LEGO Star Wars II for Xbox 360

The concept behind LEGO Star Wars is actually quite good. In the hands of a competent developer, this series could have really been a milestone for Lucasarts. Unfortunately, Travelers Tales is not that developer. TT was responsible for running the Sonic franchise into the ground with titles like Sonic R and Sonic 3D blast, then jumped ship in order to do the same with Sonys ex-mascot, Crash Bandicoot, in the extremely poor Wrath of Cortex and its successor.

To understand the faults of this game is to understand the team behind it. Travelers Tales is not exactly the Uwe Boll of the game industry, as they show occasional potential and creativity, they just simply aren't trying. TT is more like Paul Andersen (the evil moron behind AvP, Resident Evil, and the upcoming Castlevania flick). Studios with lesser financial backing and unknown properties to work with have down wonders, yet Travelers Tales prefers to just coast along on passable graphics and semi-functional game design. Enter LEGO Star Wars. Not one but TWO household names that would sell a million units even if they were slapped on a package of rotten hamburger. It's likely Travelers felt that their work was pretty much done for them, and decided to slap together something resembling "fun" just for giggles.

LEGO Star Wars II is based on the original trilogy (Star Wars fans may appreciate the irony of the original trilogy actually being sequels to the recently-released and completely offensive new trilogy), in which Luke becomes a Jedi knight, befriends Han Solo and Chewy, and kisses his sister who doesn't own any bras. The game takes considerable freedom with the in-between parts that weren't in the movies, as each episode (the equivalent of a single movie in the trilogy) is now made up of several chapters. These chapters consist of things like Luke and Obi-Wan fighting Sand People on their way to slaughter helpless Jawas in order to save C-3PO and R2-D2. It doesn't really "feel" right, but since this game is mostly aimed at kids its likely they wouldn't even care about such things.

And if you're buying this game for your 3 year old, then its likely a decent decision. But if you're planning on adding an easy 1000 points to your gamerscore, or looking for some authentic Star Wars action, you're in for a bit of disappointment. The game is very simple, offering up the most contrived and basic of puzzles or combat. The graphics are cute, but Travelers Tales cleverly hides their laziness with the supposed LEGO-y simplicity of the models. While that's all fine and good, the simple things like special effects and the details in the "blocks" (such as C-3PO's stomach plate or wrinkles on clothing) are of terribly low quality. Just another reminder that the developers were on autopilot, likely already counting their money…

The games one saving grace WOULD have been coop, but surprise, surprise, there is no Live functionality. Unless you actually know someone who lives near you and would admit to liking Star Wars, let alone LEGO Star Wars, you're in for a very boring game, one that isn't helped at all by its annoying achievements. Some people will not mind lowering their standards for a bit of truly mindless gaming, but with so many amazing games deserving of the "next-gen" label and your hard earned money, its best to sit this trilogy out and let companies like Travelers Tales they need to try harder. ALOT harder…