What could possibly make Star Wars any better, besides erasing all thought of the past prequel trilogy from your mind? How about taking the original trilogy that everyone grew up loving, and transforming those worlds into ones completely created by LEGO pieces. Is the Force strong with this sequel?

THE STORY SO FAR
Please, do I even need to justify this section with a mention? If you aren't familiar with the epic saga, then after reading this review you need to head out to your nearest store and buy the movies and watch them. Mixing George Lucas' love for samurai films with a sci-fi bent, Star Wars is a trilogy about doing what's right, growing up to become who you are meant to be, and overcoming the temptations that threaten to lead us to the dark side.

For those who hold the trilogy dear to their hearts, all the famous moments from each movie are recreated in the game, from battling tusken raiders to your first trip to Mos Eisley to defending Hoth and beyond until the complete trilogy is complete.

GAMEPLAY
Playable as a fully single player or co-op game (with a second player able to jump in and out of game whenever they want), LEGO Star Wars 2 plays exactly like the first game, which should sound great in theory, but isn't so much during execution. There are a couple new changes to gameplay to give it some new tricks, but they typically fail to amaze.

First up, controls work exactly like last time, with only a handful of buttons even being used, which means that even younger children should be able to pickup the game and play it (my nephew is five, and though he struggled a bit, he still was able to control it pretty easily). You've got a jump button, an attack button, a build button/context sensitive button depending on the class of character you are playing as, and that is basically it; no complex combos whatsoever to screw you up.

Though the original game featured some vehicle segments on rails and in confined environments, for the on-foot missions vehicles were missing completely. Here, not only will you get the same on-rail and closed in vehicle segments, but now other vehicles will be scattered out as well, which you'll be able to control whenever you stumble upon them, or in some cases, build them. Snowmobiles, tauntauns, dewbacks, and other fan favorites are available at your disposal. The problem with the vehicles are that they are fairly large compared to the smaller environments, and since they control very loosely, turning like a freight truck on ice, they are ungodly hard to move properly.

When you team with a second player, you share the screen through a bungee cord gameplay mentality, where the two of you must stay rather close to each other, or else you'll be stuck trying to convince the other person to head the way you are going. If you are playing with a friend, it can be a great way to get some laughs as you struggle to screw them over, but when you play with someone you are just trying to get through the game with and they keep impeding your progress by doing their own thing, it becomes extremely frustrating and tiring to keep your cool while they mess around.

While playing each level, beyond simply trying to get to the end, there are several side quest options, such as find all the mini LEGO kits, which will unlock a vehicle after you've found them all for any given level, plus you can unlock True Jedi by gathering enough bolts, which you accomplish by both finding them throughout the environment, and by manipulating it as well; actually, to get True Jedi on any level, you'll have to build everything you see, destroy everything you see, use your Force powers on everything you see, and more. Though that collector mentality kicked in on me at the very beginning of the game, and I played two levels stopping to fiddle with every little thing so I got enough bolts, by the third level I was bored and instead focused on instead blowing through the levels so I could see what I really enjoyed about the game - the cutscenes.

It's odd that I found myself so completely indifferent to the game, as I really enjoyed the first one a bunch. Yes, it was extremely easy, but it was simply too fun exploring the LEGO Star Wars worlds, and seeing some of the fan service Easter Eggs and the hilarious dialog free cutscenes depicting the movies' best moments. All of those same elements are here as well, but there was really no joy to keep playing to see what happened next. As I played, I just kept thinking over and over how I'm playing the exact same game, but with a slightly different coat of paint.

GRAPHICS
Though simplified because the game is built using LEGOs, the game captures exactly what it is trying to do remarkably well. If you love the idea of Star Wars told through LEGOs, the graphics won't disappoint.

SOUND
The music is your traditional Star Wars fare, which works just fine, but the sound effects wear out their welcome rather quick, as you'll be hearing the same blaster effects and other like-minded sounds over and over again. There isn't any voice acting to talk about, as the characters don't speak, but rather do grunts and laughs.

IN CONCLUSION
It isn't so much that LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy is a bad game, but it just feels too much the same and like there wasn't put in any effort to make the game a fresh new experience, but rather the developers settled back on their laurels and put out the exact same game, covering a different set of movies, cause they knew Star Wars fans would eat it up. I thought I'd be ready for seconds myself, but surprisingly I found myself full already after the first game, looking for a new snack to tickle my taste buds. LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy is the equivalent of Jar Jar Binks – yep, perfectly fine in theory, but when carried out, it is a whole different story.

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