Sweet But Short

Lego Star Wars 2 is basically a repeat from the previous venture, but this is not truly a bad thing.

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It is easy to laugh at the idea of making an entire game by combining one of the most successful movie franchises of all time with a children’s toy.  Who knew that it would be so much fun?  Surprisingly, the GBA version was not neglected as it contained a sweet mix of action, gameplay difficulty, and entertainment value, just like the console versions did.  The sequel, using the same game engine as its predecessor, is just as fun as the original release. 

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The gameplay is very similar to the first adventure.  Players take control of popular Star Wars characters through an isometric view and play through the story line of the original three movies.  If you have never seen the movies, players might actually have a difficult time following the story since there is no worded dialog in the game.  Characters converse through picture speech bubbles only.  While the story may be a little harder to follow for newbies, fans will immediately understand what is going on and will laugh out loud at the humor. 

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If the high humor level wasn’t enough incentive for any age group to play this game, then perhaps the difficulty level is.  This game is incredibly easy and forgiving.  So much so that you cannot even die.   During the game, you collect little Lego studs; this acts as the game’s currency to unlock new things.   However, each time you die, you lose a set amount of studs.  But your stud count will never fully deplete, meaning you will never see a Game Over screen.  In most games, this would be a major gameplay flaw.  But given the humorous, and not-so-serious nature of the game, it is not seen as a problem and actually enhances the overall presentation value.

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Even though this game is entertaining, it is not without its flaws.  First, there is still no two player co-op link mode.  One of the biggest selling points for the console versions is co-op drop in-drop out play.  Why isn’t this a feature for the handheld version? Oh yeah, I know, because there would be tremendous slow down in the frame rate.  This is the next disappointment with this game.  At some points during the game, babies can crawl faster than the processing power of the game engine.  During the Endor forest level, the frame rate becomes incredibly choppy even without any enemies on screen.  There is just slow down for no reason.  But this choppiness leads to the next upsetting fact about the game, the bugs.  This game has more bugs than the Amazon jungle.  Shooting through walls, falling off the stage, and shoddy hit detection are the norm here.  But perhaps the biggest bug I stumbled across happened when I fought Vader.  For some reason, he just would not go down.  After hitting him the eight-hundredth time, I realized that my game glitched up.  I then had to shut off my game, lose all my studs and time, and replay the level.  Frustrating.

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Besides being on the buggy side, the game ends entirely too quickly.  The entire campaign can be completed in two hours.  The game’s replay value allows players go back into any previous level and collect more studs, which in turn, allow the player to unlock new players, cheats, or hidden options.  While it can take hours to unlock everything the game has to offer, players will probably want to put this one down after they complete every level the first time.  Unfortunately, by the game’s end, repetition will set in despite having so many playable characters because no matter who you use, you are still hacking and slashing.

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One thing that really sets this game apart from the last adventure is the controllable vehicles.  There is at least one vehicle specific level in every episode of the game.  These stages are a nice break from the standard hack and slash action and actually work pretty well for a GBA game.  The Hoth stage is especially more fun than the others solely because of the harpoon and tow cables.  The vehicle controls can even be tweaked in the options menu for player preference.

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The graphics and music are pretty much the same as it was in the last game.  Because environments are little more detailed, the frame rate suffers resulting in a give and take relationship.  And while the music is from the movie, I wish it wasn’t repeated as much.  Longer loops would have offered more variety. 

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Lego Star Wars 2 is a good game.  It is fun, humorous, and very pick-up-and-playable.  But the bugginess and extremely short length of the campaign mode can push some gamer’s away.  Like that like girl you met in Vegas, your time spent will be short, but oh so sweet.