Lammy's review of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy post-100% review: In December 2024, Playstation announced a nifty giveaway where 30 months of PS Plus Premium would be distributed to randomly selected people who played a game from the PS Plus Classics Collection between a certain timeframe. I wanted to win, so I decided I'd revisit one of my childhood favorites (sorta, more on that in a minute). Lego Star Wars 2 is, well, the second Lego Star Wars game, and the second of Traveler's Tales' series of kid friendly licensed Lego puzzle platformers. The game covers the events of Star Wars Episodes IV-VI, chronicling the adventures of Luke Skywalker and friends as they take on the evil Galactic Empire in a simplified, comedic tone that was unique in 2006 but almost ubiquitous now. Each level can be played in "Story Mode" with characters mostly faithful to the films or in "Free Play" where any unlocked character is free game. I specifically played the PS5 digital only port of the PSP version, meaning some content like Bounty Hunter missions didn't exist, but challenge levels were added to replace them. This game is the epitome of a classic Lego game; different character archetypes like Jedi, Sith, or Bounty Hunter have generalized puzzle solving skills that unlock more of the level, while certain specific characters still get unique perks (like Boba Fett having a stronger blaster and the ability to hover). It's missing some of the specific powers or polish of newer Lego Entries like the Marvel tie-ins or Skywalker Saga, but it's also not overbloated by character types that only rarely see use. The art style holds up well given its cartoony nature, and the music is Star Wars music so it's good by default. Now, though, to answer the question - should you play this? No, absolutely not, and here's why. Less than a year after LSW2 released, an enhanced version titled Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga came out that bundled LSW1 and 2 with several QoL updates and new features. THAT version is the absolute definitive entry, and is the only version of either LSW1 or 2 you should ever actively seek out; it's also the version I played as a kid, and one of my favorite games ever. That, unfortunately, leaves Lego Star Wars 2 feeling retroactively incomplete. There's no good reason for it to exist anymore except for as one half of a far superior whole. It's a profoundly sad fate for what is, overall, a fun and breezy puzzle platformer that you SHOULD play as part of the Complete Saga. I'm not going to rate this one, I don't think it's fair, but I did enjoy the revisit to half of a major piece of my gaming youth.