Section: Mac Software, Games, Reviews
Category: Adventure/puzzle
Developer: Lucasarts
Mac Publisher:: Feral Interactive
System Requirements: Intel-based Mac, OS X v10.5.8 , 1.8GHz Intel processor, 1.0GB RAM, 5GB Hard disk space, graphics card with 128MB RAM (ATI X1xxx series, NVIDIA 7xxx series and Intel GMA series not supported), DVD drive
Review Computer: 2.2GHz 13? Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM and Mac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $40
Availability: Out now
Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga is a fun series of games for both kids and adults. A faithful homage and gentle parody of the beloved film trilogy (and despised/grudgingly tolerated prequels), the game allows one or two players to make their way through Lego representations of famous scenes, blasting and building their way through enemies and puzzles. But he game does have one serious problem that crops up; it’s a console game, and the controls always reflect that.
For those who have never played one of the winning Lego movie games, the kid-friendly reenactments and good-natured humor will bring a smile to your face. Characters will fight and die, but the Lego minifigs (miniature figurines, you see) that play them simply pop apart into their component pieces before regenerating. Combat is, as in the films, a big part of the story, whether you’re blasting your way through Stormtroopers on the Death Star, or using magnetic tow cables to lasso AT-ATs on Hoth.
But it’s not all shoot-em-ups. To get from area to area, you’ll routinely have to solve puzzles. Some involve finding the right kind of character to open a door (Droids like C3-PO or R2-D2), or disguising yourself with the right headgear at a hat machine. one of my favorite bits is that while Luke and Han make convincing Stormtroopers, if Chewbacca tries to disguise himself, the helmet rests crookedly atop his furry head…but that’s good enough to fool the door camera.
Other puzzles involve “building” from piles of Lego blocks lying on the ground. There’s no real skill involved, though; you just have the character run up to them and hit the action key, and the blocks will fly into the appropriate shape. Beyond that, there are some real puzzles that involve pushing blocks into the right spot, or discovering where different parts of the puzzle are hidden.
There’s also an added level of exploration. As I mentioned, only certain characters can open some doors, but different characters have different abilities, as well. Jedi can use The Force to move objects around that are immovable for others. “Blaster” characters can use a grappling hook in certain areas. R2-D2 has an extended “jump” power that allows him to traverse wide gaps.
Once you’ve completed the first chapter of the game—“Negotiations” from The Phantom Menace—all six movies are unlocked, though once you pick a movie, you have to play its individual chapters in order. But! Once you complete a chapter (“Story” mode) with the required characters, you can go back and play it in Free Play mode, using any of the characters you’ve unlocked, exploring new areas or just enjoying the incongruity of Boba Fett rescuing Princess Leia.
The game is scored by collecting Lego blocks; not the ones used to solve puzzles, but the ones that burst forth from objects that you blast, slash, or activate. Collect enough, and you can buy locked characters. Die, and you lose blocks.
The whole thing has a terrific, playful sense of fun, putting you in the action from famous scenes as well as new ones, like Luke and Obi-Wan fighting their way through a Jawa Sandcrawler, looking for their kidnapped Droids.
The only problem is that as a game that originated on consoles, the controls don’t quite gel with a keyboard. You use the standard WASD to move and UHJK for actions—but that’s for Player 1. If a second player wants to try the keyboard, they’re stuck with the arrow keys and brackets, making for a tighter fit. Also, the camera will move dynamically during the game: characters will start off moving “down,” only to have it switch to “right,” because the character’s motion is determined relative to the POV of the player. More than once I had Luke run off a bridge because of this. Of course, you could get around this by using a game pad with your Mac, but if you have a game pad, you probably have a console as well.
The makers of Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga, put a lot of love into the game. The levels are well-designed, and while the puzzles are never too difficult, they can sometimes take a bit of figuring as to the right order in which to do everything. This is one of those games where I can picture an adult who grew up with the Trilogy and a kid who’s just learning to love them playing it together for hours on end, working together and exploring their world again and again. Just make sure you have a couple of USB game pads.
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Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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