Fun for All!

We inherited a GameCube and a number of games (Lego Star Wars was NOT among them) from a family member. My six-year-old son was extremely excited and his parents quite concerned. He was shortly disappointed in his ability to play the games, and we had to quickly limit what games he had access to.

Then along came Lego Star Wars. My son is not able to beat all the levels, but he's done well with most of them. There is no frustration of having to start over when you're defeated--your character will regenerate again and again. More importantly, he and I can play together, and both of us have a blast.

In fairness, I have to admit that the game is not challenging enough to continuously engage an adult, but the replayability is amazing. Most levels have to be played through at least twice in order to discover all the secrets. Reaching all the goals often requires some thought and planning. The levels are well laid out, and some of them are quite long.

The game is not without problems, however. Sometimes the camera angle or position is off, making it hard to see what's happening. I've yet to find any part of the game where this is a major problem--it's just an inconvenience at times. A bigger problem is the screen scrolling. If you're in cooperative mode and the characters are on opposite sides of the screen, the screen will scroll to one or the other, sometimes forcing the less-favored character somewhere undesirable (like over the edge of a cliff, for instance). And occasionally, characters will regenerate in a similarly inopportune location, immediately falling to their death.

In the end though, this is the best kid-friendly and parent-friendly game I've ever encountered.