The Podracing level still gives me and my littlebrother PTSD to this day.

Traveller's Tales birthed the beginning on an entirely new era of Lego games in 2005 with the release of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. Later, they'd release Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, before then combining them and giving us the incredible Complete Saga. I'm so thankful for these, not just because I enjoyed them as a kid, but because I enjoy these Lego games as an adult.

Even if they're not officially recognized as such, I consider these Lego games to be a franchise leading modern collectathons. A genre that was once extremely popular, but now only sees love every so often.

May the LEGO be with you
The Complete Saga is a combination of the original two Lego Star Wars games. Creating a package that is overflowing with content, plus extra goodies included. Although we still remember Dex's Diner. Lego Star Wars solidified what would become the formula for future Lego titles by this developer. So they all play with a high level of familiarity. What's different is the source they're based on.

This game provides a motherload of Lego themed content from the original & prequel trilogy. Retelling the film's stories in a charming and comedic way. Progression starts with Story Mode. Each Star Wars Episode is represented in the game with a total of six levels in each. Every time a level is completed, you're immediately rewarded with Free Play, a place you'll probably spend most of your time if you're looking to 100% the game. Additionally, you'll permanently unlock characters that appear throughout the Story Mode to then use in Free Play. I find it impressive that they're able to capture the main events of each film so well, without a single line of spoken dialogue. It's entertaining for both folks who've seen the movies, and those who haven't.

Characters, vehicles, and a majority of props are made entirely out of Lego. What's really cool is, assuming you have the right pieces, you can actually build most of this stuff yourself. Anyways, it's not just a visual coat of paint. They actually make great use of the Lego setting. It's creative to see how you can build debris into helpful objects or break things apart. Both platforming levels and vehicle levels help to keep things varied throughout.

You're always joined by an AI partner, which can be controlled by another player. Meaning the entire game is playable in Co-Op.

This is where the fun begins!
There's way more to a Lego game than just completing its main story, and that's the joy of completing the game 100%. Every level in the game, some of which can be quite lengthy, contain 10 collectible mini-kits. These are so satisfying to find, that little jingle they give off when nearby tickling my brain. When you've collected all 10, you'll complete a small Lego model. You're also given a "True Jedi" to complete per level. You do this by collecting a certain about the game's currency, studs, before reaching the end. On top of that stuff, there's also a well hidden Red Brick in each level. These unlock the ability to purchase special "Extras", which are like unlockable cheats. I adore this feature. Some of them are dumb fun, like extra toggle. While others are genuinely helpful boosts. Particularly the stud multipliers. Oh we're not done just yet, because after completing Story Mode on a level, you can do it's respective "Challenge" where you need to collect 10 unique blue mini-kits hidden in different places of the level before time runs out. Meanwhile you'll be obtaining Golden Bricks as you progress and complete different tasks. This game is jam packed!

What's just great to me, is that there's even more to do in the game than that. Once you've completed an Episode, three more modes unlock. Including Super Story where you play through the entire Episode in one sitting, as well as the character & mini-kit bonuses. The mini-kit bonus being especially fun, because you get to play with any of your completed mini-kit sets.

Then once all is said and done, there's the bonus room. Home to six more entirely standalone levels. These are unlocked with Golden Bricks. I love what's opened up with these. The bonus stages are everything from original versions of levels (Like the original version of the Pod Race), to special stages where you have to collect a large amount of studs by exploring a Lego town. If you still want more, you can also complete Bounty Hunter missions and hunt down specific characters hidden in levels.

Completing the game will also require you to collect every playable character & vehicle. There's around 160 characters & vehicles to unlock in the game. A vast majority of them are purchased from the shop, along with hints, Golden Bricks, and Extras. Each time one is encountered in a level, they appear in the shop. This allows you to play as almost any of your favorites from the series in Free Play. Completing puzzles the way you enjoy the most. You can even create your own custom character out of the parts of other collected characters. Depending on the pieces they use, characters have unique abilities. Want a Dark Side user that can jump really high? You can do that!

And lastly if you just want to hangout, you can interact with things in the hub area, or take your co-op partner into the 2-Player Arcade for duels and more.

Not so roger, roger
I don't mean to come off as overly harsh, as I absolutely adore these games, but there's a few things that are pretty frustrating. Starting with annoyances in the combat. Enemy blaster users have an inconsistent firing pattern. Sometimes they fire one bolt, sometimes two back to back. It seems to be random when they decide to do this. Some areas of the game have infinitely spawning enemies, which is usually in places you have to complete a puzzle as fast as you can. Leading to a bunch of extra deaths. Ship levels can be a little finicky because your vessel is always moving, and it's almost impossible to avoid incoming damage. If an ally is nearby, it's not uncommon for your melee attacks to auto-target the friendly, instead of an object or enemy. All of these are primarily frustrating because you drop studs on death, though it's not game breaking by any means. It's not so much that the difficulty itself is hard, but that these issues make it harder than it otherwise feels like it should be. Boss fights on the other hand tend to be a lot more well paced and enjoyable.

A smaller gripe is that if you play solo, your AI partner will help you solve puzzles that require two players, but that's it. They are useless otherwise. They will "fight" but do no damage what so ever.

Lego, Star Wars, collectathon, or platformer fans have plenty to enjoy with this game. My average 100% playthrough is about 30~ hours long, and you're always collecting or completing something. Keeping your brain blessed with the happy chemicals. The best part, there's a whole franchise of games just like this one. So you can always look forward to playing another, with many IP's to choose from!

Pros:
+Charming
+Large amount of content
+Star Wars faithfully Lego-fied
+Fully playable Co-Op or Solo
+Over 100 unlockable characters & vehicles

Neutral:
~Useless AI partner
~Awkward on Keyboard (Controllers work perfectly)

Cons:
-Poor combat/difficulty balance

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Please remember, that this is just my opinion. We don't have to agree, one thing I love you may hate, and one thing I hate you may love. Hopefully this gave you an idea of what to expect.

Review lengths have been greatly compressed due to the character limit.

01/05/2026

Truly a classic video game, great fun and over all fantastic.