"Star Wars II: Lego" a hit

You could play Star Wars II Lego: the Original Trilogy. Piece by piece.

That’s the idea when it comes to two household brand names clashing into each other to create a hybrid of super franchises. Lego takes on Star Wars and vise versa. You get the idea.

They’re turning back the clock to yesteryear as a fever of nostalgia runs amok. You’re bombarded by favorite childhood moments of a movie that once changed film industry through a monumental effort of upgrading special effects and a massive classical score. You’ll be able to see, yes, Han blasting Greedo, the first lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and his former student Darth Vader, and the giant, striking orb of the Death Star plowing through a planet’s dead remains.

You can even see Admiral Ackbar doing his rendition of his famous line, “It’s a trap!”

The game works.

There’s a kind of charm to it that’s undeniable. You can’t help but blush with an awkwardness about how the game runs through your favorite films starting from the New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and finally the last moments of Return of the Jedi. You can’t help but keep smiling.

It’s blissful heaven in a galaxy, far, far away.

It’s like being on a first date. You call in love with the game right away.

The surprising thing? The game is well made. The tons of work can be seen through every detail of the graphics—crisp, smooth, almost unearthly in its ease. You have to remind yourself that you’re in lego-land populated with your favorite Star Wars characters. Some of the film clip scenes in between the game portions turn out to be very clever stuff. You find that the game-makers of this have taken liberty in poking fun at the movies.

You’ll find some scenes don’t always happen like in the movies. But it’s still good fun. The best feature, I think, is the co-op game playing where you can play alongside your friend. Both of you can plow through the game and continue to collect enough points to buy different characters. You can drop in or out of the game. Which makes it convenient for us when we need to eat lunch or do the laundry. If you're feeling evil, backstab your friend in the game.

There are some interesting additions to the game this time around. If you played and successfully beat the first Star Wars games, concerning the prequels, you can use an “old save” which will include playable characters from the Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. You’ll be able to add even more characters to the current games.

You can also mix and create your own characters, using different parts from each and every character. It’s just like lego, really. Always putting together the pieces. I’m not overly fond of this feature, but some people might get a kick out of it. You could create a strange breed of characters just by doing this.

The game's a massive hit. The Target Store ran out of copies on the release date last Tuesday. I had to get my copy from a Target store in Appleton.

There might be some glitches in the game. I’ve gotten a couple of glitches while playing through the first Star Wars segment and it can get annoying. Never fear. I turned off the X-Box and everything turned out just fine after jumpstarting it. So I suggest shutting the system down before taking the game back to the stores.

The game will be much harder now. You’ll have to put more effort into collecting the credits in the game.

Plus you’ll find yourself spending hours upon hours going through the Star Wars game like a human wrecking ball. It’s highly recommended. And it’ll keep you off the streets.