Lego Star Wars II redux

Logan and I got through Chapter 6 of Episode VI on Lego Star Wars II today! Now all the chapters have been unlocked in "free play" mode, meaning he can walk into any chapter and play as any character.

This does not mean that the game is over, not by far! We have 23/99 "gold bricks", which allow you to build things. You get one brick for completing a level, another for getting True Jedi status in that level in story mode, and a third for getting True Jedi status in free play mode, and a fourth for getting all 10 minikit canisters in a chapter. You can also go through a bounty hunter mode where you try to find specific characters within a certain time limit, and "Superstory mode" where you try to finish an entire episode's worth of levels within a time limit (Episode IV has a one hour time limit).

It is almost impossible to get True Jedi status when playing with Logan. He charges through chapters and drags you along, often to your death. He doesn't have the patience for finding enough studs to get True Jedi status. So, at lunch time and at night I've been playing chapters in story and free play modes to get True Jedi status.

The minikit canisters are another issue. They quite often involve puzzle solving. I hate puzzles. Or, rather, I love logic puzzles but I hate pretty much every other kind of puzzle. I don't mind the regular puzzles in the Lego Star Wars games, like "How do I open the portal to get out of this section?" The puzzles aren't too frustrating and you can be sure that they will be contained to your particular room or section. The minikit canisters are more diabolically hidden, and sometimes require a fair bit of manual dexterity. I hate wasting 10 minutes trying to hop onto a platform only to find there's an easier way to get there. Fortunately, that's where the Internet and "walkthroughs" come in!

I preferred this game to the last one. There is more to the game. The game lacks the really frustrating levels I hated in the first game (in particular, Chapter 5 of Episode III that required a frustrating amount of coordination to master). The spaceship sections are longer and more involved. It's fun hopping into AT-ATs and firing at stormtroopers. There are also a lot of neat flourishes, like the stormtrooper running around in his underwear, and the levers that lower helmets onto your character's head so you can sneak into certain areas.

So, while we've "finished" the game, I still have an awful lot of playing ahead of me!