Parent's Guide: LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars?

Based around the popular Clone Wars kids TV series, Lego Star Wars 3, retelling key stories from the shows in the inimitable Lego style, full of slapstick humour and light-hearted jokes. Featuring familiar faces from the TV show, such as Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker and Aayla Secura, as well as Star Wars stalwarts Yoda, Luke Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks, there's plenty to choose from. With the ability to play each level in co-op, an addictive blend of puzzle-solving and action, and oodles of collectibles to track down, Lego Star Wars 3 is sure to be a hit with little Jedi's everywhere. 

How do you play Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars?

There are three basic types of level on offer: platforming, flying, and strategy. The most common, the platforming levels, see you playing as one of a selection of characters, as you work your way through each level, navigating tricky jumps, and building things out of LEGO as you go. Each type of character has their own special power, which lets them access secret areas, or destroy certain objects, making progressing through a level a case of working out which character you need to use in order to reach the next area, or platform. Flying levels meanwhile are pretty basic, and as your ship flies forward automatically, its up to you to shift it left and right to avoid obstacles and dodge enemy projectiles, whilst shooting at anything and everything that gets in your way.

The strategy sections, too, will test your child's planning, as they destroy enemy bases, and construct their own, in an attempt to take over every base on the level. Essentially, you need to lay down defences, placing cannons, summoning key Star Wars vehicles and the like, in order to defend your 'base' area from the enemy onslaught, all whilst trying to destroy their base too. Requiring a fair amount of thinking, and a lot of forward planning, it's certainly an interesting addition to the series.

How easy is Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars to pick up and play?

While Lego Star Wars 3's platforming and flying sections are pretty similar to past Lego games, and therefore pretty intuitive and simple, the main issue is likely to be that of the new 'tower defence'-style strategy sections. Requiring a bit more forward planning, strategy and skill from the player, these can be a touch overwhelming when you first start playing, particularly for the less able or younger players. Having no such thing as a game over, and 'deaths' which simply see you break apart and reappear exactly where you fell, there's no real penalty for messing up either.

Knowing when to switch to which character is made easy too by a 'bonk' noise and a flashing mugshot of the correct character if you're trying to use the wrong guy in the wrong situation. Thanks to these pictorial prompts, and a story told entirely through pointing, shrugs and grunts,  there's little in the way of text to wade through (outside of a few tutorial sections or in-level prompts), meaning a solid reading ability isn't a necessity.

With nothing in the way of swearing or sex, there's very little in the way of mature content in LEGO Star Wars 3. The game's violence is pretty much as strong as things get, and even then, it mostly simply involves hitting, shooting, or bopping an enemy with a lightsaber, and having them flash red. However, perhaps unusually for a LEGO game, this one actually features LEGO decapitations, where the heads of certain enemies will pop off and drop on the floor when they're defeated. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that it is only the one type of enemy that does this - a strange, bug creature, not at all a human being.

As a LEGO game, LEGO Star Wars 3 has full co-op support throughout the entire game. Each and every level is playable in co-op, with the game being built from the ground up around it. Whether you're using two different character's special powers to unlock a door, helping each other reach a platform, or otherwise working together, the co-op is easily the best thing about any LEGO game, and in this area, LEGO Star Wars 3 doesn't disappoint.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Xbox 360