LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

The Force is strong in this Lego adventure.

The original Lego Star Wars, released back in 2005, gave rise to the Lego video game phenomenon and helped to revitalise the entire Lego brand. Its follow up, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, was released a year later and hoped to build upon that enormous success, improving various gameplay, story and visual elements.

Unlike its predecessor, which focused on the prequel trilogy of Star Wars films, Lego Star Wars II is based around the more widely appreciated original trilogy, giving players control of Luke Skywalker and co. So does the game live up to its source material and surpass the first Lego Star Wars game?

Return of the Jedi

Those who played the original Lego Star Wars video game will find its sequel's core gameplay very easy to get to grips with, as it is largely unchanged. Once again, it combines action and strategy elements, allowing players to battle Stormtroopers and Bounty Hunters in between solving puzzles in order to advance.

As with the original game, players are able to control multiple characters, switching between them. Multi-player gameplay is supported, with a second player able to drop in and out as they wish, and the cast of familiar characters includes Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, R2-D2, C-3PO and many more.

Improvements are made to the visual presentation, with level design far better than the original game. Iconic moments from the original trilogy are also brilliantly recreated in Lego form, with great humour along the way.

Family-Friendly Fun

One of the big plus points of the original game was its universal appeal, and that aspect has been retained. The game's puzzles have been designed for children to be able to solve them, which may make them a little easy for some players, but the gameplay is far too much fun for this to be considered a major problem.

Improvements to camera panning successfully enhance multi-player mode, allowing the two players to move much further away from each other. It should be noted that the game is not completely without flaws and there are occasional visual glitches in the PC version, but this is not a common issue and won't ruin the enjoyment.

Overall, Lego Star Wars II retains everything people loved about its predecessor, improves some of the problems and has the benefit of far better source material. These elements all combine to create a truly fantastic sequel.

Pros

• Excellent recreation of characters and iconic moments from the films
• Great level design, which improves upon its predecessor
• Will appeal to adults and children alike
• Focus on the original Star Wars trilogy will please fans

Cons

• May be a little too easy for experienced gamers
• Suffers from occasional visual glitches