). Tell you what, if I ever make a game, I'm going to hire all the animators from Traveler's Tales, because those guys know how to do an incredible amount with very little. Look up the intro cutscene for Episode 6, Stage 5. See how they convey all (or at least most of) the conflict and emotion of the scene in the movie, in the space of about 30 seconds, using absolutely no dialogue, with F*CKING LEGO FIGURES? These people are masters! Also, they managed to nail the vital Stormtrooper balance of adorably bad but taken completely seriously. You should buy the game for just that. P.S. If you think it's just a game for kids, go to the Zero Punctuation for Lego Indiana Jones and listen to what he has to say about kid-oriented vs. family-oriented. This one's family-oriented. P.P.S. Like the Indiana Jones review, I haven't played the whole thing through here but I did when I was younger, and I remember all of it.