‘Lego Cack’… that was the subject header scrawled at the top of our notepad as we sat down to play Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. After two trilogies and countless accolades, not to mention awards, the truth we’re reticent to admit is that we’re just bored of these games now. Not necessarily the concept – God knows we can’t wait for Lego Batman and Indiana Jones – but the whole Star Wars thing. After all, there’s only so many times you can laugh at the cut-scenes or coo over how cute Lego Darth Maul is. Equally, there are only so many times you can collect all those bloody studs before wanting to rip your teeth out with bored frustration.

We’re not cynical old farts without souls, far from it. We’ve laughed at the Lego Star Wars games, and enjoyed them – preferring The Original Trilogy to the prequels. However, returning to this world, this child-friendly environment with horrible platforming, docile enemies, rubbish partner AI and comedy voices, not to mention the genuinely stupid pod race and Hoth levels, does nothing but make us more indifferent to the praise it’s been getting. Yes, Traveller’s Tales deserves a big pat on the back for bringing fun back to Star Wars games. But there’s only so many times you can push the same product.

And it is the same, irrespective of what the press release would have you believe. There are changes, but they’re cosmetic at best. More characters and revamps to some level design do not warrant forking out cash to buy the games again, even if they do come on one disk. It’s a bargain if you haven’t had a chance to play either game before, and we highly recommend it in that case. As for everyone else, the same problems that could’ve been amended are here and they’re exactly the same. The camera still sucks in most cases and some sections prove surprisingly tough given the intended demographic. More than anything, is the fact that Lightsaber battles are still slow and dull and there’s still so much stud collecting to suffer.

But with little changed, that also means nearly everything that worked in the games continues to, and the best levels – mostly Attack Of The Clones – are still great. But it’s just difficult to know who Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is aimed at. Probably, kids who think there’s more here than there really is, and that’s a shame.

Craig Gilmore