The popularity of the recent Star Wars prequels has made it abundantly clear that the license is relevant not only to grizzled geeks with fond memories of the films from decades past, but also with a new group of fans: children. With few exceptions -- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being the most obvious -- most of the console games associated with the franchise have been aimed at this demographic. So when LucasArts recently announced a LEGO Star Wars title, it appeared to be a clever way to develop an action game with familiar faces and a fresh graphical style, even if the concept sounded a bit odd at first. Though, in reality fans of both the toys and the franchise seemed keen on the idea from the get-go. I suppose Star Wars and LEGO do have similar appeal; they almost go together as well as Jedi and lightsabers, right?

For a gamer based in the States, getting a chance to play LEGO Star Wars proved to be one of the few truly fresh experiences to be had at the first annual EGN show; this is due to the fact that most publishers were displaying old E3 builds of games that we played months ago. Oh well. While the main story arc of the game was not completely apparent, the experience will likely begin as it does in the demo build. Currently, the game opens much as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace did in its Playstation incarnation several years ago with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon battling their way through a Trade Federation ship. Though, as the name of the game implies, our lead characters now appear to be LEGO men, rather than actual humanoids. Thankfully, they animate well and look about as real as polygonal models shaped like strange, disfigured humans could ever hope to. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see that the environments are not nearly as faithful to their LEGO toy counterparts as the character models. While certain environmental objects mimic the look and feel of the plastic blocks well, the majority of the level design remains simple without having that bumpy look that is so distinguishable as LEGO.


The control is rather simple, with different buttons triggering attacks, jump, and force powers. Rapidly jamming on the attack button will yield lightsaber combos of all sorts. Holding down the attack button will allow the player to deflect incoming blaster fire. Additionally, tapping the jump button at the height of a leap will allow access to even higher platforms. As the player advances through the environments, certain objects will glow green as the characters pass. Using the force near these items will cause them to shake and often will reveal coin-like power-ups hidden within. Currently, it is not known what benefits will be had by gathering these items, but surely this will be revealed in future playtests. Force powers can also be used to throw switches and relocate objects strewn about the levels to allow the player access to otherwise inaccessible areas. For example, one hanger area contained a power-up item floating near the ceiling. In order to grab it, a switch needed to be activated, which caused a platform to oscillate. But only after piling three boxes atop another platform -- using the force, of course -- could the player jump high enough to reach the now-moving platform.