Reposted from my site:
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Lord, not another Lego game! Talk about a stagnating franchises!" Hear me out, here. When Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars was announced, I too met it with skepticism. The last game, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga was a good game, if a little dated. My fear was that Lego Star Wars III was going to be like Lego Indiana Jones 2, with Traveler's Tales essentially re-releasing the first game with a couple new levels and the narrative for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It wasn't until I played the demo that I found myself intrigued. Lego Star Wars III
is not be based on the prequels, but instead on the animated cartoon
airing on Cartoon Network. It sounded like a fresh idea and, better yet,
it meant that I didn't have to play another Hoth level.
After
spending a significant amount of time with the game, I can say that I'm
incredibly impressed with it. Everything about the game, from the
mechanics to the in-game visuals is a significant leap from any other
Lego game Traveler's Tales has ever developed. L ego Star Wars III truly feels like a "next-gen" Lego title and it makes me think that if Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga looked and played as good as this does, it could be incredible.
Instead of playing through sequences from the Star Wars prequels, each level is designed after an episode from seasons one and two of The Clone Wars.
If you've watched the show, levels will be immediately familiar, but
it's approachable to those who haven't. The game is broken up into two
campaigns and after the Prologue, you are given the option to chase
after Asajj Ventress or General Grievous. As with previous Lego Star Wars
games, you can move between campaigns at any time and there's no
pressure to complete an entire campaign before tackling the other. Once
you have played through a level's story mode, you'll unlock free mode,
which lets you play through the level with any character which is
useful in collecting hidden items and hard to reach studs. Nothing new
here, really. In between levels, you'll hang out in the game's hub
world, a Republic Assault ship. Unlike the Mos Eisley cantina or Dex's
Diner on Coruscant, you don't have access to the entire ship at the
start. Exploration is earned by collecting a number of gold Lego bricks
(gained by finishing levels and completing minikits). Collect enough
blocks and you'll access areas and game features, such as the Build
Your Hero customizable minifig room.
Let's talk about why The Clone Wars is the perfect Star Wars property for this type of Lego game. With Complete Saga,
Traveler's Tales had to design a series of levels based on the high
points of each Star Wars movie. Often times, it felt as if a few
sequences had to be padded out a bit because there just wasn't enough
"game" to them. With The Clones Wars,
they had about twenty four different standalone episodes and story
arcs to work with. Now that I think about it, the length of an average
level is almost as long as an episode from the show. I can't properly
express it in words, but it all just feels "right."
Technically speaking, Lego Star Wars III
is amazing. You're no longer confined to fighting small groups of
enemies in mostly tight corridors. Many levels are big and expansive and
because the game is centered around the largest galactic conflict
since the fall of the Old Republic, you'll get to participate in some
fun, large scale battles. The Geonosis prologue is a perfect example.
When the Clone army arrives, chaos reigns as thirty to forty enemies
and NPCs fill the screen at once, all trying to kill each other. One
might expect frame rate issues with these larger battles, but
Traveler's Tales built the game on a much beefier engine and everything
runs very smoothly. Having so many enemies on screen does come with a
caveat: it makes certain parts of the game noticeably more difficult,
especially if you're trying to gain a True Jedi status. Blaster fire
comes fast and furious and if you're not paying attention, you'll find
yourself dying/losing studs quite a bit. Item collection seems
significantly trickier as minifig pieces harder to spot. The only other
issue I experienced was that certain puzzle solutions are not readily
apparent in a few places. However, these are small, niggling issues in
the grand scheme of things.
Graphically, the game is gorgeous and
takes full advantage of the current gen machines. The game features a
mixture of visual aesthetics, as a large number of in-game models and
locations are rendered very much like the show while playable characters
and environmental objects are rendered in Lego pieces. This proved to
be a little jarring at first (looking at an Acklay with Lego legs
grafted onto an organic body seemed strange at first), but I quickly got
over it - especially since this isn't something new. Perhaps it is just
more noticeable? Something needs to be said for the animations of the
in-game characters. Movements are smoother, flashier and feel as if a
significant amount of time was spent making these toys emote. It all
just looks great.
One of
my favorite little details in the game is the ability to switch
between two sets of characters. The constant switching back and forth
between heroes is a part of Star Wars you never really see in most games
based on the franchise. Almost every Star Wars film has a sequence in
which the group of heroes get separated and have to fight their own
battles. For certain levels, the game will prompt you to hold down the Y
button in order to switch. When this happens, a small circular viewer
will show up in the top right hand corner of the screen, showing the
other two heroes (controlled by AI) fighting off enemies in real time.
Holding down Y for a few seconds will initiate a Star Wars-style
transition wipe to the second set of heroes who are then placed under
your control. It's a really cool effect.
The game pulls the
television show's soundtrack for the in-game music, which is nice
considering that I don't have to hear the same recycled John Williams
pieces over and over (although the game still uses the Podrace Victory
music for the end level stat screen). Traveler's Tales brought in
nearly all the major voice actors/actresses from the show to do in-game
voices, which is a strange move because there is no dialog just a
series of grunts, laughter, wailing, and other non-verbal noises. I
guess these guys and gals must be under contract to be available for
anything related to Star Wars?
If there is anything to take away from all this, its that the game is good. It hardly feels like a lazy cash-in as Lego Star Wars III
has made significant and meaningful improvements in every department,
blowing previous Lego titles out of the water. It's made me excited
about Lego-based video games again after experiencing a slump between Complete Saga and Lego Harry Potter. Both fans of Star Wars and Lego games should make an effort to play this title. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
