LEGO Star Wars II Q and A (Page 2): Interview

Platform: GC, GBA, DS, PS2, PSP, PC, XB
Genre: Action
Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: LucastArts
ETA: TBA 2007

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The original LEGO Star Wars was extremely family friendly. For the sequel, will any additional game modes be present to further accentuate this?

There are several new game modes in the works for LEGO Star Wars II. Most notably, we have some special vehicle bonus levels that will allow you to play with the mini-kit models that you collect throughout the game.

Have the parents among the development team come up with many ideas for LEGO Star Wars II from playing the first game with their kids?

Actually, yes! Several people on the team and just within the company in general have come to us after playing the first game with their kids with lots of ideas. All in all, the first game went over really well with kids and parents alike. A lot of what we hear from these people are things like, “Will you still be able to do this?” or “I really loved this part of first game, and it would be great to see more of that!” Of course, that goes for older gamers too – it’s just as popular with them!

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Did the development team learn anything during the creation of the first LEGO Star Wars that can help with making this sequel?

There were certainly parts of the first game that everybody loved that we wanted to expand on. The two-player co-op, for example. We listened to a lot of feedback from people that played the first game and are incorporating those suggestions. A perfect example is the improved camera system that you’ll see in LEGO Star Wars II.

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Not to say anything bad about the original, but what were the weak points in original LEGO Star Wars title, and how are they being addressed?

In the first LEGO Star Wars, the vehicles were on rails. In LEGO Star Wars II, we’ve taken the vehicles off of the rails and given the player total freedom to explore the levels in their vehicle. In some levels, the player will be able to get in and out of the vehicle at will to experience the game any way they want to. We think this is a major improvement from the first game.

Another complaint we got from people who played the first game is that it was too easy. To address this, we are implementing a new adaptive difficulty system. So as you play the game, the better you get, the harder the game will make itself. This will give more advanced players the challenge that they want, while not alienating less experienced gamers.

We know that Vancouver-based Next Level Games has a tub of LEGO in the boardroom to help get the creative juices flowing. Does the team working on the new LEGO Star Wars use LEGO to stage levels rather than storyboarding or 3D models?

Well, with our partnership with LEGO, they have certainly provided us with plenty of LEGO Star Wars sets to play around with. And we’ve certainly had some fun putting them together! While we may not actually be using them for storyboarding and such, they have definitely been an inspiration.

What other Lucasfilm properties could be LEGO-fied? Indiana Jones?

We don’t have any plans right now for other LEGO games. But you never know! How about a LEGO Howard the Duck? Just kidding!

The Armchair Empire would like to thank Jeffrey Gullett for his time, and thank you to Chris Baker for helping to arrange this interview.

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