If you grew up in the 2000's and your family owned a Wii, this game was an integral part of your childhood. I remember when I was about 5 years old and my Dad showed me the original Star Wars for the first time. Afterwards, he asked me if I wanted to play Super Mario Galaxy, but I wanted to play Lego Star Wars instead.

This game does a fantastic job adapting the first 6 Star Wars movies into video game form. Almost every major plot point is retold faithfully, albeit in a cartoonish, more accessible manner (I know Ruin of the Jedi was based on a deleted scene from ROTS, but 5-year-old me wasn't allowed to watch PG-13 movies so I didn't care). That, combined with the music and visuals, creates the perfect childhood experience of living through the events of Star Wars.

Anyway, the game holds up pretty well. Lego Star Wars 3 improves on just about everything here, but it's still a really solid template. The characters all feel pretty good to control and the partner AI is really good. There are also a lot of good levels here. Obviously, the platformer gauntlet/two-player versus combo in Darth Vader and the level-long fight against Palpatine are the standouts, but they generally do a really good job switching up the gameplay in a way that feels fun (Gunship Cavalry sucks but honestly that's on brand for Attack of the Clones). The vehicle levels don't control the best, but they're usually pretty easy so it's not that big a deal. Plus, once you get a decent ways in there's this really nice gameplay loop of going through levels, collecting studs, and buying stuff back at the Cantina.

Also, I love how Jar Jar has his own character class that's vital for getting a good chunk of the collectibles. He really is the key to all this.