Lego Star Wars: How Do I Love Thee.
I’m no hardcore gamer. That said, I do love a good video game. As a lad, I certainly spent a fair few quarters and hours at the arcade. I’ve even had a few game systems over the years.
Emory and I are currently playing our way through Lego Star Wars II. We’ve been eagerly awaiting the game, ever since completing Lego Star Wars I, last year. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve ever played.
What’s so great about Lego Star Wars? And what can an interaction designer learn from the game?
- Drop-in / drop-out co-op. This ought to be a required feature for all games. When two people are playing together their characters must combine abilities and coordinate movements to solve problems and access new areas. That level of cooperation is fun and clever. Better still, either one of the players can casually drop-in or drop-out of the game at any time - there is no frustration, absolutely no interruption of game play. It’s absurd that no other game offers that functionality.
- Character switching. The game provides great replay value since you have to complete every level several times, in different ways, with different characters. This may sound dull - it’s anything but. You can switch between a range of different characters, on the fly. In fact, in order to access different areas and solve puzzles you need to switch characters, using each of the different characters’ different abilities when and where appropriate.
- Flying and driving. In the new game, the flying experience is really thrilling, intense, and varied.
- Comic book experience. The beauty of playing Star Wars as Lego pieces is that it has a comic book quality. Instead of judging the realism, you simply enjoy the play. It’s a true comic book adventure. That’s far more in tune with the spirit of the original movies than any other Star Wars game ever produced before. Most games fall into the age old trap of focusing on special effects, at the expense of the story.
- The environments are rich in depth and texture. Despite the relatively blocky and crude Lego character graphics, the environments have layers of depth and texture that make it really compelling to explore. The fact that they’re familiar from the movies also makes it special and fun. You feel like you’re living in a movie or a dream.
- It’s easy, but the trick is learning to make connections. It’s always pretty obvious when there’s something you need to do or find. There are a variety of visual and audio cues attracting your attention and prompting your reaction. The trick is to learn the meaning behind the clues. You need to know when and how to apply your different character abilities, partially based on your previous experiences, and partially based on your imagination. It’s most fun when you have to use your imagination to solve a problem.
- The essence of wit. There is cheeky humor spun throughout the game. The cut scenes are clever and silly. And all of the characters do an occasional silly maneuver or have a goofy pratfall. It’s really cute and endearing, sometimes hilarious.
UX Lessons: There are important advantages to collaboration, but it should always be easy and painless to participate, or not participate, whenever you want.
UX Lessons: Different roles have different strengths, cater to those strengths when and where appropriate.
UX Lessons: Being in the driver’s seat is fun and powerful.
UX Lessons: Spirit and personality are way more important than looks.
UX Lessons: Looks do matter - symbolism, familiarity, and visual texture give an experience deep resonance.
UX Lessons: You can lead a horse to water, but people eventually have to apply their own creativity and imagination. Find ways to support and encourage creativity.
UX Lessons: There is soul behind a smile - giving people something to smile about builds trust and compassion.
If you want some more evidence of the passion that the game inspires, just read some passages from Emory’s school journal.
Posting your comment
Wayne | October 30, 2006 @ 5:30 am
In terms of the Lego graphics - seems like your point about lacking slick graphics also applies to the original arcade game, which was one of the great games.