Andrex

Get the PS2 version! Then you can transfer over characters etc ^^ it's fun!

I just got back from playing LSW2 to find out this! I have never been able to watch the films, and my friend is a major fan of it so she's certainly happy. I love the idea of Batman and the sets and villains are awesome, so I'm hoping this turns out to be good. It won't have the magic of Star Wars for me, but I'll give it a go...

Hmph, four levels down XD. I had to come off after getting right to the end of level five, so I'm going to have to completely restart it again. Ah wellsies, it's a fun level, as they all are ^^.

I got it today! Boy this is awesome, first I need to say this game certainly does seem a lot more difficult than the original. It's also a lot more awesome, with TONS to do. This really is going to take AGES to complete! I won't give too much away, if you want to know about any new features or whatever then I'll gladly answer questions. While writing this I have only completed three levels (I've gone for True Jedi status on all three) but I should be further pretty soon ^^. Sorry for not getting the magazine review up, it doesn't matter that much anyhow considering it's out in shops over the UK anyway (it was released on Friday, a few days earlier than planned). Andy.

And now, the grand finale: Episode VI: Your Favorite Moments, LEGO Style! A tongue-in-cheek take on a galaxy far, far away isn't all that far, far away anymore. On Tuesday, September 12, LucasArts and TT Games unleash LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy to stores everywhere on eight different platforms. With the game all wrapped up now, what better topic to discuss than the final third of the game, based on the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi? "When I get my two-disc DVDs of each individual movie the same day the game comes out, I'll be using that scene select feature to go straight to the speeder bike chase," says David Perkinson, producer at LucasArts. "At the time, those special effects were amazing -- and to this day, it holds up as one of the fastest, most exciting sequences in movie history. And the developers at Traveller's Tales sure didn't let us down when it came to adapting that scene to game form." Found in the third of six Episode VI levels, Speeder Showdown is the only stage in LEGO Star Wars II to combine vehicle-only segments (in this case, zippy speeder bikes) with on-foot sections not unlike those found in the original game -- except for one thing, that is. "You sure couldn't blast away at stormtroopers after building and hopping into an AT-ST in LEGO Star Wars," says Jeffrey Gullett, assistant producer at LucasArts. "That's one of the many great additions Traveller's Tales has included this time that make the new game so much better. Well, that and Gamorrean guards that start rocking out whenever you build a LEGO jukebox in Jabba's Palace." "I don't know," adds Perkinson. "I always feel a little guilty taking those pigs to the slaughter while they're saluting the gods of rock. Letting them attack -- and they are one of the toughest non-boss characters, I'll admit -- and using Luke's Force choke on them seems much more civilized to me." "I just love that whole Jabba's Palace level in general," says Gullett. "You've got such diversity in your party between Luke with his lightsaber and new Jedi powers, Chewie with his bowcaster, the droids and Leia in disguise, who can throw thermal detenators like the other bounty hunters in the game whenever she's wearing her Boushh hat. Then at the end of the level you throw Han into the mix as the whole gang takes on the rancor. Well, the whole gang except for Leia...who's now in her gold bikini as Jabba's slave." Later on, Leia adds quite a bit of clothing as she joins Han, Chewbacca, the droids and Wicket the Ewok for the land section of the Battle of Endor. "It's one of the longest levels in the game," informs Gullett. "It takes you all the way from the Ewok village to the shield bunker, with plenty of scout troopers to blast, AT-STs to drive, and catapults to fire along the way." Your weapons get a little snazzier than catapults in the Emperor's throne room, which presents an intriguing twist on the story depicted on screen 23 years ago. "This was one of those moments where we had to sit back and make a decision," explains Perkinson. "Do you suddenly turn a two-player game into a one-player game for the sake of following the story exactly? Or do you deviate slightly for the sake of better gameplay? Since great gameplay is the most important thing for LEGO Star Wars II, we opted for the latter. As a result, you'll see Vader revert to his Anakin-like ways a little earlier than in the movie, as he helps his son take down Palpatine in an epic lightsaber battle. We know this might bother some diehard fans out there, but we think once they play it, they'll agree that we made the right decision." The game's final level, Into the Death Star, didn't involve such tough choices in development -- it just provided the chance for developers such as Traveller's Tales' Will Thompson to reinterpret their favorite scene from Return of the Jedi in game form. "I can still remember seeing the space battle over Endor for the first time in the cinema -- all those waves of TIE fighters screaming towards the camera -- and jumping back in amazement!" enthuses the storyboard artist and character modeler. "It was a delightful challenge helping to bring this scene to playable fruition -- but it had to be easier than using the screen-compositing methods they had to use in the '80s! You certainly appreciate the time and effort it must have taken to create those elaborate space battles." And now that the game is complete, Perkinson appreciates something a little more himself: "I developed a new appreciation for Ewoks."

CHECK THIS OUT! 'Dear Andrew Porter, We are pleased to inform you that your order for has been dispatched by our team in Basingstoke. Thank you very much for ordering from us here at gameplay, you should receive your package in 1 - 3 working days.' I could be getting it tomorrow!!! Wowsies, if I do I'll let you know how it is! :D

This really doesn't affect me, I'm getting the Wii on launch and waiting til the PS3 has some games I'd actually want, and when it has gone down a few hundred

I preordered it off the net anyhoo months ago. Not long now!

I've seen that. Shame I won't be getting it since I am a collector but never mind I'm fine, as long as I get the game ^^

THE OFFICIAL NINTENDO REVIEW! You're gonna love it! Hey there, I got my magazine today and it has some awesome new pics and an AWESOME score to match! I'll upload pics for you asap, but it could be this evening when they're up. The review gave it 93% and it had no negative points which was good. Here are the main points they liked: It's PROPER Star Wars Vehicle stages are awesome Great in co-op multiplayer Clever puzzles in every level Loads of secrets and replay value The verdict was: Lego Star Wars II is simply fantastic. It re-creates the Star Wars world brilliantly then adds a quirky twist to it. Easy to play and immense fun from the word go. Essential. Because of all that of course it earned itself the Nintendo GOLD AWARD! Things are certainly looking good!

WOW! I'm loving it how all the different figs have unique weapons. Next they'll be doing Saber hilts o.O Anyhow this is an interesting revolution, I'm liking it, but we'll have to see them properly before we jump to any conclusions.

I saw it last night, and I must say it was awesome! It had some hilarious moments as well as some disturbingly graphic attacks, and I can confirm that there were certainly more than one person being bitten, there were TONS in.. all kinds of places. Very fun and gruesome film, with tons of cunning twists just to make the situation even worse! I recomend it if you don't mind gore and sick humour at times.

DAMMIT! You beat me to posting pics. Ah well, I'm liking this. I already have WAY too many TIE sets but an UCS version doesn't seem too bad! I may well pick this up sometime.

Well.. looks like I'm going to see it tonight! I need cheering up anyhow, so going with two of my best friends, it's going to be a laugh :D I'll tell you how it goes!

This is 5 days old now but I presume you've all seen the Xbox 360 trailer right? It has some new footage and shows off the slightly better graphics. It's on www.gametrailers.com. Anyhow yah, it's shaping up to be stunning, there is a TON of replay value with all the new features and awards, and Bounty mode seems to be an awesome idea! I'll keep you updated still, but remember, I ALWAYS say this, wickettheewok.1up.com is the place to go most of the time. EDIT: I had a PM asking about where I preordered from. I sincerely recomend www.gameplay.co.uk. It is

Credit to Gamespy for the game coverage. For the latest screenshots that accompany these articles head over to http://www.gamespy.com Warning: CONTAINS INFORMATION ON ALL 18 LEVELS - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Episdode IV: A New Hope Chapter 1: Secret Plans Playable Characters: Princess Leia, Captain Antilles Just like in the movie, the action begins aboard the Rebel blockade runner, the Tantive IV. Darth Vader and a platoon of stormtroopers have boarded the ship, and you must guide Leia and Captain Antilles through the ship to find R2-D2, who will carry the stolen plans for the Death Star off ship. For the first stage in the game, this one is fairly long. The Tantive IV is not a tiny ship, and the level design reflects that. As you work your way through the corridors, you'll frequently have to assist Rebel troopers, who are fighting back the stormtroopers. At one point, we passed by a window where we could see Vader performing his own brand of interrogation on some Rebels with his Force choke. Leia and Antilles are both armed with a blaster, and sticking to the series' tradition, "blaster" characters are also armed with a grappling hook for launching themselves up to high ledges. Naturally, you'll have to take advantage of this ability a few times before you find the little droid. Chapter 2: Through the Jundland Wastes Playable Characters: Luke Skywalker (Tatooine), Ben Kenobi After fleeing the Tantive IV, it isn't long before R2-D2 and C-3PO are captured by Jawas and then purchased by Luke's uncle Owen. When R2 runs off to deliver Leia's message to one Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke goes after him and is rescued from a Tusken Raider attack by that crazy old hermit, Ben Kenobi. At this point in the game, Luke doesn't have his father's lightsaber or any mastery of the Force, so it's up to old Ben if you need any Jedi business taken care of. A new Jedi ability that we saw was the Jedi Mind Trick, which confuses your enemy, rendering them harmless for a few seconds. Luke will have to be content with being a blaster character for now. As you travel through the Jundland Wastes, you must fend off the aforementioned Raiders as well as Jawas. Running loose all over the level are dozens of Womp Rats, which are great for a little target practice. Another new addition to this sequel that pops up in this level is the ability for non-droid characters to ride animals. If you see a Bantha hanging out, you can climb aboard and go to town. In another humorous touch, each character has separate riding animations. Ben is used to riding wild animals (remember his ride on Boga in Episode III?), so he handles the Bantha quite gracefully. Luke, on the other hand, is hanging on for dear life, and he looks like he'll fall off the beast at any moment. The only time your character will fall off, however, is if the creature takes too much damage. Then, they'll rear up and knock you to the ground. Chapter 3: Mos Eisley Spaceport Playable Characters: Luke Skywalker (Tatooine), Ben Kenobi, R2-D2, C-3PO, Han Solo, Chewbacca With a wave of a hand and a "These aren't the droids you're looking for," Ben gets Luke and the droids into Mos Eisley. Right from the get-go, this level introduces you to how vehicles are handled in LSW2. Unlike the original where the vehicle stages were on rails, you can now freely drive Luke's landspeeder around the town. If you hop out to go exploring, don't get too far away from it or Jawas will come along and whisk it back to the beginning of the stage. At one point, you're forced to find a way to clear a blocked road. By exploring the immediate area, you find piles of stray LEGO bricks. A little bit of building with them, and you've put together a full-sized AT-ST. Hop into the Imperial vehicle and blow the barrier away. You can now roam around in the walker, picking off stormtroopers with ease. If there's one thing that this stage is good for showing off, it's the variety of extra goodies that you can find by thoroughly exploring a level. Run down a stray alley, and you find a "Double Score Zone" where any LEGO studs (the game's currency) that you collect are worth twice as much. Hop onto the right rooftop, and you'll find a Womp Rat shooting gallery mini-game. Done using the landspeeder? Find the hidden used vehicle lot and sell it to the Jawas for studs. Want more studs for your speeder? Run it through the car wash first to tidy it up before selling. Sure enough, at the end of the stage you meet up with Han Solo and his faithful Wookiee partner, Chewbacca, where you can take control of them as well. Chapter 4: Rescue the Princess Playable Characters: Luke Skywalker (stormtrooper), Han Solo (stormtrooper), Ben Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO From Tatooine, it's off to the Death Star to save Princess Leia before she's executed. Since the Death Star is crawling with stormtroopers, it would be best to try and blend in. Luckily, Luke and Han have donned a couple of stolen stormtrooper uniforms, but in this game, they don't have helmets. Luckily, whenever you get to a door that only stormtroopers can get through (there are cameras mounted near the doors), there tends to be a helmet dispenser nearby. In a cute touch, all the characters can use the dispenser with some humorous results -- Chewbacca's head is too large for the helmet to fit on, so it sits awkwardly atop his Wookiee dome. When Luke and Han are wearing the helmets, enemy stormtroopers will ignore them. That is, unless one of the heroes starts shooting. In addition to stormtroopers, you'll also face off against TIE fighter pilots and Imperial officers. Near the end of the stage, you must provide cover fire for a computer-controlled Ben Kenobi as he attempts to shut down the tractor beam that is keeping the Millennium Falcon aboard the Death Star. Chapter 5: Death Star Escape Playable Characters: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia This level is the second half of your romp through the Death Star. With Leia freshly sprung from her cell, you begin the stage in the Death Star's trash compactor. Once you escape, it's just a matter of blasting your way through the hordes of stormtroopers until you reach the Falcon. This level contains a fairly complicated puzzle that involves multiple character swaps and lever switching. Chapter 6: Rebel Attack Playable Characters: X-wing The final chapter in A New Hope is, as you might imagine, the assault on the Death Star. The first portion of this level is seen from a near top-down view, as you maneuver your X-wing across the battle station's surface, shooting down TIE fighters and dodging enemy fire. You will occasionally encounter force fields that block your path. To get past them, you must destroy the shields' generators by finding a bomb dispenser. Flying over the dispenser allows you to drag a bomb behind your ship and deliver it to the generators. Your X-wing is capable of pulling off a few advanced moves like loops, barrel rolls, and 180

I'm not a Batman fan to be honest but really that set ROCKS! It has so much and the detail is awesome. It makes you wish they'd make more Star Wars buildings! I'm living it and it has really tempted me, but for now I've got to save up :-D Lovely minifigs, great rooms and I like the vehicles and spotlight.

I love these new sets, and the battle packs have a lot of potential. Droids, you know, I'd seriously love more battle packs to be released. Droidekas, Magnaguards, Dwarf Spider Droids and so forth, there is still a lot to cover. Never mind though, what we have so far is brilliant! I'm hoping for a Rebel pack in the future! I had always wanted Battlefront style sets so here we have it! As for new guns, that's a relief, they seriously weren't accurate to be honest and new designs could bring originality and unique charm to the figures.

I unlocked the Sand Trooper, Jawa and Greedo but never had the time to collect all the canisters in freeplay.

Those codes were taken from the demo. So THAT was the secret character, I could never be bothered to get the fourth since it meant completing Freeplay and it erases all data etc. Never mind.

Following on from that, Episode V gameplay is now available. Go to http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=...ype=mov&pl=game for Quicktime, and http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=...ype=wmv&pl=game for Window's Media Player. Enjoy ^^

New article for y'all! It won't let me post up the screens so check them out at wickettheewok.1up.com In Pieces, You Will Be Funny thing about video games: for the most part, they just aren't very funny. In fact, many of the most popular games are virtually laugh free. But exceptions do exist -- like LucasArts' and TT Games' tongue-in-cheek look at your favorite galaxy far, far away in LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Build, battle and laugh your way through the events of pop culture's most influential films this September 12 across eight platforms. So, just what is it about LEGO Star Wars II that tickles your funny bone? "There are lots of things," says David Perkinson, producer at LucasArts. "But I think it all begins with the characters. Unless you've got the heart of the Emperor, you are going to chuckle at many of them the first time you see them -- you just have to. They're so darn cute!" "I think even if you played it as straight as you possibly could, the very appearance of the LEGO characters would still add an element of humor to it," agrees Will Thompson, character artist at developer Traveller's Tales. "It's just so funny watching these cute little characters battling it out with each other in such dramatic situations. By far, my favorite example of this is every part featuring the romantic scenes between Han and Leia -- it's hilarious watching their relationship blossom in LEGO form." "There are plenty of funny cutscenes like those that'll have you rolling, and one of my favorites is one of the very last that Traveller's Tales included," says Jeffrey Gullett, assistant producer at LucasArts. "Remember Luke's acrobatics in Return of the Jedi when he jumps off the plank, grabs it and somersaults onto the skiff? Like many memorable scenes, we have that one, but with a clever twist. In this case, Luke doesn't just do a superhuman somersault -- he performs an all-out acrobatic routine with all sorts of jumps from the plank. It's hilarious." But Perkinson only sees the cutscenes as part of a much bigger equation to gaming hilarity. "Remember, there's an actual game here to play, too," he says, "and along with an immense amount of depth and replayability, the comedic elements play an integral role in elevating LEGO Star Wars II past your typical action-platformer. As funny as the cutscenes are, I think one of the greatest things that Traveller's Tales has pulled off is that you're actually laughing during gameplay as well. No matter how many times I rip a stormtroopers arms out of its sockets or swat a Gamorrean guard as if to say 'oh no, you didn't!' as slave Leia, it never gets old." "And speaking of Gamorrean guards," adds Gullett, "getting them to rock out in Jabba's Palace serves the double purpose of distracting some of the game's most powerful enemies while also providing one of the biggest laughs in the game. You know how electric guitars are also known as an 'ax'? Well, let's just say those pig guards take that idea pretty literally..." Also adding to the fun is one of LEGO Star Wars II's most interesting new features, the Character Customizer. You can unlock more than 60 playable characters throughout the course of the game, with new character parts -- heads, torsos, midsections, legs, arms, hands and weapons -- available in this device as you make each character available. Mix and match the pieces as you would with actual LEGO minifigures to create the likes of Darth Threepio, Stormbacca or Ewok Organa -- there are literally millions and millions of possibilities! Then, take your character into Free Play with unique powers...and one of the most unique looks in the galaxy. "Character customization was something we'd been looking at for a while," says Thompson. "There are lots of cool ideas like that which come very naturally from working with LEGO, but it was the team at Amaze Entertainment, working on the Nintendo DS version of the game, who worked up the customization concept for LEGO Star Wars II. The best thing about the Character Customizer is randomization, which gives you a completely different character than you've ever imagined with the touch of a button. You never know what you're going to get!" "Yeah," says Perkinson. "With tongue-in-cheek humor everywhere you look (where else are you going to find stormtroopers lounging in a hot tub?) 'you never know what you're going to get' is pretty much the best way to sum up LEGO Star Wars II as a whole." FINAL STORY: "Episode VI: Your Favorite Moments, LEGO Style!" *May the Force build with you with versions developed by Traveller's Tales on PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Sony PSP, Xbox 360 and Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube and Windows, as well as handheld versions developed by Amaze Entertainment for Nintendo DS and Nintendo Game Boy Advance.

AH HAH! Ever since I posted those first pics of the new AT-ST I knew it would behaving an awesome new redesign! Also, to be honest, I don't mind another Episode III set, I was hoping for Grievous's starfighter anyway so it is good to see it being released. NOW For the OT ships, Y-Wing is a good idea, I'm still in need of one big time and it could come with some nice new additions. Imperial Landing Craft sounds awesome! Think of the minifigs, and it'd look great with some of the other Imperial sets. Nice choices. As for the battle packs, great for collectors and I'm sure you can set up both for a nice mini battle ^^

Dang, I'm back from holiday, sorry for not being here for the updates ^^ I've got the demo meself now and I can say it's certainly very fun. The controls are a bit dodgy for me since I'm used to playing on the PS2 but so far it has a lot to mess around with! Remember to check wickettheewok.1up.com daily, and as for those magazine scans, I can stil get them for you, but there isn't THAT much new. Ciao, Andy.

I got my new ONM today, a new article but it is all what we know before. It does however have a speederbike screeny, tons of Jabba's Palace and Sail Barge and one new shot of Sidious preparing to fry someone :-D If you want pics, I can nab them for you ASAP!