LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (DS) Review
Lets get this out of the way first. Lego Star Wars II on the Nintendo DS is a very good game. Or rather it would be good if it was actually properly beta tested and not rushed out the door for marketing reasons. While the game is full of glitches (even to the extent where the game becomes unplayable), there is enough Lego Star Wars charm here to allow some players to persevere until the end. The experience offered on the DS closely mirrors that of its GameCube counterpart.
LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is the sequel to the hit game Lego Star Wars, and as the name suggests focuses on the final three movies in the Star Wars film series. The game allows you to play through various scenarios from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.
The game is well presented for a DS game. There is a full soundtrack, well-drawn menus and a clean interface. Graphically the game also looks pretty good. The fact that the DS is not a graphical power house actually helps the game as the blocky characters and environments dont look out of place. There are also some neat graphical effects. I was most surprised by the environmental reflections present in areas with shiny floor. I think we underestimate the power of the DS sometimes. However, the game does exhibit some noticeable slowdown when the action heats up.
Sadly I will now mention a number of the graphical glitches contained within the game. While the graphics are great for a DS game they do have an unpolished feel to them with lots of levels containing broken seams on the edges of walls. Parts of levels will disappear when a large portion of scenery is onscreen at once.
The camera frequently positions itself throughs walls and all you can see is a hideous bloated texture blocking your view of the action. The collision detection is hit and miss at times causing you to fall through platforms into a chasm. Another month in development and testing would have fixed all these issues and we would have ended up with a much more polished game.
It is reported that the game is now in reprint with an updated (and less buggy) version of the game code, so if you want the DS version hold off until the initial shipment has been pushed through retail.
I mentioned earlier that the game has a full soundtrack. Gone are the days of GameBoy music. Now handheld gamers can experience nearly the same soundtrack their console counterparts experience. The sound effects are great and spot on, from the zings of the light sabres to the blasts of the blasters and R2-D2s signature beeps.
LEGO Star Wars II is primarily is an action game. You perform the usual assortment of tricks such as jumping, attacking, and defending. Depending on the character you choose to play as you have access to different skills. Jedis are able to use force powers, Blaster characters such as Han Solo and Chewbacca can use a grappling hook, and RD-D2 has his hover jets.
While the game controls fine, the camera is the main cause of control problems you will have, as it frequently cuts off the view, dropping characters or ships off the screen and just being a complete pain in the rear.
The Nintendo DS version of the game also features 2 Player Wireless Co-op, and Wireless 2-4 Player Battle Arena Mode. I was unable to test out any of the multiplayer features in time for this review, but just like the GameCube version I expect the multiplayer experience to greatly enhance the single player action even when the games glitches are taken into account.
Overall the Nintendo DS version of Lego Star Wars II is not a horrendously bad game but many of the games shortcomings could have easily been absent had LucasArts not rushed this game out without properly testing it. Younger players wont notice the problems and will have blast with it but anyone else would be advised to wait for a reprint or pick up the GameCube version.
