Lego Star Wars, 360's Answer to Ratchet & Clank

On 03/18/2013 at 03:11 AM by KnightDriver

This picture is of Obi-Wan on Kamino in Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga which I started today. I'm amazed at the way Traveler's Tales was able to capture the feeling of Star Wars in the cut scenes even though everything is rendered in legos. The gameplay is fun, if simple, with lots of replay value if you want to unlock all the various things you can find on each level. You have to use different characters that have different skills to find everything.

The great thing about The Complete Saga, which is noticably absent from all other lego games except for Lego Indiana Jones 2, is online co-op. Now I know most people play couch co-op with the lego series, usually a parent with a child or whatever, but I like playing with a friend in the room but on seperate screens and systems. My buddy and I have played co-op this way since we linked up P75's to play Doom, and I have no interest in doing it any different. It's just cooler to chat and cooperate with someone actually there in the room with you and not over headsets. I find it kinda unbearably lonely to just play online while I sit at home by myself, and I also find it kinda of intimidating to communicate strickly through speach. I'm not a comfortable talker and avoid talking on my cell phone for the most part as well. Hey, but that's just me. Do as you wish in this strange internet world we've created.

So, I'm going to get a second copy of this game for my friend so we can do the free play levels and find everything in the game. There are a few spots where two real people are necessary to find things because the AI just wont stay put while you are force moving a platform.

Another instance of how Traveler's Tales just nailed the feel of Star Wars is the combat. I only just started getting used to blocking blaster shots with my light saber, but if you do it just right, it sends the blaster shot right back to the shooter. As you do this and slowly advance on the enemy, I noticed that this is just how the combat works between the enemies and Jedi in the movie. The Jedi block blaster fire as they approach, sending the shots back to the sender, and then when the Jedi get close, they strike the enemies directly. When I got the hang of this, I really felt like I was using the strategy of the Jedi in the movie. Cool!

Also, in having to pick up so many studs in the game and the way they burst out of just about anything you force push or destroy, I kept thinking of Ratchet & Clank and all the bolts. And when I thought about it more, the two games are quite similar in lots of ways: the platforming, the puzzles, the space adventures... Lego Star Wars may be the 360's answer to Ratchet & Clank.

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

03/18/2013 at 11:08 AM

I normally played couch co-op, but your plan sounds pretty cool. It's been a while since I've played any of the LEGO games, but I think it would be hard to go back to Star Wars after they improved the co-op so much with Indiana Jones 2. The co-op should still work just fine for your same-room network play, though.

KnightDriver

03/18/2013 at 06:26 PM

It works ok. You are closely tied to the other player so you can't stray too far from each other. It's a little annoying but not game breaking.

03/18/2013 at 11:10 PM

Oh, ok so you don't get to go off on your own but still share a screen's worth of the level? Interesting.

03/19/2013 at 12:27 AM

Yea. At times the camera is just in too tight as two people attempt to roam a level. There was this running section through a collapsing corridor where lava brakes the ground beneath you in Episode III that almost had us quiting out because neither of us could see in front of our feet. We finally made it through when one of us hung back a little bit to bring the camera out just enough to navigate the holes in the floor. They should've had a camera that pans out as two people move in opposite directions, but I guess that puts a strain on processing. Or maybe it's just a minor flaw in the design.

Aboboisdaman

03/18/2013 at 12:10 PM

Setups like that are so much fun. We used to hook our pcs up together and play Warcraft 3, Doom and Quake 3 in LAN parties. I miss those days.

03/18/2013 at 06:28 PM

What I'm doing now is basically a LAN but using the internet as the network to connect to. It's good to not have to worry about server settings and all that. What a headache that was.

smartcelt

03/18/2013 at 08:40 PM

What could be better than Lego and Star Wars together? It was a stroke of genius. The more Lego video games I try,the more I love them. Funny and always interesting. I am just like you when it comes to online speech interaction with strangers. I don't care for it much. Only like it with a few people I have known for many years. My son and I do a lot of in-room co-op playing. That is very fun and helps us bond,too.

03/19/2013 at 12:15 AM

I find pure voice chat to be uncomfortably intimate even with people I know well. I haven't used my 360 headset more than once or twice ever.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/19/2013 at 04:00 AM

I never did LAN, but I do miss four player splitscreen gaming. Haven't done that in a while.

Interesting comparison to R&C.

03/19/2013 at 04:19 PM

When Halo 1 came out, it was all split screen co-op, Silent Cartographer through Assault on the Control Room, every weekend. I actually got a bigger TV just to increase the screen space for this game. Then I got a second TV for the gaming lair at my friend's place to do system link games. Thing is, you couldn't do co-op through system link (LAN) in Halo 1, just multiplayer. I used system link for Brute Force, the so called Halo killer at the time. It was no Halo killer, that's for sure, but it was neat to play co-op on seperate screens. Then internet came along and multiscreen co-op is a regular thing for me as many games have online co-op. It's my favorite game mode.

PixlBit