The Entire Star Wars Saga - Block By Block

By Thomas Machuca

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away… blah, blah, blah.

Let’s just cut to the chase. This game is a piece of galactic history, so if you can, try to treat it like a short-tempered Wookie – express your admiration and offer lots of praise.

It may be based around LEGO, but this is Star Wars through and through. And it's very good. With great controls, a brilliant story and heaps of variety, this game is not to be missed, believe me.

For the first time since, well - ever - you can play through the entire Star Wars saga in one, single, pants wettingly cool adventure. 

It’s like joining the Jedi council – sort of a big deal, you know.

That’s six episodes of Jedi mind tricks, extreme pod racing, hanging out with Ewoks on Endor, and exploding the Death Star for the bazillionth time.

Truly, this is one of the coolest games to hit the consoles in some time, with such an wide array of different gameplay types. 

One level you'll be deflecting blaster bolts with your lightsabre and stringing together (basic) combos, the next you'll be controlling a space craft as you attack an enemy installation.

Plus you’ll run into lots of old pals – Chewbacca, R2-D2, Luke, Leia; memorable enemies too, like Darth Maul, General Grievous, and a very angry Darth Vader. 

There are even a few new friends here – Jedi Asyla Secura and bounty hunter Zam Wesell.

If you fall into pieces along the way, you can just restart – which the rebels certainly wish they could have done when they were struggling to defeat the Empire for real.

Firstly, if you haven’t figured it out already, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is the combination of the two previous LEGO Star Wars games; LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. 

The game plays much the same as its predecessors and has all the same features, so check out the review for the previous title here if you want a more in-depth review of the gameplay.

There's lots of humour and a few twists in the way the events unfold, which makes playing through the game and watching the cut-scenes quite enjoyable even for hardened Star Wars nerds as there's always something new to see.

But first, I personally want to tell you about the new aspects and changes in the LEGO galaxy that this all-in-one mega pack offers.

The developer, Travelers Tales, smartly chose to expand the Mos Eisley Cantina lobby system that both LEGO Star Wars games used, thereby creating one solid game as opposed to as if they had left you with the choice as to which game you wanted to play from the start screen.

From Mos Eisley, there are plenty of options, but for most the next step would be to get straight into the action and play the game’s lengthy story mode. 

Once you have completed the first level, you unlock every other level in the game. So after hitching a ride down to the planet of Naboo, you can ride a tauntaun on the icy planet of Hoth if you so desire to. Very cool.

All up there are six episodes with six levels each to play through, giving you a grand total of 36 levels just in the story mode. 

In addition to this there are additional levels and ten new bounty hunter missions. 

The story mode alone should take you ten to twelve hours to complete which is quite a good length especially when you take into account the replayablity of the game.

A couple of those additional levels I mentioned earlier are the original levels of the Mos Espa Podrace and Gunship Calvary. These are additional levels because those two levels have been revamped for the story mode to meet the gameplay evolutions of LEGO Star Wars II. 

And it wouldn’t be complete if they didn’t allow you to play the levels from the original first game now would it?

The story mode is not completely the same; there are all-new levels like Anakin Skywalker's never-before-played high-speed pursuit of bounty hunter Zam Wessell which took place in Episode II. Plus those revamped vehicle levels that were just previously touched on before.

There is also a new challenge mode where you can compete against friends to kill the most enemies first. It gets a bit boring after a while, yet it is still a nice new feature that some will enjoy.

If you read my review of the last game you would remember me saying that the only downside to that game was the fact that it did not allow online co-op. 

Well, my prayers were answered and now there is online two-player co-op... Oh yeah! Now friends or family from anywhere in the world can simply jump in and out at any time in your game and enjoy the magic with you.

I didn’t want to mention it because so far it’s been all good but sometimes the online game pauses to sync both players. This usually happens when changing rooms and it’s not really distracting from the game, but it had to be mentioned none the less.

Also on the bad side (or should I say ‘dark’ side), the camera still hasn't been fixed. It has been improved, but there are still plenty of times when the camera gets in your way to the point of frustration. 

In short, the camera is overly restrictive and unforgiving. Now back to being a fanboy…

Creating your two strangers in the LEGO universe has also been improved now with an upgraded character customizer which includes all prequel trilogy characters for the first time. 

Now there are millions of combinations to make your own unique character to play with.

Thought there were enough characters already? Travelers Tales didn’t seem to think so. With new, additional playable characters like Watto, Zam Wessell, Boss Nass, Aayla Secura and more, the impressive total count is over 160 characters (we’re spoiled for choice).

To top it all off there are more secrets to discover, new and enhanced force powers, more LEGO building elements, more vehicles to pilot, and new power ups.

All the fantastic cut-scenes are back and you can even watch a trailer for the new LEGO Indiana Jones game which I am already very excited about (you’ll also receive a special bonus if you do… ok, I’ll tell you, enough with the pressure, you get to play as Dr. Jones!).

Seeing as this game is now on the beef-cake Playstation 3, everything is HD-quality with new high-resolution LEGO models and characters, along with new environment graphics and special effects. The authentic plastic sheen on the LEGO bricks adds that final touch as well.

Although it’s not a new element to the game, the original John Williams soundtrack just had to be mentioned again because it’s so memorable and it adds to the authenticity of the game.

Lastly, for those who have played the previous titles this may not be the wisest investment as you have pretty much played the bulk of what this game has to offer. 

Besides that, I’m getting back to swinging lightsabers, firing blasters, piloting ships, and using the force… I’m going to 100% this bad boy!

I reckon most gamers will get a lot of enjoyment out of this game, which is superb fun in the co-op mode. I think you'll enjoy the game as much as I have and it’s definitely worth at least a hire, if not a purchase. Simply put, this is champagne videogaming.

Game: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
System: PS3
Players: 1-2
Online: Yes
Developer: LucasArts
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)