LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy Reader Review

Fact: if this game and it's so called 'mechanics' had NOTHING to do with the Star Wars franchise, this game would be dire.

Fact: after the waves of quaint nostalgia have washed over you and the Star Wars franchise is in your rear view mirror, this game IS dire.

Gaming Lore 101: if it's tied in with a franchise, it's a bit pants. Sure, there's the ODD exception to that rule, but generally speaking it's a given. Why then, the moment R2D2 is thrown into to the mix, do people put on rose coloured glasses with lenses the size of jam jars?

Stripping away any Star Wars references (which ARE amusing and well done) we're left with tired, limp, dated and generally frustrating mechanics that reward head-banging persistence a great deal more than they do skill. Had TT produced a short film based on the Star Wars universe, I�d have happily watched, but this 'game' is akin to an attractive woman gently caressing your face with one hand whilst uppercutting your sack with the other.

Dumb shooting mechanics? Check. Infinite lives? Check. God awful flight sections? Check. Insane achievements? Check. The list goes on.

This MIGHT be fun for comic-book store employees or those too inebriated to care, but for the rest of us who've kept abreast of gameplay mechanic developments over the last, ooooh, decade: steer clear.

Whilst you're at it, stick a H&S warning on the forehead of game reviewer pushing 30, tuck them up in bed and pop a copy of Beyond Good & Evil under their pillow: they�ll be right as rain in the morning.

/goes over to the dark side..or was it light..no dark...no...hang on...hello...lights?