LucasArts’ LEGO Star Wars II is turning out to be an addictive experience. Played a lot this weekend with Jordan in 2play and the levels flew by. The game is heavily goal driven, fast, and fluid, even with LEGO characters driving the action.
The ability to play through episodes IV, V, and IV is a powerful draw. And it leads to a few issues for critique. How do the films influence the game goals? How does the game manifest drama? Why were some elements of the films changed for the game play experience, and how might the game inform future work with interactive film?
“Why were some elements of the films changed for the game play experience…”
Not sure if you mean “changed” in the sense of addition or subtraction (since I haven’t played the game yet), but I love it when games add elements from a book or movie–whether it be canonical or possible “what if” scenarios. The game adaptations for the Bond movie From Russia With Love and LOTR: The Return of the King are great examples of this.
The purists hate such things, but I think it adds a level of information (even if it isn’t canonical) and creativity; and obviouslly it adds dimension (when done correctly) to the original plot.
We’d like to do a course where all the experiences are at play: the film, the game, the books, and then compare and talk about the media possibilities.
That would be a great course, and very rewarding for anyone in it! Kas and I discuss the interactivity of these three elements all the time when it comes to her franchise.
[…does a board game capture her universe better than a card game? …should the video game be an RPG or someting more action/adventure …what can be cut from the book to keep the film under 2:30 and does the rworking of certain subplots detract from the film adaptation…]
Lots of awesome oppurtunity for discussion and understanding of that part of marketing a franchise.