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Sound
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Value
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| | Publisher: Aspyr Media  Genre: Action | | | Min OS X: 10.3 CPU: G4 @ 1200 MHz RAM: 512 MB Hard Disk: 2000 MB DVD-ROM Graphics: 32 MB VRAM |
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Growing up, my greatest passions in life were video games, Star Wars, LEGOs, and pizza. They each had their place in my life, and played large parts in my development as a kid. Well, maybe not the pizza, but what else are you going to eat during those 72-hour gaming sessions?
When I played Star Wars in the arcade for the first time, it was something akin to a dream come true. There I was, in the cockpit of an X-Wing, flying against Darth Vader, trying to take out the Death Star. What could be better? When I wasn't video gaming, I was playing with toys. I remember on more than one occasion trying to make my own versions of the Star Wars ships I saw on screen out of the bricks in my LEGO bucket. While they were valiant efforts, and sometimes even resembled the ships I was trying to emulate, they weren't quite the same. So, when LEGO started releasing official Star Wars sets about the time the first of the prequels came out, I was ecstatic. Even though I was technically too old to be playing with LEGOs, I bought one set after another. When I heard about the development of LEGO Star Wars, I was struck with mixed feelings. On one hand, the kid in me was jumping up and down, running around the house in excitement! But on the other hand, the gamer in me was reviewing the past games from both the Star Wars and LEGO series, and while there have been some good ones from both, they have both had their share of real stinkers. So, with much trepidation, and not-too-high hopes, I began my plastic quest long ago in a galaxy far, far away. I might as well start out by saying that this game left my lowered expectations in the dust. The overall presentation is one hundred percent class. From the detailed levels taken from locations in Episodes I, II, and III, to the LEGO representations of favorite characters and vehicles, to the sound and music taken directly from the Star Wars movies, this game's production values are up there with the very best of them. It's hard not to be enthralled with this game from beginning to end. You start the game at the beginning of Episode I, where you are presented with the familiar Star Wars text crawl, summarizing the story to that point. After that, you are treated to what amounts to a LEGO rendering of the first scenes from the movie, from the Republic cruiser fly-by to landing in the Trade Federation hanger. Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi depart the vessel, and are met by a protocol droid. Once they have been tucked away in the negotiations chamber, the guns are turned on the unsuspecting cruiser and its crew. The Republic starship is blasted into a million red and grey bricks, leaving the pilot and co-pilot hanging in the air briefly to exchange astonished looks with one another, à la Wile E. Coyote, before falling to the hanger deck below. Once Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan realize that things are not going well, the action begins.
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