Hands-On Preview: Han shoots first! Han shoots first!
The crawl that opens every Star Wars movie sets the stage for everything that will happen next while detailing everything that happened after the credits of the previous movie rolled. So here's the crawl for Lego Star Wars II:
After creating one of, if not the most popular Star Wars games ever, Travellers Tales did the next logical thing: they made a sequel. They promised that The Original Trilogy would offer more than the first game while still retaining the pure joy that game made many players feel. It is here that we travel down to a small desert planet to see if their claims are accurate...
Episode IV, Chapter 3 of the game sets Obi-Wan, Luke, R2 and C3PO down at the Mos Eisley Spaceport looking for a pilot to take them to Alderaan. You'll see Obi-Wan tell the Stormtroopers "These arent the droids you're looking for", an angry barfly lose his hand to the wrong end of a Lightsaber, Han shooting first, the escape in the Millennium Falcon and the destruction of Alderaan.
And in between all of these iconic moments (played out in that humorous Lego bent), you'll play a game that is very similar to its predecessor while still bringing more to the table. Hmm, I guess Travellers Tales was telling the truth.
Fighting works exactly the same as it did in the first game. Square swings your Lightsaber/shoots your blaster, Triangle switches characters and Circle uses "The Force" or another special move. Although I guess fighting has been gussied up a little as getting in close with a group of Stormtroopers will cause some characters to pull out the melee attacks. That's right, Luke slaps a Stormtroopers helmet off while Chewbacca rips both of their arms out ("Let the Wookiee win" is sound advice). Oh, and "dying" is once again off the table and the only penalty is in the form of a few scattered "studs" (LSW2's currency for unlockables), which are easily recovered anyway.
With a lack of Jedis in the original trilogy, Travellers Tales had to do something to make the "Force" button a little more active in LSW2. Now, whenever a human character walks up to a pile of disjointed Lego bricks, they can rearrange them into something that might be needed. This new bit of gameplay comes into use early in the demo as one of the puzzles requires players to use a combination of Lego building skills and The Force to build an AT-ST and then use it to destroy a wall. This leads into another of LSW2's new features: vehicles.
Using Triangle, players can jump in and out of any vehicle they see and then pilot it around. In the demo this only applied to the AT-ST and Luke's speeder, but the full game will have a ton of vehicles. The vehicle control feels very natural and, while it was rather limited in the demo, should bring a nice change of pace to the action at times. In addition to vehicles, the demo was rounded out with small side quests like digging up giant vegetables and trying to bullseye womp rats in a T-16.
Completing the demo chapter unlocked that Lego Star Wars staple, Free Play and one of LSW2's biggest bonuses: the character creation tool. It seems to work well enough (and that "Random" button is a hoot!), but having to cycle through each available for each available body part that can be changed is annoying. It would have been much easier to select a body part and then be given a list of available pieces so you know exactly what's out there to pick.
While the Free Play option felt fairly useless in the first LSW, it's been made more important in the sequel. Now, bringing unlocked characters into Free Play will open secret areas in a level as there are many doors that require a key from a Stormtrooper or a Bounty Hunter. These bonus areas are often filled with studs which can be used to unlock more characters which can be used to unlock more bonus areas. The circle of life is complete! And not only that, but the Emperor's Force Lightning move is serious fun!
If you've played Lego Star Wars at all, you're very aware of what LSW2 will look and sound like. Authentic Star Wars sounds and music all draped over a Lego-ized vision of The Original Trilogy. It looks great and while the sandy tans and browns of Tatooine may not be the best showcase for this art style, it gets the job done.
Xbox 360 | XBLA
PS3 | PSN
Wii | VC
DS
PSP
iPhone
PS2
PC
Retro
