Lego Star Wars: The Video Game

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
North American box art for PC
Developer(s)	Traveller's Tales, Griptonite Games, Aspyr Media, Giant Interactive Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive, LucasArts
Series	Lego Star Wars
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Mac OS X
Release	March 29, 2005 Game Boy Advance PlayStation 2, Windows Xbox Macintosh GameCube
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer (2 players)

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game is a video game based on the Star Wars themed toy line by the Lego Group and the first game in TT Games' Lego videogame franchise. It is a video game adaptation of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, with a bonus segment from A New Hope. Lego Star Wars was first released on April 5, 2005, a full month before the final Star Wars film premiered, it was the only Lego game from TT Games to be rated E by the ESRB for consoles (handheld version of TT's Lego Games may have an E rating) while other Lego games 2006-onward are E-10 until Lego City Stories.

It was developed by Traveller's Tales for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 video game consoles and Microsoft Windows personal computers, with Griptonite Games developing the Nintendo Game Boy Advance version. These initial versions were published in April 2005. A Mac version, developed by Aspyr, was released in August 2005. A Nintendo GameCube version of the game was released on October 26, 2005. All versions were published by Eidos Interactive and LucasArts.

Lego Star Wars was billed as a kids' game and received the "Game of the Year" award from Kidzworld.com It received generally positive reviews (PC version Metacritic score was 77) and peaked at the top of the UK charts during early May 2005. It later lost the spot to the official game of Episode III but maintained a consistently high chart position throughout the month.

Its sequel, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, was released in September 2006, while a compilation, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga was released on November 6, 2007 and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars was released in March 2011.

Gameplay

Anakin Skywalker flips over two droids, with several battle droids looking on. Studs, the game's currency, are visible on the overhead ledge and at the far right of the screen.

Gameplay in Lego Star Wars is geared towards family play, and as such does not feature a game over scenario. Given a specific set of characters in each scenario, based on a scene from each of the movies, up to two players can control them, using their different abilities. By walking up to another friendly character, the player can switch control over to that character, which is necessary for using some of their abilities to complete puzzles. Studs can be found by finding them, smashing or using the force on certain objects, or defeating enemies. Players will lose studs however if their character is destroyed (as opposed to losing lives). These studs can be spent on unlocking new characters for Free Play mode. Certain segments of the game feature players controlling spaceships flying on a flat plane. There are also several minikit canisters hidden throughout each level that, when collected, come together to form a vehicle. Completing certain requirements, such as collecting enough studs in a level, earns Golden Bricks that can be traded for cheats.

When the player first starts the game, he/she must first complete Chapter I of The Phantom Menace. However, once that chapter is completed, the player may choose to play levels from the other two movies, able to play any unlocked levels in their desired order. Completing all the game's levels with full stud bars will unlock an additional chapter based on the opening scene of A New Hope.

Characters

See also: Playable characters in Lego Star Wars video game series

Lego Star Wars contains a total of 56 playable characters. The playable characters are modeled like actual Lego parts and on death, they fall to pieces and also lose studs. There are a wide variety of characters included in the game, all of which are unlocked by completing levels or by purchasing them at Dexter's Diner. Characters are divided into groups according to certain skills. For instance, Jedi and Sith can double-jump, use lightsabers, and have control of the force, which they can use to activate or lift Lego objects or defeat certain enemies. Darth Maul has a double-ended lightsaber which improves his defense from laser fire. Jar Jar Binks, General Grievous and his bodyguard have the super jump, which allows them to reach obstacles that the Jedi and Sith can't jump to. Characters like Padmé Amidala and clone troopers who carry blasters have the ability to grapple to reach higher places. Droids, while not being armed, can travel through the game without being intentionally attacked by enemy characters also, protocol droids and astromech droids can open special doors, then there are players like Boba Fett and Young Anakin that can fit in tight places. Every character, other than the PK Droid and Gonk Droid (whose only ability is that they are never attacked by enemies) have a special ability. However, an almost unknown Chancellor Palpatine can use the dark force.

Unlocked characters can be imported into the game's sequel, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, as an extra called "use old save", which costs 250,000 Lego Studs, and be used in its character creator function.

Because Lego Star Wars is based on the Prequel Trilogy (Episodes I, II and III), Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and other characters from the original Star Wars trilogy are not shown, appearing in Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. However, if you unlock the last level (an episode 4 preview), Darth Vader, a stormtrooper, a rebel trooper and Princess Leia become available.

Free Play

Once a level has been cleared in Story Mode, the player may play through that level again in Free Play Mode. In this mode, players can choose to play through the level with their choice of unlocked characters (with the computer randomly selecting other characters based on their abilities.) At any point, the player can rotate between each of the chosen characters instantly, in order to access areas not accessible during the Story Mode in order to obtain hidden extras. No story cutscenes appear during this mode.

Dexter's Diner

Dexter's Diner is the area from which the player chooses what level to enter, or can enter the Parking Lot to view any vehicles whose parts they have found. The parts to these vehicles are contained in 10 mini-kit canisters which are hidden throughout each level. Battles often take place between canon-good and canon-evil characters, such as Jedi and Sith, respectively, in the Parking Lot as well. At the diner counter, the player may purchase, or enter codes to unlock extras in exchange for Lego studs they have collected by playing through the levels.

Development

Game Boy Advance version

The Game Boy Advance (GBA) version of Lego Star Wars has several differences, including fewer playable characters, devalued studs, fewer levels, only one player character on screen at a time, and cutscenes consist of still frames of the home console versions.

All lightsaber users are able to deflect blaster shots aimed at them and each character has their own style. They also are the only ones able to use the force to interact with undeployed platforms and switches. However, unlike other versions of the game, blaster shots can only be deflected if they are headed straight towards the player at the front, not the back or sides of the character. Blaster characters can charge a shot by holding the button, making it stronger and able to pass through several enemies. However, they don't have the shot deflecting abilities of Jedi. The game has 15 playable characters that are unlocked through gameplay these include Qui-gon Jinn,Obi-wan, Anakin, Jar Jar Binks, a clone trooper, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, a battle droid, R2-D2, R4, Padme, and a tusken raider. The game also has multiple cheat characters.

Deleted levels

There were several levels that never made it into the game, such as Anakin's Flight and Bounty Hunter Pursuit, which were incorporated into a bonus level and a main story level in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga respectively.

Release

This game was released nearly two months before Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In the first week of the game's release sales shot up high, possibly due to the fact that the basic plotline of Revenge of the Sith was in the game. To prevent inadvertent spoilers, most reviewers warned that this was the case in their reviews, however most Star Wars fans did not care too much about this inclusion.

Reception and legacy

Lego Star Wars was the thirteenth best-selling game of 2005. Figures released by The NPD Group show the PlayStation 2 version as the tenth best-selling single-platform title of 2005. The game's worldwide sales total exceeded 3.3 million copies in March 2006 and 6.7 million in May 2009.

It was one of the The Best-Selling PS2 Games with more than 1/5 of the copies sold on the PlayStation 2.

Lego Star Wars is credited with starting the Lego game series and revitalizing the Lego brand. IGN rated the game 8 out of 10 saying, "If you're a parent, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game should be at the top of your child's birthday list. It has everything a family-oriented title needs: it has personality, puzzles, cooperative modes, replay value, low violence, a lack of frustrating difficulty, and most importantly, it has Darth Vader. And that's what makes it enjoyable for adults too, because let's face it; Darth Vader makes everything better -- it's a fact."

External links

• Star Wars Games wikia
• Lego Star Wars: The Video Game at MobyGames
• Official website