If you are new to the commune of gamers, then look no further. Essentially an action-packed game, this Lego Star Wars II game is meant for children. Let me warn you though, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi look as though they were made out of Lego building blocks. But jokes apart, if you’ve played Lego Star Wars you’ll know what to expect. It’s a third person action game, where you play the part of a character from the movies, blasting or carving up enemies and solving some rudimentary puzzles. The main difference this time is that you’ll be playing through the original three movies, so you won’t have much problem following up where the last film left off.

It’s a remarkably simple gameplay. You have little else to do besides moving and hammering away at the attack button. Jedis can use Force powers to move objects and confuse enemies, while Han Solo and Chewbacca can use a grappling hook to reach high platforms. You’ll need to switch between characters to make it through each level, but who you need to be is made incredibly obvious. The trickiest characters to play are undoubtedly R2D2 and C3PO. That’s because both lack combat strategies and require a ramp to be able to climb even the smallest steps.

You start out in the Mos Eisley Cantina, which serves as a hub from which you can access all three episodes, as well as a counter where you can purchase extras like cheats and additional playable characters, and a new character creation counter. Initially you’ll have access only to ‘A New Hope’, though later, you’ll gain access to Empire and Jedi after crossing the first hurdle. The game is a neat collection of the most memorable sequences from all three films, and it does it all with a goofy sense of humour. Since the game will no doubt attract some hardcore Star Wars fans, it’s also worth noting that Lego Star Wars II seems to be taking most of its cues from the original theatrical releases. Lego Star Wars II doesn’t look like a complicated game, and it isn’t.

Some of the puzzles can get tricky, but otherwise it’s an extremely forgiving experience. The real challenge lies in the fact that you lose money, instead of lives when you die. As you play on you keep adding up the puzzle points and unlocking hidden secrets. This may prove tempting for point collectors, but action fans might find the combat unsatisfying.

At the end of the day, Lego Star Wars II is a Star Wars game with improvements in graphics and audio.

Minimum system requirements: Windows(R) 2000 (Service Pack 4) / Windows(R) XP (Service Pack 1); Pentium(R) 4 1.8 ghz or AMD equivalent; 256 MB RAM; 64 MB AGP OpenGL 1.5-compatible video card, supporting programmable shading. (ATI Radeon(R) 8500 or NVIDIA(R), GeForce(TM) 3 and above — except GeForce(TM) 4 MX); DirectX(R) 9.0 or better, DirectX(R) 9-compatible sound card; 3.7 GB hard disc space (recommend 4.4 of uncompressed disc space); 16x CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive; Microsoft(R) compatible mouse and keyboard