Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga Nintendo DS Review

Rated E by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). This game contains comic mischief and cartoon violence. For those who love Star Wars and Lego's, and not in that order, this game combines the complete saga of Star Wars while incorporating Lego people. From the second you turn the game on the Star Wars theme music plays, if that doesn't get you in the mood for adventure then check your pulse.

You get to play through a Star Wars galaxy that includes all six episodes where you use Lego people as Star Wars characters; they are Anakin, Luke, Darth Vader, R2-D2 and many more. You will mainly use the XY and AB buttons but you can use the stylus on all the episodes as well. To get started you need to turn the game on and you will see a screen with the following prompts New Game, Load Game, Options and Credits. Choose New Game to begin playing.

You have a counter at the top which is always running, it gives you the milliseconds, seconds, minutes and hours, and you can only see this counter when you are in the bar. The percentage number below that is how much of the game you have cleared. You have four hearts to start with and those are your lives, when you get shot one heart disappears. To get that heart back you have to destroy what is around you. To gain coins you destroy with your light saber things around you too, coins are best used for building characters.

There are six different doors you can go through; they are marked with roman numerals. Each door is a different episode and you have to start with Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. Once through the door you will be given written instructions on what to do in that level. You gain characters by winning each level and when you see them wandering around walk up to them and then they will appear on your touch screen. You begin with Anakin and Luke and you will gain more characters are you move throughout the episodes. In order to become another character you press the X button and you will transfer to that character.

Character abilities include using the force, travel chutes, levers and targets. You can use the force to gain coins by sliding your thumb or stylus up and down when you see a glowing light. Travel chutes are used to access new areas that only smaller characters can fit through such as a Ewok or a Wicket. Levers can be pulled by the character by pressing A while standing in front of the lever. Targets can disable door security or energize a computer panel.

Your XY and AB buttons all do something different. In this game A gives you special abilities, B is for jumping, press twice to jump higher and flip. X is your tag button to switch characters. Y is for attack and defend. Y activates your light saber and A puts it away. There is vehicle game play but those buttons do different actions.

It is best to read the instruction booklet all the way through so you can understand what each level has in it. If you just want to find out a faster way then place your character in front of each door and it will tell you the name of the level for each episode. Music from the movies plays in each episode. There are cheat codes available on line. You can pause the game or return to the bar to start over. This is a fun game to play because you get to move around the story while earning coins and battling the dark side.