My wife and I are looking for a new game to play. We like action-adventure games like Zelda, Prince of Persia, and Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.
We don’t mind the actiony parts of the game, but we also like to solve puzzles, usually environmentally related. When we play games, I play and my wife watches, usually giving advice and pointing out things she’s noticed.
We wouldn’t enjoy a pure action game. I played Resident Evil 4 and she had zero interest, partly because of the violence and partly because it’s almost totally action.
Would the Lego Star Wars games be good for us? We like Star Wars. We like the cuteness of the Lego look. Are they pure action games, though?
Here is a list of games we like:
All Zeldas
All Prince of Persia
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Starfox Adventures(it was ok, but a good genre example)
Beyond Good and Evil
I’m sure there are more. We’re huge adventure game fans as well, but are aware the Lego games aren’t in that genre.
They’re not really pure action games but the puzzles are, well, not very puzzley, at least as far I’ve gotten into Lego Star Wars II. Other than the cuteness, I’m finding it pretty dull. And the actiony parts are annoying as hell because of the lack of control you have over what you hit with your blaster.
I owned one of them–I think it was the second; it was based on the prequel movies–and I wasn’t crazy about it. There were no real puzzles (IIRC, the closest thing to a puzzle was switching your character to a droid and clicking to access a machine, or switching to a jedi and clicking when you needed to use the force), and there was no real challenge to it, since your character automatically comes back to life after being killed.
I liked Star Wars a lot, and while there were aspects of it that were fun–the traditional opening, with the traditional narrative and music–I got bored of the game within about 20 minutes.
My wife and I love it Star Wars II {the original trilogy}, which I gather is bigger and more flexible than the first game, with more features. It’s basically a kids games, so the puzzle solving is pretty easy, and there’s a lot of action, but pretty nerfed: you shoot people with Lego blasters and whack 'em with Lego lightsabres and they just fall to bits. It’s a sort of Tomb Raider/Prince Of Persia platform jumping shooting exploring puzzle solving game - with some flying levels stuck in - except made easier for kids: it doesn’t matter if you suck at the fighting or flying, 'cos it’s pretty easy and you never really “die” - you just fall to bits and lose some points before you’re reincarnated. It’s very easy to make it through a level, but similar to Tomb Raider there are a lot of little hidden secrets - someof which can only be reached by certain characters - so there’s a lot of replay value: you might have to play through until you can unlock or buy say Boba Fett so you can reach a particular area with his rocket pack.
Where it really scores is that it’s beautifully crafted with great in-jokes: the movie cut scenes are all done with little Lego people and just take the piss, and it’s full of neat, absurd little touches. Obi-Wan has a Lego lawn mower in his backyard, Yoda has a giant plasma TV, Jabba’s guards like to play air guitar on their axes, and can be distracted by building Lego radios which blast out a bad heavy metal version of the Imperial March so they start rocking out. It’s just huge fun to play, especially if you’re even slightly familiar with the movies, and there’s a co-op play mode where you can both play together. It’s a great family game.
Oh yeah, and you get to stomp Lego stormtroopers into cartoon flatness with a ATST. What more can you ask?
Depends on what your console is, as well. My husband has Lego Star Wars: II for his PSP, and it’s an awful lot of fun. I was so jealous, I immediately went out and bought it for my Nintendo DS. Big mistake. The DS version is way crappier, with less stuff to do and a LOT more bugs. I hated it, and couldn’t finish the game because there were too many glitches.
My wife and I enjoy it. Though she’s a guitar goddess with the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, she’s not very good at all with platformers. The easy difficulty level is right up her alley and the fact that she loves all things Star Wars helps too.
There’s also the undeniable fact that she’s still a Lego-maniac. On our last trip to Orlando, she took me to the Lego store and I found myself saying things like, “Dear, you know we really don’t need a $300 Lego Death Star”.
I love the Star Wars Lego game (I have the original trilogy) but haven’t gotten very far yet. It’s easy for someone who isn’t a big gamer and I love all of the little details they’ve put in there.
Also to Pithy Moniker, with all due respect, I think EVERYONE needs a $300 Lego Death Star.
The power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of two cats hellbent on knocking something made out of lots of pieces into the floor.
I’ve had hella fun with it on the PS2 but I’m not a big gamer so it’s easy-as-hell/tongue-in-cheek set up is perfect for me. Plus it’s Legos shooting up and running around in a Lego world with other Legos!
There’s an Indiana Jones version coming out this summer which I’m looking forward to. You know, for my son.
