So, naturally, he and his development team set out to recreate the entire Star Wars universe with virtual versions of those venerable building blocks. While you could try to do the same with the LEGO Star Wars sets available in toy stores, you’d probably spend quite a bit more than the cost of this game. Say, a hundred or a thousand times more.

“We were convinced that there were qualities in the LEGO experience which would translate into exciting game features,” Smith elaborates. “And of course we all knew, loved and played with LEGO Star Wars. It would obviously be the perfect universe for us to play in.”

No Sabers, No Sabers! Turn Dexter Jettster’s diner into a Jedi battleground.

Explore Levels, Gain Characters and Vehicles

Now you can play in that universe too, exploring 17 levels of action drawn directly from the three Star Wars prequels: “The Phantom Menace”, “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith”. A bonus level features a scene from the original film (now known as “Episode IV: A New Hope”) but is available only to players who achieve True Jedi Status, which is obtained by collecting a certain number of LEGO studs during each adventure. You can find those tiny pieces scattered throughout the game — simply blast objects or use the Force on them to produce a cascade of studs.

“In LEGO Star Wars, the opportunity to put the player in control of all those characters, to tell all those stories, was just wonderful for us.”

- Jonathan Smith, development director

As you complete levels, you gain access to characters, eventually unlocking more than 40 of them, from Yoda and Anakin Skywalker to R2-D2 and C-3PO to Darth Maul and General Grievous. You can then take any pair of characters through any level of the game, which is important because each level also features 10 canisters you can collect to obtain pieces of bonus vehicles — some canisters are accessible only by certain characters who possess the right abilities.

You can track the progress of your bonus vehicles in the parking lot near Dexter Jettster’s diner, which houses the entrances to all 18 levels and serves as the gathering place for all your unlocked characters. (This leads to some interesting scenarios when opposing Jedi bump into each other and duke it out.) You can also approach Dexter’s counter to purchase hints, extras such as invincibility, or unlocked characters. In addition, his diner hides plenty of LEGO studs for you to collect, if you know how to properly wield the Force.

The Tide Turns. The clone troopers turn on the Jedi, but this time Chewbacca plays a larger role in helping Yoda escape.

Attention to Detail

“The whole team was immersed in our shared LEGO Star Wars world,” explains Smith. “We recreated all the existing LEGO Star Wars models and used their original digital decal files for textures. We were also lucky enough to have the LEGO design team work with us to create some new vehicle models just for the game.

“LucasArts gave us regular updates on ‘Revenge of the Sith’,” he continues, “as well as expert knowledge of the ways in which various characters and locations have been created in previous Star Wars games. And, of course, we had a fabulous team at Skywalker Sound plugged directly into the complete sound archive.”

Such attention to detail produced a game that feels as if you set up an enormous LEGO Star Wars playset in your living room, simultaneously moving every ship and character as you recreate the Separatist Army’s assault on Kashyyyk from “Revenge of the Sith” or the three-way duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul that brought “The Phantom Menace” to a rousing climax.

“We were convinced that there were qualities in the LEGO experience which would translate into exciting game features. And, of course, we all knew, loved and played with LEGO Star Wars. It would obviously be the perfect universe for us to play in.”

- Jonathan Smith

None of the characters talk during the game, a decision that Smith says was “just the way we felt about them, right from the start. We wanted to focus on the action and humor — and we were blessed with an animation team able to use their extraordinary skills to create characterization and narrative simply through movement and facial expression.” Indeed, each character seems to channel the spirit of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, using exaggerated expressions to convey a wide variety of emotions.

LEGOs in Space. Fly a LEGO version of Anakin’s fighter ship during the massive space battle over Coruscant.

Specific Purposes

LEGO Star Wars also features a puzzle-solving element, one that requires you to not only figure out how to get past an obstacle but also decide which characters’ abilities will help you achieve your objective. For example, while Jedis can move objects with the Force, only droids can open specific doors, and many blaster-equipped characters also sport grappling hooks for reaching out-the-way places. There are even two characters whose diminutive size enables them to reach spots no one else can.

Roger, Roger! Between traitorous clone troopers and incoming droids, Chewbacca and Yoda have their paws and claws full.

Each of those characters, of course, also serves a specific purpose in the movies, and ultimately that was the territory Smith and his team wanted to explore in this game. “Those characters are on their own individual journeys in the films,” he explains. “In LEGO Star Wars, the opportunity to put the player in control of all those characters, to tell all those stories, was just wonderful for us.”

If you liked this game, check out:

• LEGO Bionicle
• LEGO Star Wars II
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast