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I have been a mess of emotions since LucasArts and TT Games released Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for the Xbox 360 console a couple weeks ago. I could barely concentrate, due to the fact that I was about to face my greatest one of my greatest foes as a child, which happens to be, yes, you guessed it—Legos. I can definitely say that Legos are the stupidest toy since the pet rock was unveiled to gullible children of the fifties. You might be saying to yourself, “Why do you hate on Legos so much Big Perm?” Well, I’ll tell you why!

When I started kindergarten back in 1980, the powers that be decided to place me in the special class, due to a freak mix-up of test scores. While most of the other kids spent their Fridays constructing magnificent castles out of Legos that looked like medieval masterpieces, I struggled for survival in the deep end of a swimming pool with two deflated swimmies and a kickboard. I can tell you that every time that I tried to construct any Lego castle after that, it usually came out looking like a Buick.

But due to the fact that I was a huge Star Wars fan, as well as curious to see what princess Leia looked like as a Lego, I decided to put my biased viewpoint of Legos aside to review this game. To be honest, after getting into the first mission, I was amazed how well this game was constructed and designed. Not only did I get to navigate through every imaginable Star Wars landscape from Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine to the loveable Ewoks home on Endor, I got to play each character as well. My favorite character, if forced to choose, would definitely be Chewbacca because of the way he rips arms off Lego storm troopers with the utmost savagery. Chewbacca’s a little less useful in story mode because you need to use different character to open doors and navigate certain terrains. Only characters like C-3PO and R2-D2 can open doors, while Luke and Obi-Wan can jump up cliffs or assemble puzzles.

The real neat thing that I did like about the game was how it brings together the two worlds of Legos and Star Wars into one creative Universe. While laying waste to Jawa warriors with a blaster or light saber you had to put your creative side to use and assemble Lego bridges or blocks to get to different levels. Combined with the ability to let you mix and match over 100 characters into crazy super characters like Lukeleia, for you freaks out there, and the ever-dominant Vaderbacca, Lego Starwars II seemed to have it all.

The only real down side was the game’s inability to overcome some issues with camera angles that really plagued the overall gameplay. The angle of the camera, which obscured some viewpoints, was frustrating at times, and even though the joystick gave you a little leeway, it really didn’t help.

Overall I am glad that I got the opportunity to play this game as well as get over my hatred of Legos. So, in the spirit of the damaging childhood experience, I would like to give this game 3 out of five swimmies.