Most people at one stage of their life have played a Star Wars game, whether it was starting back long ago with X-Wing or one of those annoying SNES titles... or maybe the ever-popular Jedi Knights or Knights of the Old Republic... perhaps the MMO Star Wars Galaxies or the action packed Battlefront series... You might have even played the Lego Star Wars games and thought they were pretty fun. Well, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is out now and comes with new features and exciting game play for any fan, new or old.

Alas, poor Jar-Jar! I knew him, Qui-Gon.

After having a go at the Lego Star Wars on PC back when it was released, I thought at first it was such a random and weird idea that it never really sat well with me. After stealing a mate's PC and pushing past that idea I found it to be a rather fun and complex game. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Saga was then released and once again I found myself hijacking a friend's PC, pushing past the notion of Lego and Star Wars in the one game and got to playing it. Perhaps because I've played the originals, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga all seemed a little too familiar. Nevertheless, I didn't get to play the older ones as much as I liked, so it eventually seemed fresh and new to me when I threw in this copy for the Wii.

So I decided to begin my adventure back into this weird and wonderful world of space, Lego, Jedis and the well known story we have all come to love. Once you play through the first level of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga it is nice enough to unlock all the episodes for you - so if you have played one of the older games you can skip to other parts you haven't played. I thought I'd give it a go from the start (Episode I) and play through it. It wasn't long into the game I found myself surprised. I began really getting into the game and enjoying it, apart from the occasional force push of R2D2 or having to pause a moment or two while my need to cut Jar-Jar Binks or C3P0 into shreds with my light saber passed. I continued well into the game enjoying the hilarious and interesting cut scenes and fun yet challenging puzzles.

After a while however it slowly sinks in, the puzzle thinking slows down, the bosses seem to just keep running and you find yourself repeating the same things over and over as the game progresses. However they have considered this and once you have completed a level you can play it and bring in the characters of your choice with you. To fully get 100% in this game you will need to finish each level multiple times with different characters to use their specific abilities like Dark Force, Light Force, high jump, grapples, pistols, light sabers and more. While it's sometimes annoying to run past an object you can see but can't get to, it does give the game a good depth and allows you to keep playing and wanting you to keep going for that extra ship piece or missing character from your roster. Seeing as the roster that includes over 162 characters, it is sometimes the case of getting that missing person.

The game play is nice and smooth, however I did notice some lag for the Wii on some of the various levels. There are also various flying missions to split the game play up. However most of these I found more annoying than exciting. One of them I spent the entire time just pressing the fire button, I barely had to move my fighter! Some of the others got more annoying when you missed something and had to go back and forth before finally moving on.

You shall not pass!

The co-op multiplayer is a fantastic addition to the game and makes it more enjoyable throughout - especially on those annoying flying missions, even if your team-mate gets you killed or force you off a cliff. More annoying was your slow friend in the Pod Race - since you both play Anakin, you only go as fast as each other. However while playing we found it friendly to the spectator too. As much fun as it was to play by yourself, just having a few mates around swapping the controller every level was just as good. The enjoyable game play and cut scenes helped this along with the hilarious events in game you can find. Some of these include using Chewbacca's melee attack to rip people's arms off to an unusual pop sound, or finding the top hat machine for stylishness, or using the force to turn a Storm Trooper's head the other way around.

All these little things kept a game that was slowly getting repetitive and boring, fun and interesting. My biggest disappointment in the game was soon to come. While seeing the trailers for this game I thought fantastic I can use my Wiimote as my very own light saber and wield it with my control! I was disappointed to find that that using the Wiimote to control a light saber, the character on-screen just used it normally, as if I was just pressing 'A'. In fact it gave me even less control and I usually ended up taking an ally's head off (unless it was Jar-Jar I rarely liked this fact as I probably needed them for a puzzle in a second). It was a lot easier to just press a button, and I found myself giving up on my dream of wielding a Wiimote light saber and slowly progressed through the game without ever flicking it again. Apart from this, the controls were fine and simple; once you got the hang of them you could run around as any character without hassle.

The only other downside I found to this game was when in one of the end chapters of an episode I found myself stuck. I was on about my 90th attempt as getting through this one little bit after spending a good 20 minutes trying to work out any way possible! I had to go look at a walkthrough (yes I'll admit I was desperate!) to find a stupid little button we were meant to stand on that was hidden within the wall. Luckily these moments were few and far between and I found slashing up the scenery, the barrels and the many, many, MANY planets helped me through these frustrating times.

Once the game is completed there are still things you can do, even if you go through and get 100% on everything (I envy your free time if you have achieved this). The Battle Arena mode provided even more fun and entertainment for fighting your friends with the characters you have unlocked. Even more came with the bounty hunter missions and the bonus flying missions. However with my past experience of the flying missions, I stayed away from those.


When it was all said and done and a marathon session (and I mean marathon) of the game came to a close, I found something missing, I even found myself dreaming about this game. It was fun, there were heaps to achieve without the need to get too boring and so many little things that I found each time I played it. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga although annoying, repetitive, and downright frustrating at times, went back to the basic elements of gaming. Simple, fun and almost anyone can pick it up and get into it. Whether it is something simple for the kids or just because you're an avid fan; unless you have played the older Lego Star Wars games to death, you will enjoy this game.