This is surprisingly one HELL of a great little game! It's easy enough for kids but never dull and so remarkably well put together.
Essentially the game features several chapters for each of the three prequel movies using Dexter's Diner as the central hub. It can be played with one or two players and players can enter and leave the game at will (when they enter they take on the role of a friendly and when they leave that friendly goes back to computer control). This freedom means that the game is perfect to played with your kids. My son and I play and I'll stop for a few minutes to do something or he will. Sometimes he likes to watch until something interesting comes up and then he'll jump in. You begin playing as Jedi, but can switch to any friendly character immediately in the story missions. This is often needed: droids are required to open many doors, Jar Jar can jump higher than anybody else, Jedi can use force powers, etc. Cooperative play makes many of the level easier but they are all easily beatable solo as well. Most levels feature many secret rooms and alternative paths. Playing as a Jedi will open certain ways forward while playing as Padme will open others in the same very well designed space. After you beat a level you can spend "studs" (the game's collectable currency) to buy the right to play any of the characters appearing (including bad guys). You can then enter any of the levels again in "freeplay" mode where you can instantly change to any of the characters you've purchased. You can constantly change the way you play in freeplay mode: when you're a droid in the droid army or Darth Maul Naboo soldiers will attack you, switch to a Naboo soldier and then droids have a beef with you. There are many areas in the levels you can only reach by returning to them with a new character (and their unique ability). The game looks great: every single object in the game could be built with actual legos. Jedi force powers rearrange or move blocks and droids (and you) explode into the same pieces you've bought at the store (most of the models used are exactly same as the consumer sets). Character death in the story missions means a loss of some of the your collected studs but nothing else. You respawn exactly where you are with no loss of progress. There are some vehicle missions which may require some replay. For example the pod race is split into three laps of three sections: fail to come in first in any section and you must replay that section. This is also one of the few places where the two player model bombs since both players are on the same plane when racing (meaning that you'll constantly smack into your playmate) and both are forced to restart the section if either screws up. I suggest you play those sections solo to reduce frustration. The only other negative I have is that the game is really quite short. You can run roughshod through the story missions in less than four hours. It may take you another four to collect all the "miniset" pieces and other extras. But the freeplay mode's character switching and open-ended, two-player play is interesting enough to keep kids coming back to it for a long time. This really is the best parent/child game I've seen in a very long time. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase Homesite Plus with Dreamweaver from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=55 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:157676 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
