LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles: Review

     I have a long history with the LEGO games, I had played the original LEGO Star Wars games as they came out long ago, and have played nearly every released game that has been made since.  In general they are getting progressively bigger and better- albeit with some continuously nagging flaws that still have yet to be addressed.  Somehow, LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles takes all the lessons they've learned over the years and tosses them out the window.

Ackbar is right, this game is a trap.

     The first difference from past LEGO games is that The Yoda Chronicles draws inspiration from real time strategy games.  That in itself isn't too awful, it worked relatively well for parts of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars and those parts were quite enjoyable.  The issue here is that they've made it so shallow.  You move your team from point to point avoiding fire, eliminating enemies, and trying to either find a person or locate an item.  Occasionally using coins that spill out of destroyed items or enemies to buy ("build") new troopers or vehicles to repeat the process over and over.
     There isn't even a discernible difference between choosing either the Jedi or the Sith for the game.  The objectives for either side are pretty much the same and are superficial at best.  

     The controls are the most cumbersome I've experienced for a mobile game.  You tap a point to move that way, or tap a specific enemy for your character(s) to attack that particular target- all at a pace that makes a snail seem like a speed demon.  Outside of that, there really isn't much else you can do.  The awful camera doesn't help at all either, because there is no way to expand what you're able to see any further than what is on screen, and it really hampers movement when you have to repeatedly tap the screen every couple seconds to move along even a short path.

     What the game does have going for it is that it is free.  There is a very small storyline that is decent.  All the brief cutcenes and animations are top notch, as well as the sound design.  And, sadly, that is about it. 

     LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles is easily the worst LEGO game I've ever played.  The rudimentary parts of a much better game are all here in the most basic ways possible, but they just weren't given room to grow.  There isn't enough depth here to make this game engaging, let alone entertaining.  If they adapted the LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars' RTS segments for a mobile game of its own, it could be wonderful, but The Yoda Chronicles didn't even make a half-assed attempt of it.  Playing with real LEGOs is a far more delightful a task, and one that I would immediately recommend instead of this game.