LEGO Star Wars II (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Last year Eidos released what would become the multi-million selling title, LEGO Star Wars and the publisher who had all but ignored the handheld market also graced us with a GBA version. This went on to become one of DS-X2's games of the year and we were delighted when the second outing was announced with both a DS and GBA version included in the line-up. What made the game so successful was its unique blend of humor and engaging gameplay but this was a game for the younger gamers who had just lived through the 'new' Star Wars movies and what fans wanted was for the original trilogy to receive the same treatment. Well, here it is, and we can only hope that developers Travelers Tales haven't tinkered with this winning formula too much.

Gameplay

If you've been with Nintendo gaming for a while now you'll have undoubtedly played the first LEGO Star Wars on the GBA and this plays out much the same. Taking a variety of storylines from the movies in order to produce an abridged adventure set in the George Lucas universe with plastic bricks standing in for 'real' actors. The difference here is that this is 'classic' Star Wars and anyone who's at all interested in science fiction movies will no doubt agree that these were some of the most important big screen epics ever made. Your adventure begins in the Mos Eisley Cantina where you must create your character from a variety of LEGO pieces although you can unlock more characters as you progress through the game. This is achieved in one of two ways: either you actually encounter the character or you can 'build' them by collecting the various pieces that are scattered throughout the levels.

Once you've wandered around here and practiced your powers (using the 'force' will magically build objects from piles of bricks) it's onto your first mission. These are separated into the three movies and then different missions and while the majority of these are 'on-foot', others allow you to pilot one of the many spacecrafts. Your first mission takes place in space though and almost immediately you'll be blasting storm troopers and solving puzzles. The puzzles themselves are reasonably simple but you will have to constantly change characters in order to solve them. There are even some areas which are completely out of bounds until you have acquired the correct character and you will find that once you have finished your first run through the game there's still a great deal more to be discovered. Finally there are the multiplayer modes, one of which is the classic deathmatch whilst the other is based around a co-operative adventure and sadly requires each player to have a copy of the game. This wouldn't be too bad if you could actually manage to play it for any length of time but like many other areas of the game it's full of bugs.

Controls

Not bad at all and intuitive enough not to get too bogged down when confronted with a group of storm troopers. It's even pretty good when you transfer from the 'on-foot' missions to any one of the available spacecraft.

Graphics

Initially the 3D engine appears very solid indeed but it very quickly becomes the game's weakest link because of the graphical glitches that plague the later stages. Rooms where clues and vital equipment are kept are simply black until you enter them for example while other areas simply have their backdrops missing altogether. The same is true of the flying levels; in fact the whole thing is nowhere near as solid as it needs to be. There's also the classic problems with the camera, which never points where you want it to and also will trap you behind buildings or objects with no alternative but to re-start the level. This is a shame really because when it's good it's it has some of the best 3D environments you've ever seen on the DS but when it's bad (and it is far too often) it's very frustrating.

Sound

The audio wise in this game is stunning with the original John Williams score playing throughout the adventure. You even get the band in the Mos Eisley Cantina playing the only song they appear to know with the odd sample (listen out for R2D2 screaming as he falls to his death again) completing the package.

Dual screen

Very little indeed with the DS' hardware mostly used to display the 3D engine. In fact the only time you'll use the touch screen (outside of the options menu) is to design your player and select a character.

Final comments

The strangest thing about LEGO Star Wars is that even with all its shortcomings it's still great fun to play, which does raise the question 'just how good would it have been had all the bugs been ironed out?' Yes the graphical glitches are unforgivable as is the unstable multiplayer but it's still one of the most satisfying DS titles to come along in some time. This is down to the fact that there's enough variety in the game to please both fans of the movies and the casual gamer, which is a balance that eludes the majority of developers. Without question this, along with the first Eidos release, is quite simply the best Star Wars inspired handheld title and given the sheer amount of attempts a variety of developers have had over the years, that has to be worth a look.

Pro: Loads of Gameplay, Great Soundtrack.
Con: Unstable Visuals, Very Buggy.
Final score: 5.5

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