Originally aimed at a younger audience, Lego Star Wars remains surprisingly playable, even for those of us who are older than the target market in a way that most similar games are not. While part of this must be attributed to the nostalgia that both franchises conjure up an even greater part must be attributed to the extreme playability of the game.

The game takes the latest three movies, and allows gamers to play through key moments in their stories. Pod-racing, the invasion of Naboo and the hunt for Darth Maul are all represented from The Phantom Menace, while the scene through the droid factory and battles against Jango Fett and Count Dooku from Attack of the Clones are amongst the scenes included. Scenes from the upcoming Revenge of the Sith are also included, giving players a sneak peek at what will soon be seen in the movie. In the Story mode players take control of a couple of specific characters for each level, playing through a scene that remains fairly faithful to the movies.

Modelled mostly using Lego designs, a vivid world has been created for players to roam around in, matching the environments in the movies. Vehicles and many objects are made with Lego, most of which are destructible, creating a shower of Lego bricks and pieces when they break apart. The rest of the scenery, though solid, also looks as if it were made with Lego, maintaining the illusion throughout.

Backing up the excellent visuals is a soundtrack taken almost directly from the movies by Skywalker Sound. The musical score is a major part of any of the movies and it adds a great deal to have that throughout the game as well. As with other Lego games there is no speech, apart from the occasional burble or exclamation. Instead the story relies on both player's memories of the movies, as well as the wonderful expressiveness of the Lego characters and their faces. While this doesn't fully convey the story it still works very well, especially considering the alternative is to listen to Jar Jar Binks babble away through the game.

The Lego characters themselves are wonderfully modelled, and move as you would expect a Lego character to instead of adapting to something more real. More than 40 characters are in the game, from old favourites like R2D2 and C3PO through to Anikin and Queen Amidila in various stages of development. Each of the characters plays a little differently and possesses different abilities. For instance, the Jedi and Sith can use the Force to manipulate objects to solve puzzles, Amidila and her Royal Guards can use a winch to reach out of the way places, and droids can be useful in hacking through security.

While many are fairly similar, such as the range of enemy droids available, there is still a wide range to unlock. Even better than just unlocking them is the ability to use every single character in Free Play, a mode that opens Lego Star Wars up a great deal once the main Story mode is completed in each stage. Playing through the Story mode once will not unlock everything so subsequent play in the Free mode is required. The amount of hidden areas in each level is quite remarkable, with the fixed camera angles and the character's differing abilities ensuring that some areas require a bit of thinking to get to.

If the Free Mode is fun in singleplayer it becomes even more so with two cooperative players. A single screen is used for this, zooming out for a wider view if the characters get too far apart. This works very well, especially with a broader range of characters that can participate in each level. Having a different set of objectives would have been good to see with two players though. As it is the goals and amount of enemies are the same as when playing alone, making the game even easier.

Any misgivings about Lego Star Wars are just minor concern, rather than major problems. Part of the attraction of Lego was the extreme freedom it gave kids, providing just a blank canvas and the bricks with which to create anything. Lego Star Wars is necessarily more restricted, but there could possibly have been room for some sort of creation tool, either to incorporate as part of the main game or as something on the side. It is also unfortunately a little too short, especially for those not wanting to go back and unlock everything there is to unlock. While most of the major events in the movies are represented there are still more that could have been included.