this is what Star Wars+Lego looks like
I’ve got both games for XBox, and they’ve kept my kids and I, OK, sometimes just I, occupied for hours. OK, I alot. Mostly I, actually.
OK, the kids are not allowed to touch MY Star Wars Lego games unless daddy says so. And then, only maybe. It depends.
Both games are fun and really good-hearted though, with enough to keep an adult interested, and chuckling to oneself regularly.
So, I popped in my Lego Star Wars Universe into my Xbox 360 last night not knowing what to expect. I was immediately surprised that there wasn’t a tutorial, you are basicially thrown right into the game. Against my better judgement I decided if I am going to do this I am going to go in numerical (not Lucas) order and start with Phantom Menace.
The controls are fairly straightforward, but I have a hard time believing that this is a kiddie game as there are some fairly intricate things you need to do. In the end I give this a thumbs up after completing the first scene. I am finding it strangely endearing and enjoyable. Once I figured out I didn’t have to manipulate every force flagged object to get more and more lego pieces and I could concentrate on getting the job done the game started flying.
Any tips for a relative newbie?
I second this. Try playing the PC version. I tried for a 1/2 hour to figure out how to do stuff and I got annoyed and stopped and went back to Mass Effect and blew some stuff up. 
That makes it sound like sex isn’t a good thing??
Anyway, I’ve played both Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones and even though they’re fun and I like the kind of satirical take on the original material, they both lost their appeal very quickly. The gameplay feels like one of those old jump’n’run games (Commander Keen, anyone?) in an arcade mode. There’s just not enough of a challenge for me.
Yay! I’m glad you’re trying it out, LEGO Star Wars is perhaps my favorite game evah.
I don’t know about tips, but I like playing it straight through and then going back and playing through freeplay. I’m also somewhat obsessive about collecting the LEGO pieces (habit I guess) so I can buy all the extra characters (it’s fun to play as Anakin’s Ghost, lol!). There are a bunch of little jokes strewn about that are fun. So yeah, no tips, just run with it an enjoy it. And be prepared to share with lil’ Solai when she’s a bit bigger!
We must have very different tastes in games, as I can play, and re-play, and re-play LEGO and love it just as much.
I think this is part of what I find endearing. It reminds me of games from my childhood.
Thanks Cas!
What is the purpose of re-play? I played for an hour on the first scene, so I assume I can walk through again and try and unlock a few doors I didn’t get to/didn’t have access to?
And I can buy other characters? Wha?
Yeah, with the LEGO pieces you can buy characters that you can’t get access to just by playing through. It’s in the Cantina (I assume the set-up for XBOX is the same as PS2 or Wii, but I don’t know, it might not be), where it tells you what percentage of the game you’ve completed.
When you re-play, you can switch to different characters, each class of which can do certain things. There are some places that only jar jar can jump, or you need a sith to force certain things, or only a bounty hunter can enter, etc. If you have the characters unlocked and purchased, you can get to different areas and whatnot with them. Replaying through the story can be kind of hard for me since I forget that I don’t have all the characters and abilities at my disposal 
When you buy a new character do you always have access to it, like a new coat in the closet? Meaning, I drop X gold to get Jar Jar and use him. When I am done do I get to swap him out for someone else and then go back to him later?
Sorry to be such a n00b.
If you haven’t sauntered with Leia yet, do so immediately. Just push the analog forward only a wee bit. Watch and enjoy.
My daughter loves that. It cracks me up. She’ll only play as the female characters. She plays Jabba’s Palace over and over just so Slave Leia can kick arse. She’ll punch a Gamorrean guard and then saunter, punch another and repeat. Hilarious.
If you own a 360 and haven’t picked this game up yet, it will be available as one of the games on demand through XBox Live once the new live update comes out next week. On a side note the update is pretty sweet simply for the avatar store alone and the other updates are pretty nice as well.
Any tips for a relative newbie?
Play it on co-op with a buddy, its way more fun that way, and easier.
For each class of character (‘good’ Jedi, ‘bad’ Jedi, bounty hunter, storm trooper, smaller person, etc), you get at least one when playing in freeplay, and you can toggle between the different characters (they aren’t all there at the same time like a huge gang walking around, you go from being for example Shaak Ti to droid to stormtrooper to Darth Maul to Leia to Padme etc etc) so you have all of the different skills available to you. However, you only get to choose one (or 2, if you’re playing 2 player) and the system fills the rest of the slots in. So you’ll always have the skills available, but if you want Han instead of Captain Panaka, unless you choose Han as your player you have no control over it.
ps no problem! I love LEGO and it’s one of the few games I feel competent to talk about lol
It seems that the strategy should be to get through the levels as fast as possible in order to replay it with the whole cast of characters as you will never have all the right people to get into specific sections. Yes?
You got it. To get the really fun characters you have to build up some cash, though.
So there are characters you get by virtue of getting to a certain level and their are additional characters you only can get by purchase? Who is a favorite purchase and why?
Well my little brother likes the Jedi ghosts (especially Yoda) because they’re invisible and nobody attacks them. I frown upon that. I mean, what’s the point?
There are a lot of FAQs online. Some walkthroughs, too, if you don’t like figuring things out for yourself.
Lego Star Wars II is way better than LSW, IMHO. It’s got some great beat-the-clock action.
Hm. Yes, definitely different tastes.
As for Solai’s question - I think the only way you can get Sith characters is by buying them. I’m also a fan of the ghosts (the idea is just fun), and of some of the Jedi characters (seriously, <3 Shaak Ti).