The beauty of real-life Legos is that when you build what the instructions tell you to, you’ve got hundreds of bricks at the whim of your imagination. Whatever your imagination and the blocks can conjure up, that’s what you’ll build next. With the first Lego Star Wars, a surprise hit in 2005, LucasArts gave that building capability to Jedi characters but left the rest in the proverbial dark. Lego Star Wars 2 changes all that, and it does so with more style and humor than the first game ever offered.
LucasArts is able to do this in large part because Lego Star Wars 2 takes place during the original Star Wars trilogy, whereas the original was a prequel tie-in. Considering the long history of the original three films, not to mention people’s familiarity with them, LucasArts is having a lot more “fun” with Lego Star Wars 2, from the scenarios to the mix-and-match playable characters.
These scenarios are ripped straight from classic Episode IV, V and VI situations and locales. Playing through Mos Eisley, for example, we walked through the streets interacting with the all-too-familiar Jawas, and later on the game has you doing the Death Star trench run and engaging in space battles in X-Wing fighters and the Millennium Falcon. There are a lot more surprises this time around, too (read: there will be more things like the disco in the first game), and the ability to combine all 10 mini-kits to build new vehicles means players can feasibly go through the trench run in one of the speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi.
The various building options are probably the biggest upgrade this time around, as players can create more vehicles as well as custom characters. Using vehicles serves more than a cosmetic purpose, though, as you can sell them to Jawas for a profit and, in some levels, use them to solve puzzles. While walking through Mos Eisley, we came across a barrier that C3PO could neither scale nor destroy. By poking around a garage, though, we uncovered the right combination of pieces to build an AT-ST in real time, which we then piloted to advance in the level and do battle with an opposing AT-ST. Likewise, at one point in the level C3PO needed stairs to access a new part of the area, so by breaking apart various parts of the environment and gathering the right pieces, we were able to build those stairs and access a new part of the level.
Don’t worry about all the references to C3PO; there are far more characters in the game than him. In fact, Lego Star Wars 2 includes more than 50 characters from the original trilogy, some of whom you’ll include in your various “landing parties,” some of whom will simply be environmental or plot-driving characters.
Aside from those 50 characters, players will also be able to create their own. In case you haven’t done the math, each Lego character has nine elements to its body, from the head to torso to feet and hands. With each unlocked character, you’ll unlock new pieces with which to augment your character and its abilities. For instance, if you unlock a lightsaber, not only will your player be able to use it in the game, but having it equipped will give your character Jedi powers such as Force Lightning and Force Choke. Unlock Boba Fett, and your character might gain the ability to use thermal detonators, or unlock a certain blaster, and your character will gain new shooting abilities.
Default characters will come with their own special powers as well. Chewbacca can pull opposing characters’ arms out of their sockets, while Leia can slap and Han Solo has a unique roll-and-shoot attack. As these players are unlocked in the game, their “parts” will become available for your custom characters’ use. The more characters you unlock, the more pieces you’ll have at your disposal to customize your character. The cosmetics of this customization are hilarious, too; in one sitting we saw Chewbacca with Princess Leia’s metal-bikini torso and a C3PO with a Darth Vader head.
Lego Star Wars 2 shows that George Lucas has finally developed a sense of humor about his beloved original trilogy. With the camp factor, nostalgia and character-creation all rolled into one, plus a split-screen co-op mode (and ad-hoc on PSP and DS), there really isn’t much not to like about this game. Lego Star Wars 2 is hoping to outdo its predecessor in every regard, and from what we got our hands on at E3 2006, it’s staying on target to do just that.
— Jonas Allen
