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Borrowed from From Bricks to Bothans (I wonder if they're related to here?), here's "preview review" written by someone going by the name of onions that also contains links to five Quicktime clips of the up-coming Lego Star Wars video game for PS1, PS2, XBox and PC (no Mac version 
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While I was down in San Diego taking in the sights of the annual Comic-Con, I visited the LEGO portion of the Star Wars/Lucafilm "booth". I remember reading about the LEGO Star Wars game being demo'ed there and decided to look it up. Let's face it: LEGO isn't known for great video games, and what I saw and played was beyond my wildest expectations.
Let me preface this whole write-up with a disclaimer: it's been 4 days since I played the game and I'm working off of memory. So some of the things I write may not be 100% accurate. And since it's scheduled for release in April 2005, some game play mechanics and features may change. With any luck, I'll be able to bring you more information as the release date gets closer. The links in the articles lead to Quicktime movie clips. You'll need the latest version of Quicktime.
Where do I begin? If you watch this first clip (Clip 1, 5.8meg)carefully, you can see Qui-Gon attack some unfortunate Battle Droids. If you press the attack button in succession, you can chain your attacks and be treated to a nice attack animation. Each character has their own signature moves and they are all quite accurate. It's like the game designers strapped a motion capture rig to the actors and asked them to reenact their choreographed moves. It's quite impressive. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, and I'm sure others, each have a set of basic moves, like a double jump (Jar Jar has this move and i'm not so sure why. I would think a double jump would be a Jedi ability), blaster fire deflection, and a "stomp" type move made popular by Mario. At the apex of your second jump, pressing attack will have your Jedi come down with his saber pointed down. Quite effective against Destroyer Droids that have their shields up.
In that clip, you can also see Obi-Wan. The game can be played as a 1 player game or 2 player cooperative. Along some of the stages, you'll also be pick up a few characters that you'll need to help you out at certain points, like TC-14. On the stage that was playable, certain doors can only be opened by TC-14. To switch between characters, it was simply a matter of pressing the triangle button and then pressing the directional pad towards the droid. Voila! You're now in control of TC-14 and can do whatever you need to do with him. The secondary characters are quite susceptible to damage, so when you're traipsing around the level, you need to protect him. That's why in the clip, you can see the poor droid hobbling around on one leg with only one arm.
Scattered around the levels are silver- and gold-plated 1x1 round plates that you can collect. If you collect enough of them, you can trade them in at the end of the level or stage to buy characters, weapons, and bonus levels. The plates are scattered throughout the level and also help point you in the direction you're supposed to progress. Also, when you defeat enemies like Battle Droids, they explode into the individual parts that they're made up of, and release some more plates for you to collect.
There are other things you can collect, parts that make up a MINI vehicle of some sort. If I remember correctly, there will be a section of the game where you can see all the parts that you've collected and put together a MINI ship. Like the Y-wing that could be built from the extra parts from the MINI series 2 sets, you don't collect actual plates and bricks, just the components like an engine, etc.
The game is supposed to span the entire prequel trilogy, which is quite ambitious if you ask me. It'll be interesting to see exactly how much of the movies will be playable. One thing is for sure, there will be some parts where you can just sit back and watch the in-game cinematics (Clip 2, 9meg) recreate a key scene from the movie. How awesome is that, eh?
If you're thinking the game was all about running around as a mini-fig, I'd say you were about half right. The game will also feature some levels where you get to pilot things, like a Naboo N1 (Clip 3, 5.3meg), and a pod-racer, and who knows what else from Episode III.
The game also features a little thing called The Force. You may have heard about it. In this clip (Clip 4, 14.7meg), you can see Obi-Wan rearrange a mosaic into a bridge. From the playable clips that I saw, you use the force mostly in this way, move things around or rearrange things to help you get to a particular place in the level. I tried using the force to pick up a crate and smash it into a group of Battle Droids, but alas, it was not programmed to do such things. I also tried doing that Force push thing that Obi-Wan does in Episode I to knock down some Droids, nothing. But who knows, this was still an early development of the game and it may be included later.
The characters that you play have a heart meter that tells you how healthy you are. As you defeat enemies, they drop hearts so you can replenish your health meter if you get dangerously close to dying. Dying is as animated as any enemy's demise, you explode into a bunch of parts and drop some silver- and/or gold-plated 1x1 round plates a la Sonic the Hedgehog and his rings.
Remember the bit I said about buying new characters? I was shown a level that looked like the Cantina from Episode IV. You can switch around your character and see what all the playable characters were. Each character was true to their movie form and characteristics. For instance, R2-D2 rolls around the level and has one basic attack. An arm swings up and gives an electrical shock, like when he shocked the Ewoks in the butt in Return of the Jedi. He has no force powers but his special ability lets him deactivate droids. Jango Fett was also playable and he can fly around the room with his jet pack and shoots with both blasters. Darth Maul has his signature double bladed lightsaber. And Yoda? Yep, he was in there. He walks around very slowly, just like in the movie. And his attack animations? Just like in the movie! (Clip 5, 1.8meg) How awesome is that? Watching Yoda hop around like that pretty much sold it for me.
It's important to be able to unlock these characters. One thing that the development team strived for was replayability. Certain levels will have doors or platforms that is only accessible by certain characters. So going back and playing through a level again with a different character will yield more bonuses and secrets.
I think the most compelling aspect of the game, even factoring in the idea that it's a Star Wars game AND a LEGO game, the two reasons we're all here to begin with, I can honestly say has to be the motion and animation. Those two things really grabbed my attention and mad my eyes water from not blinking. Seeing the characters move about on screen double-jumping, slashing with their lightsabers, and exploding after being brought down by an attack was all very cinematic and had a very polished look, like it was straight out of the movie. The game isn't supposed to come out for another 8 months or so, April or May 2005, to coincide with the movie, but there are so many great things about the game, it is well on it's way to becoming a hit.