You Might Have To Force Yourself To Keep Playing Lego Star Wars: Microfighters [Review]

Here’s the thing about touch controls: You’re controlling the game with the same thing you’re using to see what you’re doing. This creates a problem when your dumb, clumsy fingers start blocking your view and lead to cheap and preventable deaths.

Some games prevent this by putting the control areas off to the side or in an otherwise unused place on the screen, leaving the view clear. Lego Star Wars: Microfighters, the latest in the synergetic juggernaut of a series, is not one of those titles.

It’s surprising that developers and publishers as experienced as Warner Bros. and Traveller’s Tales would allow such a clumsy and stupid thing to happen, but here it is.

Maybe the makers of this game assume that we have the Force and can feel what’s happening onscreen even though we can’t see it. But the Force isn’t a thing, so that can’t be the case. And so, half of playing Microfighters is figuring out where your finger should be.

Here’s how it works: It’s a top-down shooter that lets you play as either good guys or bad through 18 levels based on both the original trilogy and the prequels. You tap and drag to move your ship around, and firing happens automatically as long as your finger is on the screen.

Half of the game is figuring out where your finger should be.

You can maybe see the problem here. You’ll run out of room, or five laser blasts will hit you that you would have seen if your finger hadn’t been completely obscuring the screen, or you’ll let up for a second and stop firing at a crucial moment, or ….

That’s not to say that the game is completely terrible; don’t get me wrong. During those times I could navigate the exceedingly stupid controls long enough to get through a level, I had a blast. It’s a solid shooter with two good licenses, and all the collecting and unlocking from other Lego games is in place.

But those controls, man. Woof.

Game Name: : Lego Star Wars: Microfighters The Good: It’s Star Wars and Lego, and it’s fun when it works. The Bad: Terrible, terrible, almost unusable controls. The Verdict: Your enjoyment depends on how quickly you can find some unobtrusive place from which to control the game, but it’s nice when it works. Buy from: App Store – Lego Star Wars: Microfighters – Traveller’s Tales

[rating=game3]