Review: Lego Star Wars (PS2)

Okay, let's get it out of the way now: this game is short. There... happy? In fact, unless you're three-years-old (in which case how are you managing to read this?) or just plain rubbish at games, you'll probably have finished Lego Star Wars in less time than it took to work out exactly what the hell George Lucas was thinking when he made The Phantom Menace.

That's not to say that Lego Star Wars is a bad game; in fact, the first few minutes of play confirms a huge amount of affection for the source material, and even though it might easily be dismissed as a 'kid's game', this doesn't mean - as is so often the case with kid's games - that Lego Star Wars is graphically or sonically weak; the exact opposite is true.

But perhaps the biggest strength of this game is that it features charm by the bucketful and is a joy to play - two elements that Gamestyle feels are often absent in many of today's titles. The first cut-scene ushers in some irreverent humour that persists throughout the game and was sorely missing from the po-faced, leaden films on which this game is based (Gamestyle challenges even the most hardened gamer not to crack at the prelude to the fight scene with Darth Maul).

Much of Lego Star Wars' charm is derived not just from this sense of humour but also from the sheer brilliance of the Lego world created by Traveller's Tales. From smashing your first Battledroid into its component Lego pieces, to slicing Darth Maul in half (as only Lego figurines do), to Mace Windu's glossy head replete with little button to attach a Lego wig to; it's hard to imagine a better constructed Lego world. Even the spaceships and backgrounds have been fashioned from everyone's favourite plastic blocks, and smashing things into their constituent Lego parts is as much fun as you would expect.

But above all it's accessible - the player is only required to jump, attack and use the force (handily, items which can be 'forcified' are marked out by a glowing light when you are nearby, meaning you're not laboriously required to try and use the force on every piece of scenery until you find something that can be moved). The levels are platform-based and feature rudimentary puzzles, and whilst there's nothing here that would (natch) trouble a three-year-old, it's nevertheless a pleasant change to work through such a well-paced, undemanding title. That said, when things get busy on screen - such as the Battle of Kashyyyk - play can descend into bouts of button-mashing before the enemy falls. In addition to the platforming, each of the three films features a vehicle-based mission (such as pod-racing) to break up the monotony of the levels.

As previously mentioned, this title is strong in both sight and sound: characters are big, colourful and extremely well-animated - best of all, everything moves as you imagined it would (that is, if you were somehow able to bring Lego to life). The backgrounds are bold and compelling, and an achievement in their own right: the shiny metal floors of spaceships reflect the action with unerring accuracy; the lava bubbles and pops in the game's climactic battle; and the water effects on Naboo greatly impressed Gamestyle. That said, we would have welcomed the same level of precision with the camera; positions are fixed and it can be easy to miss items or get stuck behind scenery. Lego Star Wars also makes excellent use of John Williams' musical score, and as you'd imagine, all the sound effects are present and correct (adding a great deal of authenticity to the experience).

Once a level has been completed it can be returned to at any time in order to unearth all of the secrets, or simply for the fun of re-enacting some of the most memorable sequences. Better yet, you can replay levels with any of the characters you've unlocked (using their new abilities to explore hitherto unreachable parts of these levels). Aside from extra characters, there's also plenty of other stuff to unlock - from comedic graphical effects (such as moustaches) to a bonus level from the classic trilogy. On top of this, Lego Star Wars has a fine two-player mode, allowing friends to drop in and out at will. Players are slightly hamstrung by the lack of a split-screen facility, but this is outweighed by the sheer fun of it (and if you tire of killing the enemies, you can always stage that Darth Maul versus Jango Fett fight you've dreamt of).

So, the quintessential Star Wars game then? Not quite, but it's not far removed from being one of the most 'complete' Star Wars titles on the market. Simple enough to hook gamers and non-gamers alike - and with enough charm to keep you coming back - it's the short lifespan of story mode that prevents Lego Star Wars from scoring a higher mark.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Andy Lucas